PSPICE simulation of three-phase inverters by means of switching functions

Static power converters can be analyzed by means of widely available circuit simulation software packages such as PSPICE. However, they are usually modeled as a set of real switches, which results in long execution times and possible convergence problems in the case of complex circuits. This paper proposes macromodels to simulate three-phase power converters on such packages. The proposed macromodels are based on converter switching functions rather than actual circuit configuration, and they are suited for steady state and large signal transient analysis at system level. In this approach, voltage source inverters (VSI), current source inverters (CSI), and controlled rectifiers (CR) are simulated as multiport networks avoiding the physical nonlinear micromodels of the power switches. Computer memory and the run-times required for the simulation are thereby minimized. Complete examples of VSI, CSI and CR, with different PWM techniques, are given with specific reference to the PSPICE software to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed models