2 August 2018

Advantages and disadvantages of pulse width modulation

PWM stands for pulse width modulation, It is a method used to control the output voltage of the converter by modulating the width of the pulse of the output waveform. Here this article gives information about the advantages and disadvantages of pulse width modulation to know more details about it.

Advantages of pulse width modulation :
  • Cheap to make
  • Low power consumption
  • Efficiency up to 90 %
  • A signal can be separated very easily at demodulation and noise can be also separated easily 
  • High power handling capacity
  • Can utilize very high frequency
  • Little heat whilst working
  • Noise interference is less
  • Very energy efficient when used to convert the voltage or to his light bulb 
  • A system in moderate inefficiency among all three types
  • Synchronization between transmitter and receiver is not required unlike pulse position modulation (PPM)
  • Filter requirement is reduced
  • Amplitude and frequency can be controlled independently
  • Significance reduction in THD of load current

Disadvantages of pulse width modulation :
  • The complexity of the circuit
  • Voltage spikes
  • The system requires a semiconductor device with low turn ON and turn OFF times. Hence they are very expensive
  • Radiofrequency interference
  • Electromagnetic noise
  • Bandwidth should be large to use in communication
  • High switching loss due to the high PWM frequency
  • The instantaneous power of the transmitter is varies