The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

Power profile based selection and

operation optimization of parallel-connected
power converter combinations
T. Vogt, A. Peters, N. Frhleke, J. Bcker S. Kempen
Power Electronics and Electrical Drives AEG Power Solutions GmbH
University of Paderborn Emil-Siepmann-Str. 32
D-33095 Paderborn, Germany D-59581 Warstein-Belecke, Germany
vogt@lea.upb.de

AbstractMany electrical sources and loads are operating at differences are caused by several influences like the used
different power levels, partly with full and partly with only a topology, the kind of switching devices, the mode of operation
small percentage of their rated power (e.g. photovoltaic systems, and more.
elevators or electric heaters). For such devices the connection
to the grid can be more efficient with several parallel-connected
converters instead of a larger single one. A system of parallel- PSO,1 PSI,1
Converter 1 PSI
connected converters facilitates the potential to increase the PSO
Source Sink
overall efficiency of the system, either by the selection of different
topologies and switching devices of the particular converters or PSO,2 PSI,2
Converter 2
by different operating strategies to split the power between the
single converters. This paper presents a method to optimize
the operating strategy of such systems with different parallel-
operating converters, including the optimal choice of an arrange- PSO,n PSI,n
Converter n
ment based on a specific power demand profile. These two topics
sound different but the optimal converter combination can only
be selected if the most efficient operation strategy is available.
Therefore these topics are interrelated. Fig. 1. Principle of the treated arrangement in this paper.

For the method presented in this paper, the reasons for the
I. I NTRODUCTION different efficiency profiles are subsidiary. Therefore it is re-
Developing power electronic systems the converter topology nounced to give an explanation, as done in [2]. Figure 2 shows
selection is one of the big challenges to reach highest effi- exemplary shapes of efficiency curves; the differences between
cencies. One of the results on the run after high conversion the converters are simply indicated by "configuration".
efficiency is, that many different converter topologies are avail-
able. The efficiency of most converters depends significantly 100
on the operation point. As shown in [1], it is possible to raise 90
the efficiency for particular operation points by using several
80
equal converters in parallel instead of a large single one. Such
an arrangement is conceivable for both, loads like elevators 70
/%

or electrical heaters and sources like photovoltaic or wind 60 Configuration 1

generators. For larger influence on the shape of the efficiency Configuration 2
curve, obviously different converter types can also be used. 50 Configuration 3
The basis of this paper is an arrangement as shown in general 40 Configuration 4
Configuration 5
in Figure 1. It consists of several different converters operating 30
in parallel connecting an electrical sink to an electrical source. 0 50 100 150 200 250
For applications of such parallel converter stages two ques- P / kW
tions appear: How to split up the power between the parallel-
Fig. 2. Exemplary efficiency curves of different configurations.
connected converters for an efficiency-optimal operation strat-
egy? Which arrangement of parallel-operated converters pro-
vides highest efficiency for a specific application? The answer The common way for parallel connection of converters is to
obviously depends on the efficiency curves of the considered use several converters of the same type and rated power and
converters and the behaviour of the regarded application. The to split up the power symmetrically between the converters.
consideration begins with the different efficiency curves. The In the low power ratings commonly some converters are just

2014 IEEJ 2887

 The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

switched off. This yields a small potential to shape and enhance
the resulting efficiency curve. The parallel connection of
converters with different power ranges and topologies provides
more degrees of freedom to influence the overall efficiency
curve. Especially for this purpose the optimal split of the power
differs from a symmetrical split and therefore optimization
algorithms have to be applied.
If an efficiency optimized split of the power is executed,
an overall efficiency curve for any arrangement of converters
results. The selection of the most efficient converter arrange-
ment out of a set of considered converter configurations is
the second step of optimization, as shown in Figure 3. The
individual power requirement of the connected device (sink or
source) can be investigated using power demand profiles. The
power profiles show the power ranges which are frequently
required/provided by the device.
With knowledge about the power profile the best combina-
tion of different converters can be selected. For this purpose,
a weighting function can be calculated, which is based on
the power profile and also the information of the absolute
power losses at each operation point. This weighting function
is multiplied with the overall efficiency curve, the integral of
the resultant curve represents the cumulated weighted overall
efficiency for the investigated arrangement.
Efficiency curves of
Arrangement
converters (1...n)
The method presented in this paper deals with static
efficiency curves. The calculations for the selection of the
converter combination have to be executed offline. The opti-
mization of the operation strategy can also be executed offline
for static efficiency curves. The results can be used at runtime
using a lookup table. As prospective, it seems feasible to
also take care of temperature influences and other parame-
ters, which change the efficiency curves during runtime and
optimize the power scheduling of individual converters online.
II. P ROCEDURE OF OPTIMIZATION
As mentioned, the comparison of different converter arrange-
ments is only significant with consideration of the operation
strategy aiming on highest efficiency. For this the overall effi-
ciency curve can be used as an objective function. Neglecting
energy storage elements, the equation of the overall efficiency
curve is
PSI
S (PSO , PSI ) = (1)
PSO
where S is the efficiency, PSO is the power of the source and
PSI is the power of the sink of the overall system. That means
that PSO is the summmarized power on the source side of
all parallel connected converters and PSI is the summmarized
power on the sink side of all parallel-connected converters, as
shown in Figure 1. This results in
n
P
PSI,i
PSI i=1
S (PSO , PSI ) = = Pn (2)
PSO
PSO,i
i=1

Nonlinear Either the power on the sink or on the source side deter-
Most efficient mines the setpoint, depending on the application1 . Therefore
optimization
operation strategy two equation are utilized for the optimization process. For
algorithm
applications with fixed power on the sink side results

n
! n
!1
X X PSI,i
S (PSI ) = PSI,i (3)
Interpolation, i=1 i=1
i (PSI,i )
weighting and Power profile
integration
and for applications with fixed power on the source side
accordingly
n
! n !1
X X
Most efficient S (PSO ) = PSO,i i (PSO,i ) PSO,i (4)
Storage of the i=1 i=1
arrangement for
results
the application
In order to determine the optimal operating strategy for
the sharing of power in all operating points, these equations
Fig. 3. Fundamental procedure of the presented method. can be used as an objective functions and maximized for each
operating point. The objective function is in general nonlinear
This procedure is executed for all considered options, the
1 For a better understanding two examples for this: a) If a PV system is
most efficient arrangement is identified and selected. Accord-
connected to the grid, the PV system is the source and the grid is the sink.
ingly, this method provides both, a power profile dependent The source power is set by the application. b) If a heater is conneced to the
recommendation for the most efficient converter combination grid the grid is the source and the heater is the sink. The sink power is set
and the optimal operating strategy for this arrangement. by the application.

2888
 The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

and can be optimized with several different optimization plane shows the power split of PSI,1 and PSI,2 at the most
methods for nonlinear optimization. The optimization problem efficient operating points. The resolution of 1kW and the
can be formulated for sinks as rated power of 200kW leads to 200 operating points. If no
enhanced optimization method is used, 1002 calculations of
minimize S (PSI,1 , , PSI,n ) (5) the objective function are necessary to find the most efficient
PSI,1 , ,PSI,n
n power split. However, in this case it is recommended to follow
this approach, because it avoids solutions in local maxima
X
subject to PSI,i = PSI (6)
i=1
without any additional efforts and within few seconds.
PSI [0, PR ] (7)
Areas of local maxima

where PR is the rated power of the considered overall system.

For sources the same structure applies, using (4) instead of 100
(3). One possible solution of the optimization problem is 95
to calculate all possible combinations to split up the power 90
between the converters with a useful resolution of operating 85

S / %
80
points (0, , PR ) and to choose the most efficient one. 75
This may require much calculation time, depending on the 70
number of considered converters. However, this method has 65
the advantage of always calculating the global maximum. 60

To give a more detailed explanation and illustration of the

100
optimization problem, an example with two parallel-connected
80
converters is shown in the following. In this example a device
60 100
with a sink characteristic is being considered, so that PSI is PSI,1 / kW 80
40 60
the reference power. The efficiency curves of the converters
20 40
in this example are largely differing to highlight the effect 20 PSI,2 / kW
of the method. In reality less differences are expected, but 0 0
the principle of the problem becomes clear with this example.
Fig. 5. Three dimensional representation of overall efficiency with two
Figure 4 shows the efficiency curves of two converters, which parallel-connected converters. The most efficient operation points are indicated
have different shapes but the same rated power of PR,1 = by the trajectory and its projection onto the horizontal bottom plane.
PR,2 = 100 kW. The total rated power of the device in this
example is PR = 200 kW. As also indicated in Figure 5 several local maxima of the
objective function arise at different operating points, in addi-
100
tion to the searched global maximum. This is clearly illustrated
90 for the treated two dimensional problem by analyzing different
80 operating points. Figure 6 shows the system efficiency for three
/%

different operating points (PSI = 30kW, 60kW and 90kW)

70 with varied power of the first converter PSI,1 .
60 Converter 1
Converter 2 PSI = 30kW PSI = 60kW PSI = 90kW
50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 100
P / kW 90
S / %

Fig. 4. Different efficiency characteristics of the exemplary case. 80

Global maximum Global maximum Global maximum

The objective function to optimize the efficiency of the 70

0 50 100 0 50 100 0 50 100
parallel operation follows according to (3) as
PSI,1 / kW PSI,1 / kW PSI,1 / kW
PSI,1 + PSI,2
S (PSI,1 , PSI,2 ) = (8)
PSI,1 PSI,2 Fig. 6. System efficiency depending on the first converters power PSI,1 at
+
1 (PSI,1 ) 2 (PSI,2 ) different operating points (thus PSI,2 = PSI - PSI,1 ).

and can be represented for each combination of PSI,1 and PSI,2
as shown in Figure 5. The sum of PSI,1 and PSI,2 results to the
required power of the sink PSI in this specific operating point.
The optimization result is a trajectory of the most efficient
operation points for 0 PSI 200 kW (resolution of 1kW).
The projection of the trajectory onto the horizontal bottom
For better clarity the optimization results are presented in
two 2D diagrams in Figure 7. The first diagram shows the
efficiency curves of the inverter and the resulting systems
efficiency curve. The second diagram shows the most efficient
power split at each operating point. These can directly be used
in a lookup table to operate the system.

2889
 The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

100 To reach this result in acceptable time and acceptable

90 storage ressources a global optimization method is used.
Without going into details of optimization methods, it turned
80 out that the gradient-based successive approximation method
/%

70 "sequential quadratic programming, (SQP)", in combination

S,opt
with a global multiple starting point approach is beneficial for
60 this optimization problem. Beside of stochastic based starting
1
50 2 points also starting points, for which local or global solutions
are expected, are used. This applies for points, where the com-
200 PSI
plete power is supplied by a single converter. Thus it is feasible
PSI,1
PSI,2
to achieve a significant optimization speedup compared with
150 the approach to calculate all possible combinations. Also the
P / kW

resolution of the result is increased. Of course this approch is

100
just a proposal for this optimization problem and many other
50 approaches are conceivable. More information about SQP are
given in [3]. The global multiple starting point approach is
0 described in [4] and [5].
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
PSI / kW
III. C OMPARISON OF SOLUTIONS
Fig. 7. Two dimensional result of system efficiency and power split between
the converters.
The common way to use converters is to use one single
converter for the whole power range of an application or to
split up the power to several small converters of the same kind.
The described approach is well suited for arrangements of If the power is split up to equal converters, one way is to
up to 4 or 5 converters depending on the amount of operating split up the power symmetrical between the converters, which
points and resolution of calculation. However, even for the results in an efficiency curve of the same shape as one single
described simple example the use of an enhanced optimiza- converter with a higher rated power. Another way is to stepwise
tion method for arrangements with at least six converters is activate the converters. For this example four converters with
recommended, since the calculation time and data storage a power range of 25kW each are considered, which leads to
requirements becomes high. The result of an optimization with an overall power rating of 100kW.
six converters is shown in Figure 8.
For a set of four converters of the same type, the resulting
Converter 1 Converter 5 efficiency curve of stepwise activate operation and symmetrical
Converter 2 Converter 6 power split is shown in Figure 9.
Converter 3 Total system
Converter 4
100
100
95
95
/%
/%

90 Stepwise
90
Symmetrical
85 Optimized
85 Efficiency of single converter
80
80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
100 P / kW
80 Fig. 9. Total efficiency curves of a set of converter of same kind.
P / kW

60
40 Obviously stepwise activating operation has the advantage
20 of much higher efficiency for small power (Figure 9, blue line),
but less efficiency in the middle power range, compared to
0
symmetrical power split (Figure 9, green line). The red line
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 in Figure 9 shows the efficiency curve of an optimal power
PSI / kW split strategy between the four converters. Here the advantage
of an optimal power split becomes very clear. The resulting
Fig. 8. Exemplary result of the optimization for an arrangement with six efficiency curve enables better efficiency than the other two
different converters. methods in a wide range of operation.

2890
 The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

Figure 10 shows the switching strategy to split the power results in the resulting power ranges. Figure 11 shows an
among the converters for symmetrical power split (upper plot), exemplary power profile as a histogram which is determined
stepwise power split (middle plot) and for one optimal strategy as described. The profile shows the power of a sink (e.g. a
(lower plot). three step heater). For further processing, this power profile
is interpolated and normalized with the respective appropriate
Converter 1 Converter 3 power in each point, which leads to a weighting function as
Converter 2 Converter 4 shown in Figure 11.
Symmetrical power split
10
25 Power profile
20 Interpolated power profile
8 Weighting function
P / kW

15
10

h(PSI) / %
6
5
0 4
Stepwise power split
25
2
20
P / kW

15
0
10 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
5 PSI / kW
0
Fig. 11. Sink power profile and the resulting weighting function.
Optimized power split
25
The same procedure can also be used to extract a power
20 profile for sources. An example for this is shown in Figure 12,
P / kW

15 which is taken from a photovoltaic power station.

10
5 1.4 Power profile
Interpolated power profile
0 1.2 Weighting function

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1
h(P) / %

PSI / kW
0.8
Fig. 10. Optimal power split strategy between 4 different converter. 0.6

Using different converter types allows to influence the 0.4

shape of the resulting efficiency curve by a higher degree
0.2
and facilitates finding an optimal set of converters for every
application, like it is shown in chapter II. 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
IV. W EIGHTING WITH POWER PROFILE (P / PMax)/ %
One initial question remains: Which combination of converters Fig. 12. Power profile of a PV system and the resulting weighting function.
yields to highest total efficiency of a specific application?
Therefore detailed information about the power requirement The weighting function indicates the power ranges includ-
of the application is necessary. Because of the power being ing the information of the frequency of use and the absolute
a continuous variable, a probability density function seems to power. If this function is multiplied by the overall efficiency
be an appropriate way to indicate the power ranges which are curve of a specific arrangement of converters, a weighted
frequently required by the application. The approximation of efficiency curve for the investigated application results. To
a probability density based on measurement results is however compare different arrangements, this weighted efficiency curve
combined with several problems, such as the measurement can be integrated and normalised to the rated power of the
is discrete and the amount of measurements is limited. A application. For sink power profile it follows
useful alternative to determine the probability density is to Z PR
determine the frequency distribution. That is implemented 1
Jk = S,opt,k (PSI ) fw (PSI ) dPSI k = 1 m (9)
by quantization of the power and counting the measurement PR 0

2891

where variable J is the weighted accumulated efficiency for
the arrangement k and m is the number of considered arrange-
ments. This approach is similar to the weighted efficiency for
PV converters (e.g. EUR or CEC explained in [6]) but explicit
for the considered application. The higher the value of J,
the lower the losses of the respective arrangement k for the
considered power profile. The arrangement k with the highest
value of J should be selected to achieve highest efficiency.
If the price of different arrangements should also be included
in the comparison, the values of J can be used to create a
cost-benefit ratio function.
V. E XEMPLARY RESULT
The shown power profiles of the section before are used for an
exemplary result of the described method, using 19 different
arrangements. For each arrangement an efficiency optimized
power split is calculated and weighted with both power pro-
files. The resulting values for Jk,r with k = [1, 2, , 19] and
r = [A, B] are shown in Figure 13.
1.2
-1
[J - min(J)] max(J - min(J))
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 R EFERENCES
0 5
Arrangement
Fig. 13. Results of an optimization process for 19 different arrangements.
In order to enhance comprehension of comparison of the
different arrangements, the representation of J is normalized
by [J min(J)]max(J min(J))1 . The results can directly
be used to choose the efficiency optimal arrangement based
on the power profile. It becomes clear that the power profile
has significant influence on the choice, e.g. the converter
arrangement 14 is suited for the best application with power
profile B but not with power profile A. The same applies for
arrangement 11 the other way round.
VI. C ONCLUSION
The presented method facilitates the choice of an arrangement
of converters based on efficiency considerations for a specific
application. It becomes clear, that the efficiency optimal op-
erating strategy and choice of an arrangement are coupled.
The result of a simple example shows that, even if there are
only two converters working in parallel, optimized operating
strategies are not trivial. The approach proposes the variable J,
The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference
which is suitable to summarize the influences and information
and can be easily used to compare different arrangements for a
specific application. This is completely independent from the
kind of application, which can be sources like PV and wind
power but also sinks like heaters or elevators.
VII. S YMBOLS AND INDICES
TABLE I. E XPLANATION OF USED SYMBOLS AND INDICES
Symbol Meaning
fw Weighting function
Jk weighted accumulated efficiency for arrangement k
and power profile normalized to the rated power
i Efficiency of converter i
S Efficiency of the converter arrangement
S,opt Optimized efficiency of the converter arrangement
n Number of converters in arrangement
m Number of arrangements
r Index of power profile
k Index of arrangement
PR Rated power of the converter arrangement
Result for power profile A
PSI Power on sink side
Result for power profile B PSO Power on source side
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research and development project is funded by the Ger-
man Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
within the Leading-Edge Cluster Intelligent Technical Sys-
tems OstWestfalenLippe (its OWL) and managed by the
Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA). The author
is responsible for the contents of this publication.
10 15 20
[1] H. Wetzel, N. Frhleke, J. Bcker, P. Ide, High Efficient 3kW Three-
Stage Power Supply", Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC)
and Exposition, 2006. APEC 06. Twenty-First Annual IEEE, pp. 1361-
1367, 2006.
[2] B. Burger, D. Kranzer, Extreme High Efficiency PV-Power Converters",
Power Electronics and Applications, 2009. EPE 09. 13th European
Conference on, 2009.
[3] J. Nocedal, S. Wright, Numerical Optimization", Springer Sci-
ence+Business Media, New York, 2nd Edition, 2006.
[4] L. Liberti, N. Maculan, Global Optimization: From Theory to Imple-
mentation", Springer Science+Business Media, New York, 2006.
[5] J. Pintr, Global Optimization in Action, Continuous and Lipschitz
Optimization", Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996.
[6] European Standard, EN 50530:2010 - Overall efficiency of grid con-
nected photovoltaic inverters", 2010
2892