Comparison of PWM and PFM induction drives regarding audible noise and vibration for household applications

This paper is aimed at comparing the performance of pulse frequency modulation (PFM) and pulsewidth modulation (PWM) techniques regarding audible noise generated from inverter-driven induction motors. For the purpose of illustrating the performance of the two modulation techniques, a drive developed for washing machine applications is considered. First, the measured and simulated harmonic content of this inverter is compared with the measured harmonic spectrum of a three-phase input-output commercial variable-frequency inverter. It is found that despite the 8-bit processor inexpensive implementation, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of PFM is comparable to the THD of PWM in more sophisticated applications. It is discovered that the harmonic spectrum of PFM exhibits harmonics of smaller magnitude distributed over 0.9f/sub o/--2.1f/sub o/ (base switching frequency) range, as opposed to a smaller number of dominant harmonics of PWM. Next, the prototype drive is programmed to generate both sine-PWM and PFM waveforms. The motor is driven at several frequencies and the audible noise and vibration level of the motor is measured. It is observed that the type of current harmonic content of PFM leads to reduced noise and vibration.