Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Multilevel Inverter Photovoltaic (PV) systems'

Multilevel inverters offer many well-known advantages for use in high-voltage and high-power applications, but they are also well suited for low-power applications. A single phase inverter is developed in this paper to deliver power from a residential-scale system of Photovoltaic panels to the utility grid. The single-stage inverter implements a novel control technique for the reversing voltage topology to produce a stepped output waveform. This approach increases the granularity of control over the PV systems, modularizing key components of the inverter and allowing the inverter to extract the maximum power from the systems. The adaptive controller minimizes harmonic distortion in its output and controls the level of reactive power injected to the grid. A computer model of the controller is designed and tested in the MATLAB program Simulink to assess the performance of the controller. To validate the results, the performance of the proposed inverter is compared to that of a comparable voltage-sourced inverter.

With worldwide growing demand for electric energy, there has been a great interest in exploring photovoltaic (PV) sources. For the PV generation system, the power converter is the most essential part for the efficiency and function performance. In recent years, there have been quite a few new transformerless PV inverters topologies, which eliminate the traditional line frequency transformers to achieve lower cost and higher efficiency, and maintain lower leakage current as well. With an overview of the state-of-the-art transformerless PV inverters, a new inverter technology is summarized in the Chapter 2, which is named V-NPC inverter technology. Based this V-NPC technology, a family of high efficiency transformerless inverters are proposed and detailly analyzed. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of V-NPC technology and high performance of the transformerless inverters. For the lower power level transformerless inverters, most of the innovative topologies try to use super junction metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor(MOSFET) to boost efficiency, but these MOSFET based inverter topologies suffer from one or more of these drawbacks: MOSFET failure risk from body diode reverse recovery, increased conduction losses due to more devices, or low magnetics utilization. By splitting the conventional MOSFET based phase leg with an optimized inductor, Chapter 3 proposes a novel MOSFET based phase leg configuration to minimize these drawbacks. Based on the proposed phase leg configuration, a high efficiency single-phase MOSFET transformerless inverter is presented for the PV micro-inverter applications. The PWM modulation and circuit operation principle are then described. The common mode and differential mode voltage model is then presented and analyzed for circuit design. Experimental results of a 250 W hardware prototype are shown to demonstrate the merits of the proposed MOSFET based phase-le and the proposed transformerless inverter. New codes require PV inverters to provide system regulation and service to improve the distribution system stabilization. One obvious impact on PV inverters is that they now need to have reactive power generation capability. The Chapter 4 improves the MOFET based transformerless inverter in the Chapter 3 and proposed a novel pulse width modulation (PWM) method for reactive power generation. The ground loop voltage of this inverter under the proposed PWM method is also derived with common mode and differential mode circuit analyses, which indicate that high-frequency voltage component can be minimized with symmetrical design of inductors. A 250-W inverter hardware prototype has been designed and fabricated. Steady state and transient operating conditions are tested to demonstrate the validity of improved inverter and proposed PWM method for reactive power generation, high efficiency of the inverter circuit, and the high-frequency-free ground loop voltage. Besides the high efficiency inverter circuit, the grid connection function is also the essential part of the PV system. The Chapter 5 present the overall function blocks for a grid-connected PV inverter system. The current control and voltage control loop is then analyzed, modeled, and designed. The dynamic reactive power generation is also realized in the control system. The new PLL method for the grid frequency/voltage disturbance is also realized and demonstrate the validity of the detection and protection capability for the voltage/frequency disturbance. At last, a brief conclusion is given in the Chapter 6 about each work. After that, future works on device packaging, system integration, innovation on inverter circuit, and standard compliance are discussed.
Ph. D.

The Photovoltaic (PV) systems have been realized using different architectures, starting with the string and centralized PV system to the modular PV system. Presently, decentralized inverters are being developed at the PV panel power level (known as AC ?? PV Modules). Such new PV systems are becoming more attractive and many expect this will be the trend of the future. The AC-Module PV system consists of an inverter attached to one PV panel. This integration requires that both devices have the same life-span. Although, the available commercial inverters have a relatively short life-span (10 years) compared to the 25 ??year PV. It has been stated in literature that the energy storage capacitor (electrolytic type) in the single-phase inverter is the most vulnerable electronic component. Hence, many techniques such as (power decoupling techniques) have been proposed to solve this problem by replacing the large electrolytic capacitor with a small film capacitor. This thesis will present a quick review of these power decoupling techniques, and proposes a new three-port micro-inverter with power decoupling capability for AC-Module PV system applications.
ID: 028732249; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (M.S.)--University of Central Florida, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references.
M.S.
Masters
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Engineering and Computer Science

Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology: Electrical Engineering (Energy) in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa.
In photovoltaic power systems, the DC/AC conversion efficiency depends on weather conditions causing PV inverters to operate under fluctuating input power from PV modules. The peak efficiency stated by the inverter manufacturers are often used by project designers to estimate how much power PV plants can produce. However, the varying nature of the DC input power to the inverters, occasioned by varying irradiation and temperature, leads to deviations of the actual efficiency from the peak efficiency. Literature surveys prove that inverter efficiencies must be evaluated against local irradiation profiles to get more precise annual energy yield estimations, since meteorological conditions and solar irradiation profiles vary from one site to another around the planet.

One of the most pressing problems nowadays is climate change and global warming. As it name indicates, it is a problem that concerns the whole earth. There is no doubt that the main cause for this to happen is human, and very related to non-renewable carbon-based energy resources. However, technology has evolved, and some alternatives have appeared in the energy conversion sector. Nevertheless, they are relatively young yet. Since the growth in renewable energies technologies wind power and PV are the ones that have taken the lead. Wind power is a relatively mature technology and even if it still has challenges to overcome the horizon is clear. However, in the PV case the technology is more recent. Even if it is true that PV modules have been used in space applications for more than 60 years, large scale production has not begun until last 10 years. This leaves the uncertainty of how will PV plants and modules age. The author will try to analyse the aging of a specific 63 kWp PV plant located in the roof of a building in Gävle, monitoring production and ambient condition data, to estimate the degradation and the new nominal power of the plant. It has been found out that the degradation of the system is not considerable. PV modules and solar inverters were studied, and even if there are more elements in the system, those are the principal ones. PV modules suffered a degradation of less than 5%, while solar inverters’ efficiency dropped from 95,4% to around 93%.

Détection de défaut d'arcs intégrée dans un convertisseur intelligent contrôlé par FPGA pour les panneaux photovoltaïques. La mise au point de convertisseur intelligents intégrant des dispositifs de protection est une thématique que cherche à développer l'Institut Technologique de Morelia (Mexique) avec laquelle nous collaborons sur ce projet. L'objectif plus spécifique de ce travail repose sur la détection de défauts d'arc électrique en se basant sur le contrôle intelligent des onduleurs utilisés dans la gestion de l'énergie produite par des panneaux photovoltaïques. Depuis plusieurs années, le développement croissant des panneaux solaires photovoltaïques comme source d’énergie s’est imposé et la sécurité de ces dispositifs liée à la détection de défauts d’arcs électriques est devenu un enjeu majeur. L'approche que nous proposons dans ce travail est le développement d'une stratégie novatrice pour la surveillance et la prédiction de défaillance du réseau électrique constitué de panneaux solaires en présence de défauts d’arcs. Actuellement, la majorité des systèmes de détection comprennent des modules détecteurs disposés dans le circuit électrique à protéger dont la robustesse est loin d'être optimale. L'approche que nous proposons consiste à développer un dispositif de surveillance et de détection de défaut directement intégré dans l'onduleur intelligent. Le contrôle optimal de l'onduleur intelligent assurera une détection fiable de défaut d'arc sans déclenchement intempestif. Le dispositif comprendra également un système de coupure. La méthode de détection que nous privilégions sera basée sur l'analyse du courant et de la tension de ligne. Les algorithmes seront basés sur une analyse temps/fréquence des signatures courant et de tension suivie par une logique pertinente de décision de telle manière à minimiser le taux de fausses détections.Le noyau du convertisseur intelligent est constitué par un FPGA. Le parallélisme des traitements de données assurera le respect des contraintes temps réel. Dans le cadre du projet de thèse, la mise en œuvre, le test des algorithmes de détection et l’implémentation optimale afin de respecter les contraintes temps réel dans le FPGA sera mené dans le cadre d’une cotutelle de thèse entre l’institut technologique de Morelia et l’Université de Lorraine
In this research work, the development of a multilevel inverter for PV applications is presented. The PV inverter, has two stages one DC/DC converter and one DC/AC inverter, and is capable of generating an AC multilevel output of nine levels, it's a transformerless inverter and uses a reduced number of components compared to other topologies. The conception of a novel DC/DC converter is capable of generating two isolated DC voltage levels needed to feed the DC/AC stage. This DC/DC stage is developed in two variants, buck and boost, the _rst to perform the reduction of voltage when the DC bus is too high, and second to increase the voltage when the DC bus is too low to perform interconnection with the grid through the DC/AC inverter. This is achieved thanks to the parallel functioning of the developed topology, which make use of moderated duty cycles, that reduces the stress in the passive and switching components, reducing potential losses. The validation of the PV inverter is performed in simulation and experimental scenarios. In the other hand, the response of the inverter facing an arc fault in the DC bus is studied by performing a series of tests where the fault is generated in strategic points of the DC side, this is possible thanks to the design and construction of an arc fault generator based in the specifications of the UL1699B norm. During the tests is observed that with the apparition of an arc fault, there is a lost in the half-wave symmetry of the AC multilevel output voltage waveform, generating even harmonics which aren't present during normal operation, only when an arc fault is present in the DC system. The monitoring of even harmonics set the direction for developing the detection technique. Since the magnitude of even harmonics in the inverter is very low, the total even harmonic distortion is employed as a base for the detection technique presented in this thesis. The effectiveness of this method is verified with a series of tests performed with different loads

In the recent past, energy and environment have played opposite roles in human progress. Energy has been as an engine for the development and the environment has been as the breaker of it. Only after a more conscious and rigorous international policy on environment protection, not opposed to the development, energy and environmental matters have become unified behind a new sustainable model. This has determined new strategies in the energy sector. Hence, renewable sources have become a must in this new sustainable model. The key role in the last decade has been played by the Distributed Power Generation Systems (DPGS) which present an efficient and economic way of generating electricity closer to the load(s). The DPGS can contribute to an efficient and renewable electricity future by potentially: increasing the use of renewable sources of energy; improving the efficiency of the electricity system by reducing transmission and distribution losses; improving the security of the electricity supply through increased diversity of supply and reduced vulnerability to simultaneous system failures. However, the new trend of using DPGS comes also with a suite of new challenges. One of the challenges is the interaction between the DPGS and the utility grid. As a consequence, grid interconnection requirements applied to the distributed generation are continuously updated in order to maintain the quality and the stability of the utility grid. Consequently, the major tasks of this thesis were to analyze and to develop new strategies for solar energy conversion addressing efficiency and quality in order to allow the DPGS not only to deliver power with high efficiency to the utility grid but also to sustain it. This thesis was divided into three main parts, as follows: à ¢ Small Photovoltaic System: AC moduleà ¢ , à ¢ Control of DPGSà ¢ and à ¢ New Topologies and Devices, technologies for multilevel inverter addressing grid connectionà ¢ . 8 In the first part, the main focus was on topologies for module integration. Additionally, a new topology has been proposed and developed and successfully tested. In the second part, the main focus was c on Control, PWM techniques and ancillary function as grid-connection algorithms. In the third part, the main reported research was concentrated around the role of multilevel inverter in the next future of DPGS. Focusing on topologies and technologies device.

The output power variability of intermittent renewable sources can cause significant fluctuations in distribution system voltages. A local linear controller that exploits the capability of a photovoltaic inverter to provide both real and reactive power is described. This controller substitutes reactive power for real power when fluctuations in the output of the photovoltaic source are experienced. In this way, the inverter can help mitigate distribution system voltage fluctuations. In order to provide real and reactive to the grid, a three-phase grid-connected single-stage photovoltaic system with maximum power point tracking and power control is described. A method of reducing the current harmonic caused by resonance of the LC filter and transformer is presented. The local linear controller is examined using an example distribution system, and it is found that the controller is effective at mitigating voltage violations. The photovoltaic control system is examined using three-phase single-stage PV inverter system. The power control and damping system show good performance and stability under rapid change of irradiance.

This thesis focuses on the single-phase voltage-source inverter for use in photovoltaic (PV) electricity generating systems in both stand-alone and grid-tied applications. In many cases, developments in single-phase PV systems have followed developments in three-phase systems. Time-variant systems are more difficult to control than time-invariant systems. Nevertheless, by using suitable transformation techniques, time-variant systems can often be modelled as time-invariant systems. After the transformation, the control signals that are usually time-variant (often varying sinusoidally in time) become time-invariant at the fundamental frequency, and are hence much easier to deal with. With this approach, synchronous rotating frame control techniques have been previously proposed for high performance three-phase inverter applications. The transformation theory cannot be applied directly in single-phase systems without modification, and the d-q components would not be time-invariant in situations where harmonics, resonances or unbalance is present. Single-phase inverter controller designs based on the use of a synchronous rotating reference frame have been proposed, but such designs do not always perform as well as expected. This thesis aims to improve single-phase voltage-source inverters. The main objective is to address, in terms of cost, efficiency, power management and power quality, the problems found with single-phase designs based on a synchronous rotating frame single-phase inverter controller. Consequently, this thesis focuses on a novel controller approach in order to obtain a more reliable and flexible single-phase inverter. As the first step, this thesis investigates the single-phase inverter switching gate-drive algorithms and develops a form of space-vector pulse-width-modulation (SVPWM) in order to reduce total harmonic distortion. The results of the new SVPWM algorithm demonstrate its superior performance when compared with sinusoidal pulse-width-modulation (SPWM) which is often used with single-phase inverters. The second step, which is further reviewed and presented in this thesis, is the modelling of the single-phase inverter control based on the synchronous rotating frame. A mathematical analysis is conducted to determine the mechanism of the coupling that exists between the voltage phase and amplitude terms, and a new transformation strategy is proposed based on using the voltage phase as a reference at the Park transformation stages, and the current phase as a reference for the current at the transformation stages. The line-frequency components of the feedback signals are transformed to time-invariant components, thus eliminating the ripple and reducing the computational burden associated with the controller stage. Consequently, the inverter feedback controller stage is designed so that the coupling terms are decoupled within the controller itself. The effectiveness of the techniques proposed in this thesis are demonstrated by simulation using the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. The proposed technique was also investigated through a practical implementation of the control system using a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and a single-phase inverter. This practical system was tested up to 1 kW only (limited by the available inverter hardware). Nevertheless, the correlation between the simulation and the practical results is high and this gives confidence that the developed mechanism will allow the 2.5kW goal to be achieved. Practical test cases illustrate the effectiveness of the models. In addition, the comparisons between experimental and simulation results permit the system's behaviour and performance to be accurately evaluated. With the development of the new controller, small-scale single-phase renewable energy systems will become more useful in the field of power quality management through their ability to separately control the phase and amplitude of the output voltage. Consequently, incorporation of this type of generator within the national electrical distribution network, as distributed generators (DG) at low-voltage level, can assist with power quality management at the consumer side of the grid. In addition, such a generator can also operate in stand-alone mode if the grid becomes unavailable. The third step in this thesis investigates small-scale single-phase renewable energy systems operating as decentralized distributed generators within a local network. This operation is achieved by controlling the inverter side using the quantities measured at the common coupling point between the grid and the inverter, without requiring other extensive communications. Thus, the small-scale single-phase renewable energy distributed generator systems will contain only a local controller at each installation.

The utilization of solar energy has grown exponentially in the past years mainly due to environmental concerns. Finding ways to reduce the cost of solar energy systems and their complexity are of great importance. Among the key achievements of this project are, designing an efficient and economical photovoltaic system architecture, introducing DC-link voltage estimation to the three-phase PV system based multilevel-inverter, introducing PV current estimation to the three-phase PV system based multilevel-inverter, achieving phase balancing by injecting zero-sequence voltage utilizing the estimated values and achieving battery SOC balancing using the estimation algorithm. The proposed methods were justified using simulations.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Electrical energy generation with photovoltaic cells is being more utilized. Not only on large scale systems, but also in small ones connected to the grid. Parallel operating with the great generators from power companies, in a non-centralized way of operation, supplying low power, installed in houses, commerce establishments, industry, with the goal to minimize the loss in transmission, for being installed at the same consumption place. This work presents a FPGA device controller of a four transistor flyback inverter for maximum power point in photovoltaic systems. Despite this system has low power it contributes to search simple and low cost alternatives for generating of electrical power in a decentralized manner, which does not use battery banks connected parallel to network of energy near to consumers.
Geração de energia elétrica a partir de painéis fotovoltaicos vem sendo cada vez mais utilizada, não somente em sistemas fotovoltaicos de grande porte, como também em pequenos sistemas conectados a rede CA. Interligada paralelamente aos grandes geradores da concessionária de energia de forma descentralizada em sistemas de pequeno porte e baixas potências, instalados em residências, estabelecimentos comerciais, indústria, com o objetivo de minimizar perdas por transmissão por estarem instalados nos próprios locais. Este trabalho apresenta um controle num dispositivo FPGA de um inversor flyback a quatro transistores para máxima potência em sistemas fotovoltaicos. Apesar da baixa potência este contribui para a busca de alternativas simples e de baixo custo para geração de energia elétrica de forma descentralizada, não utilizando bancos de bateria conectados paralelamente a rede de energia próxima aos consumidores.
Mestre em Ciências

Dissertation (DTech(Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012
The confluence of the limited resources of fossil fuels (e.g. coal, oil and natural gas), environmental degradations leading to climate change, security of supplies and fossil fuels high costs have demanded a tremendous efforts on humanity to seek for a sustainable and unlimited natural energy sources. Amongst these renewable energy sources stands out solar energy because of its ubiquitousness. Solar energy is converted to DC electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic (PV) power systems installed in commercial and industrial buildings are a good example of distributed power generation. Here the energy consumption and production match and thus electricity taken from the grid during daytime peak hours can be reduced. This is beneficial as the transmission losses in the grid are avoided and also transmission need is reduced. The cost effectiveness of a solar energy system has hindered its wide adoption and deployment in terms of the initial capital cost even though it has a zero energy cost and very minimal operating and maintenance costs. Different governments have instituted many financial incentives for fast adoption of PV systems for both residential and commercial applications. However, all these incentives are not sustainable in the longer term forecast. For PV system to attain grid parity requires more than unsustainable approach of many governments providing time limited subsidies. The technical solution to the problem is to reduce the overall system cost through technical innovations. One such method is the adoption of transformerless inverter technology as the grid interface system. Transformerless inverter topology provides galvanic isolation through innovative inverter topology and switching strategies that eliminates problems created by not employing the service of transformer.

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) allows the presentation of theses for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the format of published or submitted papers, where such papers have been published, accepted or submitted during the period of candidature. This thesis is composed of ten published /submitted papers and book chapters of which nine have been published and one is under review. This project is financially supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant with the aim of investigating multilevel topologies for high quality and high power applications, with specific emphasis on renewable energy systems. The rapid evolution of renewable energy within the last several years has resulted in the design of efficient power converters suitable for medium and high-power applications such as wind turbine and photovoltaic (PV) systems. Today, the industrial trend is moving away from heavy and bulky passive components to power converter systems that use more and more semiconductor elements controlled by powerful processor systems. However, it is hard to connect the traditional converters to the high and medium voltage grids, as a single power switch cannot stand at high voltage. For these reasons, a new family of multilevel inverters has appeared as a solution for working with higher voltage levels. Besides this important feature, multilevel converters have the capability to generate stepped waveforms. Consequently, in comparison with conventional two-level inverters, they present lower switching losses, lower voltage stress across loads, lower electromagnetic interference (EMI) and higher quality output waveforms. These properties enable the connection of renewable energy sources directly to the grid without using expensive, bulky, heavy line transformers. Additionally, they minimize the size of the passive filter and increase the durability of electrical devices. However, multilevel converters have only been utilised in very particular applications, mainly due to the structural limitations, high cost and complexity of the multilevel converter system and control. New developments in the fields of power semiconductor switches and processors will favor the multilevel converters for many other fields of application. The main application for the multilevel converter presented in this work is the front-end power converter in renewable energy systems. Diode-clamped and cascade converters are the most common type of multilevel converters widely used in different renewable energy system applications. However, some drawbacks – such as capacitor voltage imbalance, number of components, and complexity of the control system – still exist, and these are investigated in the framework of this thesis. Various simulations using software simulation tools are undertaken and are used to study different cases. The feasibility of the developments is underlined with a series of experimental results. This thesis is divided into two main sections. The first section focuses on solving the capacitor voltage imbalance for a wide range of applications, and on decreasing the complexity of the control strategy on the inverter side. The idea of using sharing switches at the output structure of the DC-DC front-end converters is proposed to balance the series DC link capacitors. A new family of multioutput DC-DC converters is proposed for renewable energy systems connected to the DC link voltage of diode-clamped converters. The main objective of this type of converter is the sharing of the total output voltage into several series voltage levels using sharing switches. This solves the problems associated with capacitor voltage imbalance in diode-clamped multilevel converters. These converters adjust the variable and unregulated DC voltage generated by renewable energy systems (such as PV) to the desirable series multiple voltage levels at the inverter DC side. A multi-output boost (MOB) converter, with one inductor and series output voltage, is presented. This converter is suitable for renewable energy systems based on diode-clamped converters because it boosts the low output voltage and provides the series capacitor at the output side. A simple control strategy using cross voltage control with internal current loop is presented to obtain the desired voltage levels at the output voltage. The proposed topology and control strategy are validated by simulation and hardware results. Using the idea of voltage sharing switches, the circuit structure of different topologies of multi-output DC-DC converters – or multi-output voltage sharing (MOVS) converters – have been proposed. In order to verify the feasibility of this topology and its application, steady state and dynamic analyses have been carried out. Simulation and experiments using the proposed control strategy have verified the mathematical analysis. The second part of this thesis addresses the second problem of multilevel converters: the need to improve their quality with minimum cost and complexity. This is related to utilising asymmetrical multilevel topologies instead of conventional multilevel converters; this can increase the quality of output waveforms with a minimum number of components. It also allows for a reduction in the cost and complexity of systems while maintaining the same output quality, or for an increase in the quality while maintaining the same cost and complexity. Therefore, the asymmetrical configuration for two common types of multilevel converters – diode-clamped and cascade converters – is investigated. Also, as well as addressing the maximisation of the output voltage resolution, some technical issues – such as adjacent switching vectors – should be taken into account in asymmetrical multilevel configurations to keep the total harmonic distortion (THD) and switching losses to a minimum. Thus, the asymmetrical diode-clamped converter is proposed. An appropriate asymmetrical DC link arrangement is presented for four-level diode-clamped converters by keeping adjacent switching vectors. In this way, five-level inverter performance is achieved for the same level of complexity of the four-level inverter. Dealing with the capacitor voltage imbalance problem in asymmetrical diodeclamped converters has inspired the proposal for two different DC-DC topologies with a suitable control strategy. A Triple-Output Boost (TOB) converter and a Boost 3-Output Voltage Sharing (Boost-3OVS) converter connected to the four-level diode-clamped converter are proposed to arrange the proposed asymmetrical DC link for the high modulation indices and unity power factor. Cascade converters have shown their abilities and strengths in medium and high power applications. Using asymmetrical H-bridge inverters, more voltage levels can be generated in output voltage with the same number of components as the symmetrical converters. The concept of cascading multilevel H-bridge cells is used to propose a fifteen-level cascade inverter using a four-level H-bridge symmetrical diode-clamped converter, cascaded with classical two-level Hbridge inverters. A DC voltage ratio of cells is presented to obtain maximum voltage levels on output voltage, with adjacent switching vectors between all possible voltage levels; this can minimize the switching losses. This structure can save five isolated DC sources and twelve switches in comparison to conventional cascade converters with series two-level H bridge inverters. To increase the quality in presented hybrid topology with minimum number of components, a new cascade inverter is verified by cascading an asymmetrical four-level H-bridge diode-clamped inverter. An inverter with nineteen-level performance was achieved. This synthesizes more voltage levels with lower voltage and current THD, rather than using a symmetrical diode-clamped inverter with the same configuration and equivalent number of power components. Two different predictive current control methods for the switching states selection are proposed to minimise either losses or THD of voltage in hybrid converters. High voltage spikes at switching time in experimental results and investigation of a diode-clamped inverter structure raised another problem associated with high-level high voltage multilevel converters. Power switching components with fast switching, combined with hard switched-converters, produce high di/dt during turn off time. Thus, stray inductance of interconnections becomes an important issue and raises overvoltage and EMI issues correlated to the number of components. Planar busbar is a good candidate to reduce interconnection inductance in high power inverters compared with cables. The effect of different transient current loops on busbar physical structure of the high-voltage highlevel diode-clamped converters is highlighted. Design considerations of proper planar busbar are also presented to optimise the overall design of diode-clamped converters.

The aim of this work is informed first about photovoltaics universally, works to inform the photovoltaic panels and complete plants. The work also includes instructions on how to implement PVP in accordance with law. Another part is the rough draft of the photovoltaic power 30 kWp, which can be placed on the house, computation and calculation of investment and them profitable investments to time. Design is made in two separate forms of the Fronius Solar and Sunny Design, their outputs are compared. The practical part of this work cooperates with the company SOLARTEC Ltd. for experimental measurements of the photovoltaic system and develop a methodology for setting the properties of real solar systems in operation from the measured data then stored in a database. These data further evaluate and compare the similar operating conditions. This data will show as the course of production of electricity during the typical day in percentage terms, depending on the incident irradiance, cell temperature, angle of incident radiation, etc. We can compare what it looks like an ideal day in terms of production of photovoltaic power, with the other days. Further are in work mentioned histograms achievement panel behind classical day and behind all - time investigation.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
This thesis deals with three phase inverters and the different control strategies that can be associated with an inverter being used together. The first part of this thesis discusses the present research in the fields of PV panels, motor drive systems and three phase inverters along with their control. This control includes various strategies like MPPT, Volts-Hertz and modulation index compensation. Incorporating these techniques together is the goal of this thesis. A new topology for operating an open end motor drive system has also been discusses, where a boost converter and a flyback converter have been used in cascade to run a three phase motor. The main advantage of this is increasing the number of levels and improving the quality of the output voltage, not to mention a few other benefits of having the proposed circuit. A new algorithm has also been designed for starting and stopping the motor, which controls the current drawn from the power source during starting.

This thesis presents a novel Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) approach in a grid connected single-stage flyback inverter without using any additional auxiliary circuits. The soft-switching of the primary switch is achieved by allowing negative current from the grid-side through bidirectional switches placed on the secondary side of the transformer. Basically, the negative current discharges the MOSFET’s output capacitor thereby allowing turn-on of the primary switch under zero voltage. In order to optimize the amount of reactive current required to achieve ZVS a variable frequency control scheme is implemented over the line cycle. In addition, the bi-directional switches on the secondary side of the transformer have ZVS during the turn-on times. Therefore, the switching losses of the bi-directional switches are negligible. A 250W prototype has been implemented in order to validate the proposed scheme. Experimental results confirm the feasibility and superior performance of the converter compared to the conventional flyback inverter.
Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-07-06 16:24:13.385

D. Tech. Electrical Engineering.
Aims to : 1. Derive the analytical solutions for describing the spectral characteristics of multicarrier based multilevel PWM inverter using double Fourier transform. 2. To carry out a comprehensive modelling of a cascaded NPC/H-bridge for PV-Grid application. 3. To integrate the Cascaded NPC/H-bridge inverter, grid and PV model and analyze the power flow characteristics for varying PV source current and voltage. Detailed analysis of PV and development of MPPT algorithm are not part of this thesis. 4. To develop a novel hybrid phase shifted PWM control algorithm and test its superior harmonic suppression in MATLAB simulation. 5. To compare the developed control algorithm with conventional multicarrier approach in terms of harmonic suppression and component count 6. To develop a control scheme that is capable of injecting maximum power into the grid from the model at different environmental conditions. 7. To explore and develop analytical tools for DC- link voltage control of the model. 8. To design and built a scaled down. 9 Level cascaded NPC/H-bridge inverter for grid connected application.

Grid integration of photovoltaic (PV) energy sources has been mostly governed by conventional two-level voltage source inverters. These topologies have significant switching power losses, dV/dt stress and THD level at lower switching frequencies. The above issues can be solved by introducing more voltage levels through multilevel converters. Conventional multilevel converters have many issues like neutral point voltage drift in neutral point clamped (NPC) topology, floating capacitor charge balance in flying capacitor (FC) topology and large number of isolated DC sources in cascaded half bridge (CHB) topology when scaling them for higher number of voltage levels. Additionally, active power devices and its associated gate drivers, clamping diodes, flying capacitors and DC link capacitors also increase with levels. Hence, it is desirable to generate a multilevel voltage output with a single DC link and with the reduced components count. This thesis proposes a new way of generating multilevel voltage output using a single DC source and with the least components count. The thesis also proposes a new gate driver that can be operated at wide duty cycle ratios and wide band frequency. The thesis presents five major contributions as follows, 1. 16 switch five level inverter for isolated grid tied systems 2. 12 switch five level inverter for isolated grid tied systems 3. Inherent DC link capacitor balancing 4. Extension of five level inverter topologies to higher levels 5. A Wide duty cycle range wide band high frequency isolated gate driver for multilevel power converters First part of the research work, presents a novel five level inverter for high power isolated grid connection, which is powered by a single DC source. The proposed topology employs overall 16 active power devices, two DC link capacitors and a Scott-T transformer. Out of 16 power switches, 8 switches operate at high frequency and remaining 8 operate at the fundamental frequency. The DC link capacitors have an inherent voltage balancing which eliminates the requirement of charge balancing circuit or complex control algorithm. Additionally, necessity of expensive voltage sensors are also mitigated. The five level converter initially generate five level voltages in two phase system, and then they are transformed to three phases by using a Scott-T transformer. Operation of the proposed five level inverter (1 kW) is tested experimentally by connecting it to a three phase grid with unity power factor control. Second part follows the footsteps of the first topology. The second topology presents a grid connected five level inverter with only 12 power devices. This topology is also powered by a single DC source. Eight (8) out of 12 power devices are switched at fundamental frequency (variable) and the remaining devices are switched at high frequency. The proposed inverter is validated experimentally by connecting it to a three phase grid. The performance of capacitor voltage balancing under steady state and transient loading conditions is verified. Third part of the thesis discusses about the inherent charge balancing phenomenon of the DC link capacitors for the proposed inverter topologies. In both the topologies, the DC link capacitors have inherent voltage balancing capability. This feature eliminates the requirement of voltage sensors and complex control schemes which are generally employed in the conventional multilevel inverters. In fourth part of the research work, a wide band frequency and wide duty cycle operated isolated gate driver with only a single auxiliary power supply is proposed. The proposed gate driver is specifically advantageous for multilevel inverters as all the gate drivers can be powered by a single auxiliary power supply. The integrated gate driver has features like, wide duty cycle (0 - 100%) and wide band frequency (ranging from DC to 1 MHz) operation, short circuit/over current, and miller clamp protections. The performance of the gate driver is validated experimentally followed by a LTSPICE software simulations. Finally, a generalized multilevel inverter topology based on the proposed five level inverter topologies with only a single DC source is presented. Multilevel output is obtained by cascading H-bridge modules on either side of the five level converter after the unfolding stage. Connecting `n' number of H-bridge modules per phase to the five level converter leads to [8n+1] levels of the output voltage. Feasibility of the converter is validated by testing a nine level inverter configuration. The proposed concept uses least active power devices, DC link capacitor, flying capacitor, and diodes compared to the existing single DC link fed multilevel inverter topologies. All the above presented topologies and circuits are extensively tested in simulation and in the experimentation in laboratory for three phase grid connected unity power factor operation. A 1 kW, 50 Hz fundamental and 10 kHz switching inverters was developed for the experimental studies. The inverter is used for the grid integration of DC sources with 192 V, 1 kW power rating. The inverter prototype consists of power semiconductor switches of rating 1200 V and 75 A insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) half bridge Semikron modules (SKM75GB12T4). The proposed gate drivers were used to drive the power IGBTs. The Scott-T transformer is realized using two single phase transformers with an appropriate winding turns ratio. The current control and PWM signal generation is carried in a digital signal processor (DSP-TMS320F28335) with a clock frequency of 150 MHz. The grid voltage and currents were sensed by using LEM make voltage (LV-25P) and current (LA-55P) sensors. The sensed voltage and current data is fed to the analog to digital converter (ADC) which internally exists in the DSP. All the computations and frame transformations were also carried within the DSP. The dead time for the IGBT modules is generated as 1μs. The testing was done by connecting the proposed inverters to the grid. The inverter performance is validated at various loading conditions. The inherent capacitor balancing was also validated under steady state and transient loading conditions. The proposed inverter topologies exhibits advantages like, reduced components count, single DC link operation, inherent capacitor voltage balancing, fundamental switching devices and inherent isolation. Overall size of the proposed inverters is less compared to the conventional five level inverters for grid connected applications where isolation is mandatory. The inherent capacitor voltage balancing also eliminates the requirement of expensive voltage sensors, complex control circuits and algorithms. The fewer active components count results in simple control architecture and improves reliability of the inverters to a large extent. The experimental validation shows that the proposed inverter topologies can be considered as viable solutions for the high power isolated grid tied photovoltaic systems.