DC-to-AC Converters - Objective

This document is intended to teach the students about the principles of operation of DC-to-AC converters.
Students will be introduced to the single-phase two-level and three-phase two-level inverters and learn their different characteristics using real-time simulation exercises.

A thorough description of the simulated inverters’ circuits allows the student to understand the major components of the single-phase and three-phase two-level inverters’ schemes, namely,
the converter bridge topology, the voltage levels, and waveforms, the PWM generator, the filtering process, the load, the measurements and finally the power flow.

Students will also learn the impact of varying input DC source voltage, inverter parameters, namely, PWM frequency, reference amplitude (modulation),
and switching dead-time on the inverters’ inputs and output waveforms, total harmonic distortion (THD), power computation, fundamental and RMS voltages and currents.
Similar impact studies can be repeated for the variable AC load that is composed of fixed resistance and inductance in series with an AC source with variable amplitude, frequency, and phase-shift.
Moreover, the possibility to add or remove an LC filter shows the students the impact of harmonics and the benefits of filtering.