A pulse frequency modulated PWM inverter for induction motor drives

A PWM pulse pattern optimization method using pulse frequency modulation (PFM) is described. In conventional PWMs the pulse frequency is kept constant. In the proposed PFM, however, the pulse frequency is adjusted. The PFM technique is intended to not only reduce the magnetic acoustic noises of driven motors but also to improve the performance of sinusoidal inverters. The PWM pulse patterns are basically controlled so that the time-integral function of the voltage vectors in the space vector notation may draw a circular locus. In addition to this, the pulse frequency, of PWM is also controlled so that the performance index (PI), which represents the degree of achieved objectives, may be minimized. Two PIs, one for minimizing the distortion of output currents and the other for minimizing the torque pulsation of driven motors, are employed. The method is implemented using a single-chip microprocessor, and the experimental results demonstrate its validity