org
Published in IET Power Electronics
Received on 15th January 2014
Revised on 14th March 2014
Accepted on 29th April 2014
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2014.0015
ISSN 1755-4535
Abstract: A small-capacity grid-connected solar power generation system, congured by a dual-output DCDC power converter
and a seven-level inverter, is proposed in this study. Voltage doubler based topology is used to congure the dual-output DCDC
power converter to convert the output voltage of a solar cell array into two dependent voltage sources with multiple relationships.
The grid-connected seven-level inverter is congured by a dual-buck power converter and a full-bridge power converter. The
dual-buck power converter is switched at high-frequency pulse-width modulation to generate a four-level DC voltage. The
full-bridge power converter is switched synchronous with the utility voltage, to convert the four-level DC voltage into a
seven-level AC voltage. The proposed solar power generation system generates a sinusoidal output current in phase with the
utility voltage. The novelty of this proposed seven-level inverter is that two asymmetric DC voltage sources are used to
increase the voltage levels and only two of the six power electronic switches in the seven-level inverter are switched at high
frequency. A prototype is developed and tested to verify the performance of the proposed solar power generation system. The
experimental results show that the proposed solar power generation system has the expected performance.
Introduction
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inverter is suitable for the applications with increased voltage
levels. Two H-bridge inverters with a DC bus voltage with
multiple relationships can be connected in cascade to give a
single-phase seven-level inverter and eight power electronic
switches are used. In recent years, several topologies for
seven-level inverters have been developed [19, 20].
A dual-buck power converter and a full-bridge power
converter can be connected in cascade to perform a
ve-level inverter [21]. The asymmetric voltage technology
can be further used in this topology to increase voltage
levels. A novel small-capacity grid-connected solar power
generation system is proposed in this paper. The proposed
solar power generation system is composed of a dual-output
DCDC power converter and a seven-level inverter. The
seven-level inverter is congured using a dual-buck power
converter and a full-bridge power converter and the input
DC voltages are asymmetric. A modied voltage doubler
based topology is used to congure the dual-output DCDC
power converter, and it automatically generates two
dependent voltages with multiple relationships by using
only one controller. The proposed solar power generation
system generates a sinusoidal output current in phase with
the utility voltage and is injected into the utility. The salient
features of the proposed solar power generation system are
that two asymmetric DC voltage sources are used in the
input of the dual-buck power converter and only two of six
power electronic switches in the seven-level inverter are
switched at high frequency. A prototype is developed and
tested to verify the performance of the proposed
grid-connected solar power generation system that uses a
seven-level inverter.
Fig. 1 shows the simulation results for the output voltage and
the spectrum of a DCAC inverter with two levels, three
levels, ve levels and seven levels. The modulation signal
is a sinusoidal signal of 60 Hz and the carrier signal is a
triangular signal of 2160 Hz. The modulation index is 0.8
and the DC bus voltage is 200 V. As seen in Fig. 1a, the
output voltage is switched between 200 and 200 V for a
two-level inverter and its dominant harmonic components
are around the carrier frequency. The total harmonic
distortion (THD%) for the output voltage of a two-level
inverter is 146%. The output voltage, shown in Fig. 1b, is
switched between 200 and 0 V in the positive cycle and
between 200 and 0 V in the negative cycle, for a
three-level inverter. The THD% for the output voltage of a
three-level inverter is 76.7%. As seen in Fig. 1c, the output
voltage for a ve-level inverter is switched between 200,
100, 0, 100 and 200 V. The THD% for the output
voltage of a ve-level inverter is 38.3%. It is seen in
Fig. 1d that the output voltage of a seven-level inverter is
switched between 200, 133, 66, 0, 66, 133 and 200 V.
The THD% for the output voltage of a seven-level inverter
is only 24.1%. This shows that the harmonic components
and THD% are reduced as the levels of output voltage are
increased.
As seen in Fig. 1, the output voltage of DCAC inverter
contains the fundamental component and the harmonic
components around the carrier frequency. The superposition
theory can be used to analyse the circuit system for
different frequencies. The equivalent of the solar power
generation system can be divided into the fundamental
frequency and the harmonic equivalent circuits. The
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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014
Circuit configuration
Operating principle
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4.1
VC3 = VC4 =
1
V
1 D sol
(1)
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of C2 can be written as
VC2 = VC4 + VC6 = VC3 + VC5
=
2
V
1 D sol
(2)
1
V
1 D sol
(3)
4.2
As seen in (2) and (3), the dual-output DCDC power
converter automatically converts the output voltage of a
solar cell array into two dependent voltages with multiple
relationships. Therefore the regulations of VC1 and VC2 can
be integrated, which simplies the controller for the
dual-output DCDC power converter. Since interleaved
PWM is used in the boost converters, the ripple frequency
of the input current for the solar cell array is twice that of
the switching frequencies of S7 and S8. The high-frequency
ripple in the input current of the solar cell array is also
Seven-level inverter
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Mode 2: S2 is turned on and S1 is turned off, so the output
voltage of the dual-buck converter is VC2 (= 2VC1 ).
Mode 3: Both S1 and S2 are turned on, so the output
voltage of the dual-buck converter is VC1 + VC2 (= 3VC1 ).
Mode 4: Both S1 and S2 are turned off, so the output
voltage of the dual-buck converter is 0.
Since VC1 and VC2 have multiple relationships, the output
voltage of the dual-buck converter has four levels: 0, VC1 ,
2VC1 and 3VC1 . The power electronic switches of the
full-bridge power converter are switched at low frequency
and are synchronised with the utility. The full-bridge power
converter further converts the output voltage of the
dual-buck converter to an AC output voltage with seven
levels: 3VC1 , 2VC1 , VC1 , 0, VC1 , 2VC1 and 3VC1 .
The output voltage of the dual-buck converter can be
divided into three operating ranges: (0, VC1 ), (VC1 , 2VC1 )
and (2VC1 , 3VC1 ). From the viewpoint of the dual-buck
converter, the full-bridge power converter is an absolute
circuit that converts the utility voltage and the output
current of the seven-level inverter to their absolute value.
The dual-buck power converter should adjust its output
voltage according to the absolute value of the utility
voltage. Accordingly, the operation of the power electronic
switches in the bidirectional dual-buck power converter
must follow the amplitude of the utility voltage. Since the
output voltage of the dual-buck power converter contains
four levels, the operation of dual-buck power converter can
be divided into three operating voltage ranges: (0, VC1 ),
(VC1 , 2VC1 ) and (2VC1 , 3VC1 ), according to the absolute
value of the utility voltage. Fig. 4 shows the equivalent
circuit for the seven-level inverter, from the viewpoint of
the dual-buck power converter.
When the absolute value of the utility voltage is less than
VC1 , the dual-buck power converter is operated in the
operating voltage range (0, VC1 ). In this operating voltage
range, the dual-buck power converter switches between
mode 1 and mode 4. Fig. 4a shows the equivalent circuit of
the seven-level inverter in the operating voltage range
(0, VC1 ). This is the rst type of buck converter, which is
similar to a conventional buck converter. In this type of
buck converter, the voltage source is VC1 . It should be
noted that the output voltage of the buck converter is the
absolute value of the utility voltage, which cannot be
controlled, and the control object is the inductor current. If
switch S1 is turned on, the slope of the inductor current can
be represented as
diL VC1 vu
=
Lf
dt
(4)
(6)
where vm and Vtri are the modulation signal and the amplitude
of the carrier signal in the PWM circuit, respectively. The
output voltage of the dual-buck power converter can be
written as
vo = d VC1 = kdual vm
(7)
(8)
kdual Gc /Lf
1/Lf
V
IL
s + ki kdual Gc /Lf
s + ki kdual Gc /Lf u
(9)
Fig. 4 Equivalent circuit of the seven-level inverter from the view of the dual-buck power converter
a Operating range (0, VC1 )
b Operating range (VC1 , 2VC1 )
c Operating range (2VC1 , 3VC1 )
IET Power Electron., 2014, Vol. 7, Iss. 11, pp. 27172725
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2014.0015
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off, the slope of the inductor current can be represented as
diL 2VC1 vu
=
(10)
Lf
dt
The slope of the inductor current |iL| is positive, which means
that the inductor current |iL| increases when switch S2 is
turned on and S1 is turned off. If switch S2 is turned off and
S1 is turned on, the slope of the inductor current can be
represented as
diL VC1 vu
=
(11)
dt
Lf
The slope of the inductor current |iL| is negative and the
inductor current |iL| is decreased, when switch S2 is turned
off and S1 is turned on. As seen in (10) and (11), the
inductor current |iL| can also be controlled to track a
reference current signal by controlling the on/off operation
of switches S1 and S2, in the operating voltage range
(VC1 , 2VC1 ).
Within this operating voltage range, switch S2 is switched
in PWM. The output voltage of the dual-buck power
converter can be written as
vo = d VC1 + VC1 = kdual vm + VC1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
half cycle
Positive
v , V
u
C1
2VC1 . vu . VC1
v . 2V
u
C1
PWM
PWM
PWM
off
PWM
on
on
on
on
off
off
off
off
off
off
on
on
on
half cycle
Negative
v , V
u
C1
2VC1 . vu . VC1
v . 2V
u
C1
PWM
PWM
PWM
off
PWM
on
off
off
off
on
on
on
on
on
on
off
off
off
(12)
kdual Gc /Lf
I
s + ki kdual Gc /Lf L
1/Lf
V V
u
C1
s + ki kdual Gc /Lf
(13)
(16)
kdual Gc /Lf
I
s + ki kdual Gc /Lf L
1/Lf
V 2V
u
C1
s + ki kdual Gc /Lf
(17)
5
5.1
Control block
Seven-level inverter
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Experimental results
To verify
generation
processor
developed
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Table 2 Parameters of the prototype
DCDC power converter
capacitor C3C6
inductors L1, L2
PWM frequency
Seven-level inverter
capacitor voltage VC1
capacitor voltage VC2
capacitors C1, C2
filter inductor
PWM frequency
20 F
0.3 mH
20 kHz
60 V
120 V
1100 F
1 mH
20 kHz
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converters should be larger than 0.5 for applying to the
dual-output DCDC power converter. Besides, the voltage
doubler circuit will obviously degrade the power efciency
when the output power is increased. Hence, the proposed
dual-output DCDC power converter, with high voltage
gain and two dependent voltages with multiple
relationships, is suitable for small-capacity solar power
generation system to avoid using a transformer. To verify
the MPPT function of the proposed solar power generation
system, the DC power supply was replaced by a solar cell
array. Fig. 8 shows the experimental results for the MPPT
performance. Fig. 8a shows the output power scan for the
solar cell array, when the duty ratio of the dual-output
DCDC power converter is regularly increased. Fig. 8b
shows the experimental results for the beginning of MPPT
for the dual-output DCDC power converter. As seen in
Fig. 8b, the output power of the solar cell array is almost
constant when maximum power tracking is achieved, and
its value is very close to the maximum power shown in
Fig. 8a.
Conclusion
Acknowledgment
References
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