NOVEL SCHEME FOR VOLTAGE CONTROL OF PHASE MODULATED CONVERTER BASED BOOST CONVERTER IN PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS Voltage control

schemes with single loop phase delay control suffer from the problem of loss of control over the dynamics of input current, because of sudden discharge of PV panel capacitor. This paper presents a novel input voltage control scheme of phase modulated converter (PMC) based boost converter for Photovoltaic (PV) applications. In this scheme voltage reference obtained from the Maximum Power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is used to generate the reference for secondary side rectifier current. There will be an inner current control loop to maintain the current at this generated reference. PSIM based simulation studies are performed and results analyzed in order to validate the performance of proposed controller under varying environmental conditions. Results obtained show efficient tracking of MPP by the designed controller under robust operation. Introduction: Micro-inverter technology provides the solution to mitigate the problems of Building Integrated Photo-voltaic (BIPV), wherein Photovoltaic (PV) materials and inverter systems installed at the back of PV panels are placed in part of buildings so as to simultaneously serve as building envelope material and power generator. While BIPVs can be both stand-alone and grid connected, the latter is gaining more importance because of its increased reliability, adding to benefits accruing from a cooperative utility policy where both the building owner and the utility grid controllers stand to gain. While designing and developing micro-inverter for BIPV system, space is the major constraint which plays important role in deciding the topology of the inverter system. Apart from space constraints, specific specifications and tasks need to be performed by inverter system like Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) for maximum utilization of PV panel, maintaining constant dc link voltage above the grid voltage for injecting power into grid, harmonic free power injection into the utility grid and synchronization of the system with the utility grid. Single stage topology where all the above tasks need to be performed by one stage of converter is obsolete due to inability in providing specified performance, compactness along with other specifications. Dual stage topology where in dc-dc boost converter and dcac inverter stage are present and the tasks are divided into these two stages thus providing better performance. Phase Modulated full Bridge topology based dc-dc boost converter as first stage in Microinverter system is used. Phase Modulated based boost topology used for PV application is provided in [AA] which shows the effectiveness of the topology and control schemes for MPPT and voltage boosting. When PMC based first stage topology is connected to second stage i.e. Voltage Source Inverter in Microinverter to inject ac power into grid and analysed, the performance of the complete system under specific conditions was lost. This paper discusses those associated problems and provides the improved control scheme which eliminates those problems such that the system should work under any conditions. In this paper, authors have integrated Perturb and Observe (PAO) method for Maximum power point tracking. Phase modulation topology based converter with second stage Inverter module along with developed control schemes shows high convergence speed with good tracking response under varying environmental condition. Simulation of developed control scheme carried out on PSIM platform shows feasibility and effectiveness of proposed method. The paper is organized into six sections; Section II illustrates the concept of PMC used for tracking MPP and stepping up PV panel voltage. Section III shows the complete Micro-inverter system and the problem in the present control schemes are addressed. Subsequently the Proposed topology with improved control

scheme is presented in Section IV. The results obtained by simulation of converter with control scheme are shown in Section V, followed by conclusion in Section VI.

Phase Modulated Converter as a First Stage in Micro-inverter Phase Modulated Converter (PMC) is a full bridge topology also called Phase Shifted PWM Converter and identical to square wave PWM full bridge converter [11]. Phase Modulation basically refers to varying the time delay between the switching of the two legs of the full bridge topology. By maintaining proper time delay (or say phase difference) one can obtain desired output. In PV system, maintaining the PV panel voltage or current around MPP voltage or current respectively increases the utilization of PV panel. Therefore, using Phase Modulated topology with its control scheme, the input voltage of converter or say PV panel voltage is maintained at MPP voltage [AA]. The schematic of boost converter with PV panel driving a resistive load is shown in figure x.

The voltage corresponding to MPP is determined and updated by Perturb and Observe algorithm and is given to main controller which provide proper time delay (or say phase difference) to maintain the PV panel voltage at given reference. This MPP voltage reference is updated after each 40ms by a fixed step size of 0.5 volts and the main controller provides proper time delay in switching signals to maintain the reference voltage. The high frequency transformer steps up the voltage which is rectified and filtered and then fed to the load.

Micro-inverter System Figure x shows the PSIM based circuit diagram of complete micro inverter system along with the control schemes which includes the control schemes of MPPT tracking, constant dc- link voltage, synchronization and sinusoidal current injection into grid.

The dc-ac inverter module consists of two control schemes one is outer loop dc-link voltage control consists of simple P-I controller with inner loop injected current control which produce switching signal to inverter to produce desired output. The simulation result corresponds to present control schemes are shown in figure a, b, c, d and e respectively.

Fig a. Voltage tracking (Blue- MPP voltage Reference and Red-PV panel voltage)

Fig b. Maximum Power and Actual Power from PV Panel

The maximum power point tracking is shown in figure a. As seen from the figure the controller is maintaining the reference voltage level provided by the MPPT unit. The maximum power that can be extracted from the PV panel and the actual power extracted from the PV panel are shown in figure b which shows that topology and the control schemes are working effectively in extracting maximum power available from the PV panel.

Figure c. DC-link capacitor Voltage

Figure d. Grid Voltage and Injected current into the Grid The output voltage of the converter i.e. dc-link voltage is maintained at 360 volts above than grid voltage by the outer voltage loop, whereas the injected current and the current reference generated by PLL and outer loop is shown in figure d which shows the synchronization of injected current into the grid and by well designed filters reduce the harmonic content from the injected current. The problem arises in the primary and secondary current of the transformer and the PV panel side capacitor current. In normal condition when the capacitor is discharged and the initial reference voltage is above near MPP voltage reference the capacitor starts charging by PV panel current which is in the order of 4-5 amperes and during that instants the phase difference provided by the controller is zero degree which simply implies the panel is disconnected from the rest of the system. After the capacitor voltage reaches the reference, MPP reference voltage increases or decreases depending upon change in power level. The primary current in the transformer is the arithmetic sum of panel current and the PV capacitor current. Thus when the capacitor voltage is increasing, capacitor is being charged from the PV panel and remaining current goes to primary of the transformer. When the reference voltage is decreased then the capacitor voltage is reduced by discharging to the extent that it reaches the reference voltage with in few switching cycle. The problem is large discharge current which is 2 to 3 times of panel current of ampere when decreasing panel voltage resulting in high ampere current in primary which leads to loss of control over the dynamics of the system and this is also reflected in secondary of the transformer.

Figure e. PV panel capacitor current, Primary current and PV panel voltage The condition even worsen when the control scheme took some time to start up and the capacitor attains open circuit voltage, then MPP reference voltage is provided by the control scheme results in fast discharge of the capacitor in very small time duration or in other words very high discharge current flows into primary as shown in figure f. The starting discharge current is 10 to 12 times rated current of the system flows for the significant duration which risks the system to failure or design of the system to handle such high current i.e. over design of the complete system.

Figure f. PV panel capacitor current, Primary current and PV panel voltage at start up Thus system requires protection from excessive current level appears due to these situations, over design of PCB and transformer and high rating of components is required thus resulting in high cost of the module and space requirement to dissipate such generated heat, if it is not taken care of. This problem is eliminated by improving the existing control scheme so as to keep the large primary current due to discharging current, into limit so that the control is not lost even under such condition. The complete description is provided in next section. Improved Control Scheme and its description Figure aa shows the schematic diagram of micro-inverter with improved control scheme of dc-dc boost topology to eliminate the problem of excessive current in the primary of the transformer. This involves an extra current sensor after rectification circuit. The rest of the control scheme is kept similar as before.

The control scheme highlighted in the figure xx results in flow of the primary current under limits. The error between MPP voltage and actual voltage fed to P-I controller which determines the reference current. This reference is compared by PV panel current which gives the rectified current reference at the secondary side. This determines the time delay between switching of the two legs such that the current in the primary is under limit along with extraction of maximum power from PV panel. The value of time delay is given to Phase Delay Generator (PDG) [my paper] which generates proper switching signals for the right leg. Thus the capacitor placed across the PV panel is discharged in such a way that discharging current is under limit by controlling the time for which capacitor is connected or disconnected from the load (grid). The performance of the control schemes are shown in the following figures. Fig A_a shows the tracking of the panel voltage whereas the maximum power and actual power is shown in figure B_b. Thus the figure clearly shows the maximum power extraction from the PV panel.

Fig A_a. Voltage tracking (Blue- MPP voltage Reference and Red-PV panel voltage)

Fig B_b. Maximum Power and Actual Power from PV Panel

The output voltage of the converter i.e. dc-link voltage is maintained at 360 volts above than grid voltage by the outer voltage loop as shown in figure C_c, whereas the injected current and the current reference generated by PLL and outer loop is shown in figure D_d which shows the synchronization of injected current into the grid and by well designed filters reduce the harmonic content from the injected current.

Figure c. DC-link capacitor Voltage

Figure D_d. Grid Voltage and Injected current into the Grid

The above figures show the same performance of the system which is prime objective of the microinverter system. The performance of improved control schemes is shown in figure E_e which eliminates the high discharging current of the PV panel capacitor current and keeps primary current under the limits. As seen from the figure the capacitor is discharging current is somewhat equal to charging current thus primary current is does not exceed the limits.

Fig E_e. panel capacitor current, Primary current and PV panel voltage The discharging current of PV panel capacitor to track MPP voltage reference is limited by the improved schemes as shown in figure F_f. When the capacitor was charged to open circuit voltage and voltage needs to be reduced for MPP tracking, control scheme governs the discharge of the capacitor and discharge doesnt take place within short time but discharged slowly in each switching period. The discharge current is under the rated current limit and there is no need of over designing of the system to withstand such transients in the system.

Figure F_f. PV panel capacitor current, Primary current and PV panel voltage at start up

CONCLUSION The problem of relatively excessive current in the converter system connected with the PV panel while tracking MPP leads to over design of system. This paper proposed modified control scheme which helps in maintaining the discharging current under limits while extracting maximum power from PV panel. Although this scheme utilizes extra sensor to measure rectified current at the secondary side of the dc-dc converter and increases the complexity of the control but it helps in keeping high current with in rated current limit and over design of the system is not required. The operating waveform and the control schemes are explained and simulated in PSIM platform. Further the results shows the effectiveness of the control schemes of the micro-inverter system along with fast tracking response under varying environmental conditions. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors thank Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India for funding this work under the project Technologies And Products for Solar energy Utilization through Networks (TAPSUN).