abstract: A new photovoltaic (PV) array power converter circuit is presented. The salient features of this inverter are: transformerless topology, grounded PV array, and only film capacitors. The motivations are to reduce cost, eliminate leakage ground currents, and improve reliability. The use of Silicon Carbide (SiC) transistors is the key enabling technology for this particular circuit to attain good efficiency. Traditionally, grid connected PV inverters required a transformer for isolation and safety. The disadvantage of high frequency transformer based inverters is complexity and cost. Transformerless inverters have become more popular recently, although they can be challenging to implement because of possible high frequency currents through the PV array's stay capacitance to earth ground. Conventional PV inverters also typically utilize electrolytic capacitors for bulk power buffering. However such capacitors can be prone to decreased reliability. The solution proposed here to solve these problems is a bi directional buck boost converter combined with half bridge inverters. This configuration enables grounding of the array's negative terminal and passive power decoupling with only film capacitors. Several aspects of the proposed converter are discussed. First a literature review is presented on the issues to be addressed. The proposed circuit is then presented and examined in detail. This includes theory of operation, component selection, and control systems. An efficiency analysis is also conducted. Simulation results are then presented that show correct functionality. A hardware prototype is built and experiment results also prove the concept. Finally some further developments are mentioned. As a summary of the research a new topology and control technique were developed. The resultant circuit is a high performance transformerless PV inverter with upwards of 97% efficiency. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2014

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.

abstract: The dissertation encompasses the transformer-less single phase PV inverters for both the string and microinverter applications. Two of the major challenge with such inverters include the presence of high-frequency common mode leakage current and double line frequency power decoupling with reliable capacitors without compromising converter power density. Two solutions are presented in this dissertation: half-bridge voltage swing (HBVS) and dynamic dc link (DDCL) inverters both of which completely eliminates the ground current through topological improvement. In addition, through active power decoupling technique, the capacitance requirement is reduced for both, thus achieving an all film-capacitor based solution with higher reliability. Also both the approaches are capable of supporting a wide range of power factor. Moreover, wide band-gap devices (both SiC and GaN) are used for implementing their hardware prototypes. It enables the switching frequency to be high without compromising on the converter efficiency. Also it allows a reduced magnetic component size, further enabling a high power density solution, with power density far beyond the state-of-the art solutions. Additionally, for the transformer-less microinverter application, another challenge is to achieve a very high gain DC-DC stage with a simultaneous high conversion efficiency. An extended duty ratio (EDR) boost converter which is a hybrid of switched capacitors and interleaved inductor technique, has been implemented for this purpose. It offers higher converter efficiency as most of the switches encounter lower voltage stress directly impacting switching loss; the input current being shared among all the interleaved converters (inherent sharing only in a limited duty ratio), the inductor conduction loss is reduced by a factor of the number of phases. Further, the EDR boost converter has been studied for both discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) operations and operations with wide input/output voltage range in continuous conduction mode (CCM). A current sharing between its interleaved input phases is studied in detail to show that inherent sharing is possible for only in a limited duty ratio span, and modification of the duty ratio scheme is proposed to ensure equal current sharing over all the operating range for 3 phase EDR boost. All the analysis are validated with experimental results. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2017

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre a corrente de fuga de modo comum em inversores monofásicos sem transformador utilizados para a conexão de sistemas fotovoltaicos (FV) à rede de distribuição de energia elétrica. O estudo se concentra em inversores do tipo fonte de tensão que empregam a topologia em ponte completa. A partir da adequada modelagem do sistema (rede, conversor e módulo fotovoltaico) identifica-se e quantifica-se a contribuição das tensões de modo comum e modo diferencial para a corrente de fuga. Conclui-se que a tensão de modo comum de alta frequência produzida pelo inversor, que depende da estratégia de modulação por largura de pulso (PWM Pulse Width Modulation) empregada, fornece a maior contribuição para produção da corrente de fuga. Esse estudo mostra que os inversores sem transformador, com topologia em ponte completa e modulação que produz tensão de saída com três níveis, necessitam de medidas adicionais para a minimização da corrente fuga quando aplicados em sistemas fotovoltaicos conectados à rede. Algumas soluções propostas na literatura para a minimização da corrente de fuga baseadas em topologias modificadas e filtros de modo comum são listadas e discutidas. Neste trabalho é proposto um filtro integrado de modo comum e modo diferencial com amortecimento passivo de baixas perdas, para minimizar a corrente de fuga produzida por um inversor monofásico sem transformador. Um exemplo de aplicação do filtro proposto é apresentado juntamente com seu procedimento de projeto, resultados de simulação e experimentais que validam a proposta. Além disso, a influência da variação da indutância da rede elétrica e da capacitância parasita do sistema fotovoltaico no comportamento do filtro proposto é analisada. A influência da variação da indutância da rede no comportamento do sistema de controle e o impacto da corrente de modo comum no projeto dos indutores do lado do conversor também são analisados. / This paper presents a study on the common mode leakage current in single-phase transformerless inverters for grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. The study focuses on voltage source inverters (VSI) employing the full-bridge topology. The common mode and differential mode voltages that contribute to the leakage current are identified and quantified from the analysis of the system model (utility grid, converter and PV module). The system model analysis shows that the high frequency common mode voltage produced by the inverter, which depends on the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) strategy, is the main source contributing to the leakage current. This work shows that transformerless inverters employing the full-bridge topology and a modulation strategy that produces a three-level output voltage require some leakage current minimization strategy when they are employed in grid-connected PV systems. Some solutions proposed in the literature for leakage current minimization based on modified topologies and common mode filters are listed and discussed. In this dissertation an integrated common and differential filter with low loss passive damping is proposed to minimize the leakage current produced by a single-phase transformerless PV inverter. An application example of the proposed filter is presented with design procedure, simulation and experimental results validating the proposal. Additionally, the influence of grid inductance and PV module parasitic capacitance variations on the behavior of the proposed filter is analyzed. The behavior of the control system considering the grid inductance variation and the impact of the common mode current on the converter side inductors design are also analyzed.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre a corrente de fuga de modo comum em inversores monofásicos sem transformador utilizados para a conexão de sistemas fotovoltaicos (FV) à rede de distribuição de energia elétrica. O estudo se concentra em inversores do tipo fonte de tensão que empregam a topologia em ponte completa. A partir da adequada modelagem do sistema (rede, conversor e módulo fotovoltaico) identifica-se e quantifica-se a contribuição das tensões de modo comum e modo diferencial para a corrente de fuga. Conclui-se que a tensão de modo comum de alta frequência produzida pelo inversor, que depende da estratégia de modulação por largura de pulso (PWM Pulse Width Modulation) empregada, fornece a maior contribuição para produção da corrente de fuga. Esse estudo mostra que os inversores sem transformador, com topologia em ponte completa e modulação que produz tensão de saída com três níveis, necessitam de medidas adicionais para a minimização da corrente fuga quando aplicados em sistemas fotovoltaicos conectados à rede. Algumas soluções propostas na literatura para a minimização da corrente de fuga baseadas em topologias modificadas e filtros de modo comum são listadas e discutidas. Neste trabalho é proposto um filtro integrado de modo comum e modo diferencial com amortecimento passivo de baixas perdas, para minimizar a corrente de fuga produzida por um inversor monofásico sem transformador. Um exemplo de aplicação do filtro proposto é apresentado juntamente com seu procedimento de projeto, resultados de simulação e experimentais que validam a proposta. Além disso, a influência da variação da indutância da rede elétrica e da capacitância parasita do sistema fotovoltaico no comportamento do filtro proposto é analisada. A influência da variação da indutância da rede no comportamento do sistema de controle e o impacto da corrente de modo comum no projeto dos indutores do lado do conversor também são analisados. / This paper presents a study on the common mode leakage current in single-phase transformerless inverters for grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. The study focuses on voltage source inverters (VSI) employing the full-bridge topology. The common mode and differential mode voltages that contribute to the leakage current are identified and quantified from the analysis of the system model (utility grid, converter and PV module). The system model analysis shows that the high frequency common mode voltage produced by the inverter, which depends on the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) strategy, is the main source contributing to the leakage current. This work shows that transformerless inverters employing the full-bridge topology and a modulation strategy that produces a three-level output voltage require some leakage current minimization strategy when they are employed in grid-connected PV systems. Some solutions proposed in the literature for leakage current minimization based on modified topologies and common mode filters are listed and discussed. In this dissertation an integrated common and differential filter with low loss passive damping is proposed to minimize the leakage current produced by a single-phase transformerless PV inverter. An application example of the proposed filter is presented with design procedure, simulation and experimental results validating the proposal. Additionally, the influence of grid inductance and PV module parasitic capacitance variations on the behavior of the proposed filter is analyzed. The behavior of the control system considering the grid inductance variation and the impact of the common mode current on the converter side inductors design are also analyzed.