INTRODUCTION

One of the biggest problems with delivering power to a load (motor,

heater, etc.) is in the power lost and heat dissipated in the output stage. And
given the industry's boom in battery-powered portable devices, power lost
means a shorter battery life and heat dissipated implies larger more
expensive components (power semiconductors and heat sinks).

How can you reduce this wasted power? One clever method is a
technique called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). A conventional linear output
stage applies a continuous voltage to a load. This can waste plenty of power
(more below). On the other hand, PWM applies a pulse train of fixed
amplitude and frequency, only the width is varied in proportion to an input
voltage. The end result is that the average voltage at the load is the same as
the input voltage; but with less wasted power in the output stage. If the
pulse period is much shorter than the time-constant of the load, then PWM
has a potential application. The time-constants are defined, for example, by
the thermal mass of a resistive heater or the mechanical inertia of a motor.
And it's the long time-constants that average the pulses to a desired value
set by the PWM's input voltage.

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is a very efficient way of providing

intermediate amounts of electrical power between fully on and fully off. A
simple power switch with a typical power source provides full power only
when switched on. PWM is a comparatively recent technique, made practical
by modern electronic power switches, although one of its earlier applications
was in the Sinclair X10, a 10 W audio amplifier available in kit form in the
1960s.

In the past, when only partial power was needed (such as for a sewing
machine motor), a rheostat (located in the sewing machine's foot pedal)
connected in series with the motor adjusted the amount of current flowing

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through the motor, but also wasted power as heat in the resistor element. It
was an inefficient scheme, but tolerable because the total power was low.
This was one of several methods of controlling power. PWM works well with
digital controls, which, because of their on/off nature, can easily set the
needed duty cycle. PWM of a signal or power source involves the modulation
of its duty cycle, to either convey information over a communications
channel or control the amount of power sent to a load.

PULSE WIDTH MODULATION

Pulse Width Modulation, abbreviated as PWM, is a method of

transmitting information on a series of pulses. The data that is being
transmitted is encoded on the width of these pulses to control the amount of
power being sent to a load. In other words, pulse width modulation is a
modulation technique for generating variable width pulses to represent the
amplitude of an input analog signal or wave. The popular applications of
pulse width modulation are in power delivery, voltage regulation and
amplification and audio effects.

Pulse width modulation is used to reduce the total power delivered to a load
without resulting in loss, which normally occurs when a power source is
limited by a resistive element. The underlying principle in the whole process
is that the average power delivered is directly proportional to the modulation
duty cycle. If the modulation rate is high, it is possible to smooth out the
pulse train using assive electronic filters and recover an average analog
wave form.

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 Figure no.1 Pulse width modulated signal

Figure no.2 Amplitude vs time of pwm

Pulse-width modulation uses a rectangular pulse wave whose pulse width is

modulated resulting in the variation of the average value of the waveform. If
we consider a pulse waveform f(t) with a low value ymin, a high value ymax and
a duty cycle D (see figure ), the average value of the waveform is given by:

dt

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As f(t) is a pulse wave, its value is y max for 0<t<D.T and y min for
D.T<t<T

Then above equation becomes

D. y max+(1-D)y min

By taking ymin =0 the above equation becomes D.y max

From above equation, it is obvious that the average value of the signal is
directly dependent on the duty cycle D. this is shown in figure no. 1 .

The simplest way to generate a PWM signal is the interceptive method,

which requires only a saw tooth or a triangle waveform (easily generated
using a simple oscillator) and a comparator sinusoidal signal is called as
modulating signal (or command signal) and sawtooth called as carrier signal.

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In figure simple op-amp is taken as comparator.

Figure no.3 Pulse width modulater

Output of comparator is high a high as command is higher than carrier

signal. This is explained in below figure

Figure no.4 Generation of Pulse width wave form

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 SPICE SIMULATION

Circuit diagram is as shown in figure. Two emitter follower circuits used as

the PWM output stage and linear output stage.

Figure no.5 Circuit diagram

1. Voltage source VTRI generates triangle wave forms. The spice

command is given by VTRI 2 0 PULSE (0V 10V 0 49US 49US
1US 100US)

2. Source VIN applies a sine wave .the spice command is given by

VIN 1 0 SIN (5V 4V 500HZ)
3. ECOMP is the comparator function.
ECOMP 3 0 TABLE {V (1, 2)} = (-1MV 0V) (1MV, 10V)
4. BJT used here are QNOM. These are connected as shown in figure.
Q1 10 3 11 QNOM
Q2 10 1 12 QNOM

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 5. The Voltage Controlled Voltage Source (VCVS) defined by
ECOMP 3 0 TABLE {V(1,2)} = (-1MV 0V) (1MVS, 10V) takes the input at
V(1,2) and produces an output at V(3,0) according to the table below

Input V(1,2) Output V(3,0)

≤ -1mV 0V
-1mV < V(1,2) < +1mV A Piece-Wise-Linear transfer
function
defined by a line between
(input,output) points (-1mV, 0V)
and (+1mV, +10V)
≥ +1mV +10V
Table no1 Given input v(1,2) and corresponding output(3,0)

PWM OUTPUT STAGE POWER:

A simple emitter follower Q1 serves as the PWM's output stage. This

transistor is driven into one of two states: fully ON or fully OFF. In either of
these states, the transistor power is calculate by PQ1 = VCE x ILOAD For
both states, the power for Q1 appears below.

QI STATE Q1 POWER
Full ON PQ1 = VCE (LO) x ILOAD (HI) = LO
Power
Full OFF PQ1 = VCE (HI) x ILOAD (LO) = LO
Power
Table no2 Q1transister state vs Q1 output stage power
CIRCUIT ANALYSIS:

Set VIN to a 5V DC level and return the triangle wave to its original 0 to 10V
swing (VIN 1 0 SIN(5V 0V 500HZ) and VTRI 2 0 PULSE(0V 10V 0 49US 49US
1US 100US ) Run a simulation and plot the power lost to Q1 by adding trace
I(RL1)*(V(10)-V(11)).

For TopSpice users, display Q1's power by #CALC PQ1=I(RL1)*(V(10)-V(11)

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Before running a simulation, then, adding trace PQ1.) We can see is the
instantaneous power lost to Q1. Two interesting points leap off the display:
1) The power is 0W when the transistor is OFF, 2) The power is only about
0.422 W when the transistor is ON, and. taking the average power, Q1 only
consumes about 0.211 W

PWM VS. LINEAR OUTPUT STAGE:

Now, let's bring in the linear output stage Q2 to check its efficiency versus
the PWM output stage. The linear stage gulps plenty of power. The only
question is: how much? Q2 is driven directly from VIN. An emitter follower is
a typical output stage for an audio or servo amplifier. The worst case is when
the output is half the supply voltage. For example, for a 10V supply, an
output voltage of 5V across RL2 leaves the other 5V across Q2.
PQ2 = VCE x ILOAD
The above equation tells us there's some serious power to be dissipated in
Q2.to calculate the power we can use topspice command given in circuit
analysis.

CIRCUIT ANALYSIS:

Plot the power lost to Q2 by adding trace

I(RL2)*(V(10)-V(12))

In TopSpice to display Q2's power by the statement

#CALC PQ2=I(RL2)*(V(10)-V(12))

Before running a simulation, then, adding trace PQ2. We observe that the
linear output stage dissipates a 1.208 W. On the other hand, the PWM output

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stage (as we cal above) delivers the same average power to the load while
only consuming 0.211 W

SPICE NETLIST

*PULSE WIDTH WAVE FORM

* INPUT VOLTAGE
VIN 1 0 SIN(5V 4V 500HZ) ;SIN(Offset Peak Freaquency)
RIN 1 0 1K
*
* 10KHZ TRIANGLE WAVE
* (GENERATED USING PULSE SOURCE WITH LONG RISE/FALL TIMES)
VTRI 2 0 PULSE(0V 10V 0 49US 49US 1US 100US)
RTRI 2 0 1MEG
*
* COMPARATOR, INPUT = V(1,2)
* FOR V(1,2) < -1mV, OUTPUT = 0V
* FOR V(1,2) > +1mV, OUTPUT = 10V
ECOMP 3 0 TABLE {V(1,2)} = (-1MV 0V) (1MV, 10V)
RCOMP 3 0 1MEG
*
* PWM OUTPUT STAGE
VCC 10 0 DC 10V
Q1 10 3 11 QNOM
RL1 11 0 20
*
* LINEAR OUTPUT STAGE
Q2 10 1 12 QNOM
RL2 12 0 20
*
.MODEL QNOM NPN
*
* ANALYSIS
.TRAN 5US 2000US
* VIEW RESULTS
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.PRINT TRAN V(1) V(3)
* TOPSPICE CALCULATIONS
#CALC PQ1=I(RL1)*(V(10)-V(11))
#CALC PQ2=I(RL2)*(V(10)-V(12))
.PROBE
.END

RESULTS

PWM OUTPUT:

Figure no.6 PWM.OUT file

Pulse width modulation output is as shown in figure no .6. In the figure V (1)
is input sine wave and v (3) is the Pulse width modulation output.
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OUTPUT STAGE POWER:

Figure no. 7 PWM stage power

Pulse width modulated stage instantaneous power is as shown in figure no.

7.

Average power dissipated is about .211mw

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LINEAR OUTPUT STAGE:

Figure no. 8 Linear output stage power

Linear output stage instantaneous power dissipation is as shown in figure no.

8

Power dissipated in this stage is 1.208w.

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 APPLICATIONS

Pulse width modulation is used in many applications

1. Pulse Width Modulation can be used to reduce the total amount of

power delivered to a load

2. Pulse Width Modulation used in Telecommunications as modulation

technique.

3. Pulse Width Modulation is also used in efficient voltage regulators

4. Pulse Width Modulation used in subtractive synthesis

5. Many microcontrollers and DSPs already include on-chip Pulse Width

Modulation controllers

6. Digital Pulse Width Modulation Control is using Power Electronic

Circuits

7. Pulse Width Modulation is can be used VLSI Implementation of Neural

Network

8. Pulse Width Modulation signals are allows realizing architecture of a

fuzzy controller with reduced chip area.

9. Analog neuron circuits can be designed using pulse width modulation.

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 10. Pulse Width Modulation is using to design Power Converters.

11. Low Frequency Pulse Width Modulation can be used in HVAC

Compressors.

CONCLUSIONS

Pulse modulation is a system of modulation in which the amplitude,

duration, position, or mere presence of discrete pulses may be so controlled
as to represent the message to be communicated. In Pulse width modulation
(PWM) duration or width is controlled.

PWM can be used to reduce the total amount of power delivered to a

load without losses normally incurred when a power source is limited by
resistive means. This is because the average power delivered is proportional
to the modulation duty cycle. With a sufficiently high modulation rate,
passive electronic filters can be used to smooth the pulse train and recover
an average analog waveform. High frequency PWM power control systems
are easily realizable with semiconductor switches. The discrete on/off states
of the modulation are used to control the state of the switch which
correspondingly controls the voltage across or current through the load. The
major advantage of this system is the switches are either off and not
conducting any current, or on and have no voltage drop across them. The
product of the current and the voltage at any given time defines the power
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dissipated by the switch, thus no power is dissipated by the switch.
Realistically, semiconductor switches such as MOSFETs or bipolar junction
transistors are non-ideal switches, but high efficiency controllers can still be
built.

During the transitions between on and off states, considerable power is

dissipated in the switches. However, the change of state between fully on
and fully off is quite rapid relative to typical on or off times, and so the
average power dissipation is quite low compared to the power being
delivered.

Pulse width wave modulation is generated using spice and out put
stage power dissipation of linear stage and the PWM stage are calculated.
Plots are shown for Pulse width wave modulation, power dissipation of linear
stage and the PWM stage.

REFERENCES

1. Gordon W. Roberts, Adel S. Sedra, Spice, 2nd ed., Oxford

University Press, 1997.

Herbert Taub, Donald L Shilling, Principles of communication systems,

3rd ed., Tata McGraw-Hill publications, 2008.

2. Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth Carless Smith, Microelectronic circuits, 5th ed.,

Oxford University Press, 2009.
3. Mischa Schwartz, William R. Bennett, Seymour Stein, Communication
Systems and Techniques, An IEEE press, 1996.

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4. F H Raah ,“Radio Frequency Pulse width Modulation “, IEEE Transaction
on communication, August 1973

5. G. S. Buja and G. B. Indri, “Optimal pulse width modulation for feeding

ac motors,” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 13, no. 1,
1977.

6. Z. Yu, A. Mohammed, and I. Panahi, “A review of three PWM

techniques, “in, Proc. American Control Conference 1997

7. Chang J.S., Tan M.T., Cheng Z. and Tong Y.C., “Analysis and Design of
Power Efficient Amplifier Output Stages,” IEEE Trans. Circuit& and
Systems I: Fundamental Theory and Applications, in press.

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation#References
9. http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/961.04/topics/pwm.pdf
10. http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/video.php?courseId=1099&p=4

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