Design and implementation of a three-level single-phase H-bridge inverter using SHE-PWM

Abstract

The need to generate a pure sinusoidal signal with very low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) motivates the search for the most effective modulation technique among existing methods. This paper presents the design and experimental implementation of a single-phase H-bridge inverter, controlled using the IR2103 integrated circuit, a dedicated high- and low-side driver enabling complementary MOSFET switching. The system’s performance is validated through experimental results and compared with MATLAB simulations. A comparative analysis is conducted between two modulation strategies: Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse Width Modulation (SHE-PWM). To further enhance output voltage quality and significantly reduce THD, a low-pass LC filter is incorporated between the inverter and the resistive load. Moreover, the SHE-PWM switching angles are optimized using a hybrid Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Newton-Raphson (NR) method, ensuring rapid convergence and extremely low THD. This approach effectively suppresses undesirable harmonic components, resulting in a near-perfect sinusoidal output voltage.