Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE
4
International Symposium on Intelligent Control
Munich, Germany, October 4-6, 2006
Optimization of THD and Suppressing Certain Order Harmonics in
PWM inverters using Genetic Algorithms
A. Sayyah, Student Member, IEEE, M. Aflaki, and A.R.Rezazade
Abstract In this paper the aim is to minimize the total
harmonic distortion (THD) in PWM inverters while
suppressing chosen harmonics concurrently and maintaining
the fundamental component of the output voltage at a required
level. This is reformed as an optimization task and the optimal
pulse patterns are accomplished using genetic algorithm (GA)
optimization technique to minimize a predefined fitness
function. The complete solutions that suppress the 5th and 7th
harmonics and optimize the THD are given. A practical
limitation on the determination of sequential switching angles
has been considered as a set of constraints in derivation of the
results.
I. INTRODUCTION
A MONG all power converters used in industry, the pulse-
width modulated(PWM) have the most widespread
applications such as: uninterruptible power supply (UPS),
phase controlled rectifier, and adjustable speed servo drives.
The main features that have made them candidates in many
industrial applications are: their capabilities of controlling
the output voltage and frequency simultaneously, and
generating output waveform with low harmonic distortion.
The output voltage of an ideal inverter is sinusoidal.
However, the waveforms of practical inverters are non-
sinusoidal and contain certain harmonics. In low- and
medium-power applications, square-wave or quasi-square-
wave voltages may be acceptable, but in high-power
applications, sinusoidal waveforms are desired to be less
distorted [18]. In this case, direct optimization of the
waveform based on specification of an optimal value for
each switching instant seems indispensable [6].
This optimization can be achieved via various approaches.
Elimination of the lower frequency dominant harmonics and
Minimization of the total harmonic distortion are the two
widely-used methods in choosing the switching instants. The
more studied of the two techniques is the harmonic
elimination method in which the switching angles are chosen
(programmed) so as to eliminate specific harmonics. These
switching patterns can be determined by solving some
systems of nonlinear and transcendental equations [1]-[5].
A. Sayyah is Senior in Electrical Engineering in Shahid Beheshti
University, Tehran, 19839-63113 (phone: +98-21-44080421; e-mail:
arash.sayyah@gmail.com).
M. Aflaki, has graduated from Shahid Beheshti University in Electrical
Engineering, Tehran, 19839-63113. She is now doing her graduate studies
in Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, 11365-8639 Iran (e-mail:
mitra.aflaki@gmail.com).
A. R. Rezazade is the faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department, Shahid Beheshti University , Tehran ,19839-63113 (e-mail:
alireza.rezazade@gmail.com).
0-7803-9798-3/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE
WeC04.
These transcendental equations are solved using iterative
numerical techniques, where the initially provided
approximate solutions must be sufficiently close to the exact
solutions to ensure the convergence of the solutions, and this
is the most difficult task associated with these methods [6].
Some attempts have been made to simplify harmonic
elimination equations by applying Walsh functions [7]-[9].
It was believed that the system of transcendental nonlinear
harmonic elimination equations resulting from Fourier
analysis of PWM waveform could be replaced by a system
of linear algebraic equations when Walsh analysis is
applied. However, it has been illustrated that Walsh
functions approach is neither theoretically nor practically
applicable [6]. In some other studies [12], the complete
solutions to the harmonic elimination problem have been
presented using the theory of resultants from elimination
theory [10], [11]. These expressions are difficult and time
consuming to derive. An increase in the number of
switching angles can exacerbate the problem due to its call
for exorbitant calculations. This paper has a three-fold
objective. First, minimization of the THD in the case of
three switching angles, second, elimination of the 5th and 7th
harmonics and presenting complete solutions as in [12] but
this time considering a practical limitation on choosing the
sequential switching angles, that makes the utilization of
switching instants possible in low modulation indices, and
third, optimization of an objective function formed by
combining the first and second terms discussed above. All
the steps enumerated above, have been carried out using
GA. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is a randomized parallel
search method modeled on natural selection. GA can be
applied to a variety of problems and is becoming a
significant tool in machine learning and function
optimization [13]-[16].
II. THREE-PHASE INVERTERS AND PWM WAVEFORM
Three-phase inverters are normally used for high-power
applications. Three single-phase half (or full)-bridge
inverters can be connected in parallel as shown in Fig. 1 to
form the configuration of three-phase inverters.
Q1 D1 Q3 D3 Q5 D5
VS
a
b
c
Q4 D4 Q6 D6 Q2 D2
VS
Fig. 1. Three-phase voltage source inverter (GTOs as power switches).
874
 In this study, the switching angles B1, B2 and B3 shown functions. Each switching angle is called a gene, which can
in Fig. 2, are chosen in a way to minimize certain defined be coded as a binary or floating-point string of length. In this
functions. study, a binary string is used. A chromosome consists of all
f (R) B1 genes.
1 Some brief comparisons between the performance of GA
and other approaches applied to harmonic elimination
Q Q 3Q 2Q Xt problem (for instance) and also advantages of GA over
2 2 conventional optimization methods are considered to be:
1 1) An initial estimate of the solution is not required. This is
B2 B3 in contrast with iterative numerical techniques where
Fig. 2. A symmetrical two-level normalized PWM waveform. the initially provided approximate solution has a pivotal
Quarter-wave symmetry (i.e. f ( Q2  R)  f ( Q2  R)) and role for the convergence of the algorithm. On the other
half-wave inverse symmetry (i.e. f (Q  R)  f (Q  R))
considered in the Fig. 2, ensure the elimination of even-
order harmonics in the output of the inverter.
One important point to be considered in selection of
switching instances is that there must be a minimum delay
between the moment a thyristor goes out and the moment the
next thyristor fires. Otherwise, the two thyristors would
form a short-circuit. To avoid this condition, we assume a
minimum difference of 100Ns between the two adjacent
switching instances. The corresponding angle would be
0.0314 rad (the fundamental frequency is assumed 50 Hz ).
Hence in 3-switch case we have:
(i) B1  R (ii) B2  B1  R
(iii) B3  B2  R (iv) Q/2  B3  R/2 (1)
Satisfaction of these constraints turns optimization, from a
pure mathematical procedure into a more practical one. The
calculated switching angles are stored in a read-only
memory (ROM) and are served as a look-up table. During
real-time operation, the required fundamental amplitude is
used for addressing the corresponding switching angles in
the look-up table which are read out for controlling the
inverter. To avoid the use of large memory components and
to improve the flexibility and maintenance of the system, a
real-time generation of switching instants can be performed
from simple functions that approximate off-line calculated
solution trajectories [19]. The accuracy of the on-line
generated switching instants has a great reliance on the
proximity of functions and could be increased, at least
theoretically, to any extent by using high-order polynomials.
III. GENETIC ALGORITHM
Genetic algorithms are defined as stochastic optimization
techniques relying on the genetic natural evolution
mechanisms of creative beings [13], [20] .These algorithms
encode a potential solution to a specific problem on a simple
chromosome-like data structure and apply recombination
operators to these structures so as to preserve critical
information. Although genetic algorithms are often viewed
as function optimizers, the range of problems to which
genetic algorithms can be applied is quite broad.
In the problem discussed in this paper, the solution is to
choose 3 switching instants (angles) in an electrical cycle
(Fig. 2) for turning the switches on and off in a full bridge
inverter (Fig. 1) so as to produce a desired fundamental
amplitude while optimizing the predefined objective
875
hand, due to the stochastic nature of the search
mechanism in GA's, they have the capability to explore
the entire search space with more likelihood of finding
all solutions (as in the harmonic elimination problem
where in the case of 3 switching angles a totally new,
and not previously reported [1], [3], [4], set of solutions
was found).
2) Computational complexity is reduced in this approach
in comparison with other applied approaches. Derived
analytical expressions that use the mathematical
Resultants theory to compute the optimum switching
angles for the harmonic elimination problem can be
considered for comparison [12]. The expressions are
polynomials of 22nd degree, which are difficult and
time-consuming to derive [27].
3) Probability of getting trapped in locally optimal
solutions is significantly decreased. Industrial
engineering problems usually contain nonlinearities and
complex interactions among problem variables.
Application of classical point-to-point algorithms (direct
or gradient-based) may result in suboptimal solutions.
The possibility of this occurrence is greatly reduced due
to the random process blended with GA.
4) Particularly apt for addressing constrained optimization
problems. A vast majority of industrial engineering
optimization problems are constrained problems. The
presence of constraints significantly affects the
performance of every optimization algorithm [21].
Classic linear programming and nonlinear programming
methods are often either unsuitable or empirical when
applied to some constrained problems [22]. Difficulties
arise because either the amount of computation required
quickly becomes unmanageable as the size of the
problem increases, or the constraints violate the
required assumptions, such as differentiability or
convexity.
Several methods have been developed to handle
constraints in evolutionary computation techniques,
which can be classified into categories such as: methods
based on penalty functions (which is the most common
approach in genetic algorithms community) [23], [24],
the assumption of superiority of feasible solutions over
infeasible ones [25], and repair algorithms [26].
In this study, we have used the method of rejection of
infeasible individuals. This is a popular option in many
evolutionary techniques. Rejection of infeasible
 individuals offers a few simplifications of the algorithm;
there is no need to evaluate infeasible solutions and to
compare them with feasible ones. Details of applying
this procedure are given in the sequel.
GA procedure that is used herein is as follows:
Step 1: Initialization of population: An initial population
of individuals is chosen. An n q 2 random matrix is
generated. The first and second dimensions of this matrix
represent the number of individuals and the number of
independent variables that lie in [0, Q/2] , respectively. An
increase in number of individuals can enhance the
It should be stated that to increase the precision of the
optimal solution accomplished by the algorithm, we used a
local search function.
IV. PROBLEM FORMULATION AND TOTAL HARMONIC
DISTORTION MINIMIZATION
As mentioned earlier, the PWM waveform illustrated in
Fig. 2 does not contain even-order harmonics due to its
symmetrical structure. Thus it can be expanded using
Fourier series as:
d

performance and result in faster convergence of the f (R)  V2k 1 sin[(2k  1)R ] (2)
k 0
algorithm significantly. The value of n is considered 100 . th
In which V2k 1 is the amplitude of the 2k  1
harmonic
It has been shown in section IV that the third switching
voltage k  0,1,2, !
which can be calculated as:
angle is dependent on the first and second switching angles Q/2
and the modulation index (m ) . The rows of the matrix are V2k 1 (4/Q) f (R) sin[(2k  1)R ]
0
sorted in ascending order. The feasibility of solutions, based (3)
3
on satisfaction of constraints stated in previous section, can  (4/Q 2k  1
) 1  2 1
cos[(2k  1)Bi ]
be checked in this stage. Then, feasible solutions undergo
the next steps of the algorithm.
Step 2: Evaluation: The fitness of each individual is
evaluated. In the sequel, objective functions for optimization
are defined in proper positions.
Step 3: Selection: After the fitness of each individual is
computed and evaluated, parent chromosomes are selected
for reproduction. This process imitates the survival of the
fittest mechanism in nature. Roulette wheel selection [14] is
the most common and easy-to-implement selection
mechanism and is used in this studys approach.
Step 4: Mating and Crossover: This is a crucial step to the
formation of the next generation. The individual
corresponding to an angle that is generated randomly in
Roulette wheel selection undergoes crossover and mutation
to produce offspring for the next generation. In this work,
multipoint crossover is adopted for increasing efficiency.
Step 5: Mutation: The genes of the offspring are randomly
perturbed, usually with a small probability ( 0.01 in this
study). This step avoids the algorithm from getting stuck in
local minima.
Step 6: Elitism: In order to preserve and use the previous
best solutions in subsequent generation, an elite-preserving
operator is often recommended. In a simple implementation,
the best F% of the population from the current population is
, can be
directly copied to the next generation. Number of elite count
considered here is 2 .
Step 7: Termination criteria: The algorithm is repeated
i
i 1
A practical situation can be considered that the inverter is
used to supply ac power of constant frequency to a general
three-phase ac load, where a filter is typically installed in the
output terminal. In this case high-order harmonics are
attenuated by the filter. The cut-off frequency of the filter is
considered as 1 kHz . Hence, elimination of harmonics larger
than 20th is assumed to be done (fundamental frequency is
assumed 50 Hz ). It is intuitively obvious that an increase in
the cut-off frequency of the filter, leads to a significant
reduction of filter size. Also, system efficiency tends to
increase. Based on this discussion, in this section, the aim is
to minimize the THD while maintaining the fundamental
component (V1 ) at a constant level. That is:
1
THD 
V1
h Sh Vh2 subject to V1  m (4)
In which S h  {5, 7,11,13,17,19} .
Hereafter in this article THD refers to the specifications
mentioned in (4). The reason of nonappearance of triple
harmonics in S h , is that as a three phase system is of interest,
it can be shown [6] that, the triple harmonics cancel each
other in line-to-line voltages and thus can be ignored when
defining the optimal waveforms. Also noticing the constraint
V1  m (that has occasionally appeared in sections of this
study), we observe that one decision variable B3
eliminated using this equality:
V1  m
(5)
until a predetermined number of generations is reached. In  (4/Q)(1  2 cos B1  2 cos B2  2 cos B3 )
this study the termination criteria is reaching 500th Equation (5) can be rewritten as:
generation.
The values of the parameters of the algorithm greatly
(6)
determine whether the algorithm will find a near-optimum
solution and whether it will find such a solution efficiently.
Choosing right parameter values, however, is a time-
consuming task and considerable effort has gone into
developing good heuristics for it. This is due to the fact that
parameters often interact in a complex way.
876
B3  cos1 (1/2) m Q/4  1  2 cos B1  2 cos B2
This way, the equality constraint is automatically satisfied
in every step of the optimization process. The optimal
switching angles and corresponding THD are shown in Figs.
3 (a, b).
As Fig. 3 (a) shows, step changes occur in the trajectory
of switching angles in m  0.1 and m  0.365 .
 S Considering the handling of V1  m
in previous
section, we can define the objective function here as the
Optimal Switching Angles (in radians)

summation of these two harmonics normalized to the

D fundamental:
 V V
D
w B1, B2
 5  7 . (8)

D
V1 V1
 Genetic Algorithm program has been run for several times
and for specified values of modulation index. Two sets of

solutions have been accomplished. These two sets are shown
 in Fig. 5.
 S
       

Optimal Switching Angles (in radians)

Modulation Index (m)

(a)
 

  set 1

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)

  set 2

 

 

 






       
 Modulation Index (m)
Fig. 5. Two sets of switching angles in harmonic elimination problem.



    


Modulation Index (m) In m [0, 0.08] subinterval, B1 and B2 of set1 are constant
(b) at 0.4415 rad and 0.4729 rad , respectively. In m [0, 0.1] ,
Fig. 3. (a) Optimal switching angles and (b) corresponding THD. the third switch of set2 is constant at 1.555 rad and keeps its
The frequency content of the waveform resulted from the distance from Q/2 at R/2  0.0157 rad . This is due to the
minimized THD is illustrated in Fig. 4 versus m and constraints applied to the algorithm. The corresponding
harmonic number. THD's of set1 and set2 are plotted versus m
in Fig. 6.


Harmonic Content Magnitude




Total Harmonic Distortion (%)




 set 1

 
set 2
 
 
 



  
 
Harmonic Number   Modulation Index (m)

Fig. 4. Harmonic content magnitude vs. m and harmonic number. 
     


Modulation Index (m)
V. HARMONIC ELIMINATION Fig. 6. Comparison of THD of two sets of switching angles.
Harmonic elimination aims to completely remove N  1
low-order harmonics ( N is the number of switches in the It is observed in Fig. 6 that the THD value is smaller in
first-quarter period) from a PWM waveform and, at the set2 in comparison with set1 in the considered interval of
same time, to regulate the fundamental amplitude V1 at a modulation index. The great deviation is seen at
pre-specified level (i.e. m ). m  0.99 with the error percentage of 38.8% . Thus in
In this case, we intend to eliminate the 5th and 7th applying the set of solutions, set2 is preferable. Normalized
harmonics. That is: FFT of the two sets of solutions at m  0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8
i)V1  m, ii)V5  0, iii)V7  0. (7) are brought in Fig. 6 for comparison.

877
 Multi-Objective Estimate a
set 1 Optimization Problem relative
Minimize f1
Normalized FFT (V h /V1)

Higher-level importance
 Minimize f2 Information
 ! vector
Minimize fm
 Subject to constraints M1, M2,!, Mm


set 2


 Single-Objective
One Optimum Single-Objective Optimization Problem

 m=0.8 Solution Optimizer F  M1 f1  M2 f2  !  Mm fm

 m=0.6 a composite function
 m=0.4
 Fig. 7. A schematic diagram of converting multi-objective optimization to
 m=0.2
Harmonic Number Modulation Index (m) single-objective optimization.
GA was run for the minimization of (11), for different
Fig. 6. Normalized FFT Vk /V1
for m  0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 .
values of M M  0.1, 0.2, 0.8, 2, 5,10
. It is important to
realize that the solution achieved by using the preference-
VI. THD OPTIMIZATION AND SUPPRESSING CERTAIN based strategy is greatly dependent on the relative
ORDER HARMONICS preference vector used in forming the composite function.
Here, the definition of the problem is: Besides, it is intuitive to realize that finding a relative
1 preference vector itself is highly subjective, and requires an
Minimize w1 (B1, B2 ) 
V1
h Sh Vh2 analysis of the qualitative and experience-driven information
to find a quantitative relative preference vector. The results
V shown in the sequel, elaborate this decision-making.
w2 (B1, B2 )  5 (9) The optimal switching angles for the two cases of
V1
M  0.1 and M  10 are shown in Fig. 8.
V S
w 3 (B1, B2 )  7 subject to V1  m 
V1
Optimal Switching Angles (in radians)



As can be observed in the definition above, this 

optimization problem deals with more than one objective 
function. Hence, it is called a multi-objective optimization 
O
problem (MOOP) [17]. In fact there exist a number of 
fundamental differences between the working principles of 
single and multi-objective optimization algorithms. But in 
this study to reduce the complexity, we have transformed O

multiple objectives into a single objective function by using

some predefined parameters. In other words, a composite
objective function is formed as the weighted sum of the 
      
objectives, where a weight for an objective is proportional to Modulation Index (m)
the preference factor assigned to that particular objective. Fig. 8. Optimization results for M  0.1 and M  10 .
This procedure is called preference-based multi-objective In the case of M  10 , the switching scheme changes at
optimization. A schematic of this procedure is shown in Fig. m  0.31 due to the change in the value of global optimal
1-3 in [17] (or Fig. 7). solution from (B1, B2 )  (0.7657, 0.8485) at m  0.31 to
Based on discussion above, the definition of the problem (B1, B2 )  (0.05278,1.1257) at m  0.315 . Also, changes in
can be considered as: the trajectory of switching angles in the case of M  10
1 M M occur at m  0.04 and m  0.15 .
F (B1, B2 ) 
V1
h Sh h
V1

V 2  12 V52  22 V72
V1 (10)

We can define Harmonic Elimination (HE) parameter as:
V V
subject to V1  m HE  5  7 . (12)
If an equal importance is assumed for suppressing the 5th V1 V1
and 7th harmonics (i.e. M1  M2  M ), then: This parameter has been shown in Fig. 9 versus m and the
1 M values of M . As Fig. 9 shows, the value of HE, as we were
F (B1, B2 )  2 h S Vh2  2 V52 V72

V1 h V1
(11)

expecting, falls with increase of M . Indeed, increase of M is
assigning a larger weight to the harmonic elimination term
subject to V1  m in (11).

878
 [3] H. S. Patel and R. G. Hoft, Generalized harmonic elimination and
voltage control in thryristor inverters: part Iharmonic elimination,
IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 9, pp. 310317, May/June 1973.
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Harmonic Elimination (HE)

 thryristor inverters: part IIvoltage control technique, IEEE Trans.

Ind. Applicat., vol. 10, pp. 666673, Sept./Oct. 1974.
 [5] J. Sun and I. Grotstollen, Pulse width modulation based on real-time
 solution of algebraic harmonic elimination equations, in Proc. 20th
Int.Conf. Ind. Electron., Contr. Instrum. IECON, vol. 1, 1994, pp. 79
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 [6] J. Sun, Optimal Pulse width modulation Techniques for High-Power

Voltage-Source Inverters, VDI VERLAG, 1995.
  [7] J. A. Asumadu, and R. G. Hoft, Microprocessor-based sinusoidal
  
  waveform synthesis using Walsh and related orthogonal functions,




 O IEEE Trans.Power Electron., vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 234-241, 1989.
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[8] M. H. Park, D. S. Ahn, C. Y. Won, H. K. Lee, T. H. Kim,
Fig. 9. Harmonic Elimination parameter vs. m and M . Microprocessor-based new harmonic elimination method using
Walsh-Fourier transformation, in Proc. Int. Power Electron. Conf.
The corresponding THD's of different values of M have (IPEC90), pp. 799-808, 1990.
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[12] J. Chiasson, L. M. Tolbert, K. McKenzie, and Z. Du, A complete
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M Electron. vol. 19, no. 2, Mar. 2004.
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Total Harmonic Distortion (%)

M [14] M. Mitchell, An introduction to genetic algorithms. 1st ed. Prentice-







 
    
Modulation Index (m)
Fig. 10. Total Harmonic Distortion for different values of M vs. m .
VII. CONCLUSION
Minimization of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is
done first. Then 5th and 7th harmonics are eliminated from
the inverter output and the complete solutions are presented.
In the sequel, a composite function has been defined and
optimized to suppress 5th and 7th harmonics and to minimize
the THD concurrently. The fundamental component is
maintained at a constant level (i.e. modulation index)
throughout the procedure, and a practical limitation has been
considered on determination of adjacent switching angles.
Optimal pulse patterns are accomplished using genetic
algorithm (GA) optimization method.
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