A New PWM Inverter for Photovoltaic

Power Generation System

Peterson K. Hinga, Tokuo Ohnishi, and Takayuki Suzuki

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

The University of Tokushima
2-1, Minamijosanjima-cho, Tokushima-shi, Tokushima, 770, JAPAN.

Abstract-In this paper, w e propose a novel multi-step
PWM Inverter for a solar power generation system. The circuit
configuration is constructed by adding a bi-directional switch to
the conventional bridge type inverter circuit using the two
isolated DC powcr supply for which the solar cell is very
suitable. The new type of PWM inverter presented has many
features such as the good output waveform, small size of filter,
low switching losses, low acoustic noise.
In this paper we describe the circuit configuration, control
method and the characteristics o f the system. And w e also
investigate the relation between the inverter and the solar cell
characteristics. Finally, some simulation results and experimental
results are shown.
The inverter is well suit to the photovoltaic power generation
system so that the solar cell can be used,for the isolated DC
power supply.
So, the main circuit construction and implementation are
very easy. The new type of PWM inverter presented has many
superior output characteristics to that of the conventional one
such as the good output waveform, small size of filter, low
switching losses, low acoustic noise [5].
In this paper we describe the circuit configuration. control
method and the characteristics of the system. And we also
investigate the relation between the inverter and the solar cell
characteristics. Finally, we show some simulaticin results and
experimental results to verify the system operation.

I. INIRODIXTION

Though the cost of the solar cell has reduced due to

technological advancement in production, the system cost is still
high because of the expensive inverter system with filter circuit.
So, many types of inverter sy5tem for photovoltaic power
generation system have been investigated [l I-[3]. For the
application to the residential solai power generation system, the
single pha5e invertei is usually used[3] From a view point of the
general use of the in\ erter, the small size and low cost of the
inveiter system are very important. Eipecially, the filter circuit
is bulky and expenshe generally. The two level converter can
Fig. 1. Circuit configuration.
satisfy the\e specification using very high switching technique.
But i t has unfortunate possibilities such as the increase of the
switching losses, the acoustic noise and the interference to the
othei equipment and so on.
In this paper, we propose a multi-step PWM inverter to
ieduce the required filter m e . When we obtain the stepwise
waveloim, the simple construction and high efficiency are
important points. Although the NPC inverter (Neutral Point
Clamped Inverter) I S useful to obtain the stepwise waveform, the
circuit coiistructioii become somewhat complicate and the
forward voltage drop is high for the case of the single phase
system. The proposed inverter can be constructed by adding a
bidiiectional switching ciicuit to the conventional two level
inverter. This system require5 two isolated or controlled DC
power supply because the invertei can not control the neutral Fig. 2. PWM switching mode,.
point voltage [4], [5].
0-7803-1859-5/94/$4.00 0 1994 IEEE

39 1
 Table 1 Switching states and voltage levels.

!; 1 1 OFF
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
* OFF

Table 2 Modes of operation.

OFF OFF
_I
2Ed

1 T
(a) Proposed Type Inverter

Low level

(b) NPC Type Inverter

11. CIRCUITCONFIGURATION

In the case of solar cell application, it is easy to use two

isolated D C p o w e r s u p p l y . Fig. 1 s h o w s the circuit
configuration of the proposed multi-step inverter. T h e
introduction of an extra bidirectional switching device (So) to
the conventional PW M inverter creates a new technique of
improving the output voltage waveforms. T h e D C side
comprises of solar cell modules divided into two groups for easy
construction and implementation. In order to operate the solar
cell around the optimum voltage point, the relatively large (c) Simplified Type Inverter

capacitors are used to reduce the voltage variations due to the

inherent high power pulsation of the single phase system. The
Fig. 3. Circuit configuration of multi-step inverter.
diodes Ds and D 6 introduced to the circuitry are used to protect
the capacitors from being negative charged. The PWM output
waveform is shown in Fig. 2. The obtainable voltage levels are
0, edl,edl+ed2,-ed2,-(edl+ed2) as shown in Table 1. The PWM
Multi-Level
switching is done between two different levels of edl and e a for Inverter
every switching mode. Over one complete cycle, there are four
modes of operation. Table 2 shows the switching states and the
output voltages for these modes respectively. The interval for a
selected mode is given by the relation between the DC voltage
cdl ,ed2 and the reference voltage waveform eOp
Fig. 3 shows the three types of inverter circuit based on the
above control principle. Fig. 3(a) is the proposed circuit using
t-----J.
I
the additional two switching devices for the current direction
respectively in order to minimize the voltage drop of the circuit.
Fig. 3(b) shows the single phase construction of the conventional
threc phase NPC inverter. If the applied voltage to devices is
relatively low, we can use the simplified circuit shown in Fig.
3(c). Although the applied voltage to devices is not so significant Fig. 4. Control system of the proposed inverter.
for the residential use, the voltage drops across the switching

3 92
devices is very important from a view point of losses. Where, Eo is the rms output voltage and I,, is the rms output
Therefore, the proposed multi-step PWM inverter with a current and $is the lagging phase angle.
simple circuit configuration shown in Fig. 3(a) will be suitable They are shown as
for residential photo voltaic power generation system.
e, = 4 2 E, sin 8 (7)

Moreover, the DC current also varies due to the operating

The block diagram representation of the control system is
shown in Fig. 4. The controlled voltage eof through the induc- Now, we obtain the average waveforms of id1 and id2
tance of the filter circuit is feedback and compared with the si-
In the interval ( 0 4 1 ) . the DC current idl,id;?are obtained as
nusoidal reference voltage. The voltage eo[ instead of the filtered
output voltage is used not lo reduce extremely the switching
Pd" Pdl=Ed idJ= Po (8)
frequency. The difference is passed through the integrator or
low pass filter (Fig. 4 ) to the hysteresis comparator. The id]= PoiEd= (Eo I&d) (COS 0-COS (20-4)) (9)
switching frequency is adjusted by the filters time constant and
the detecting point. The voltage eof is given as follows: = 1Ke (cos rp- cos ( 2 % ~ ) ) (10)
- 2
eoF(l-A) e,+A e,,
= eo
A=L2/( Ll+L2) (L2<<L1) (3 )
The comparatoi generate a command signal to the EPROM.
The inteival for each mode of operation is determined by the
mode selection circuit in which the reference signal eor is
compared with the DC voltage Ed. The appropriate signal from
&t
that i\ al\o sent to the EPROM. Thus the two signals from the
voltage comparator and the mode selector determine the
sequence of the command signals being generated by the ---+. -~
EPROM table. These bignals are responsible for operating the 0 81 82 IC 83 a, 2n

The exchanging phase angle 8 1 between Mode I and Mode Ke=l.O

I1 shown in Fig. 2. is given as next: p f.=0.8

f j I= sin (K&) (4)

K, = dT Ed/&,, (5)
0
The other angles (82-83) are also similarly obtained. _-- I -___ ___

Iv. DC CIiRRENT OF INVERTER

On the other hand, the DC side current varies very widely

05 \ K,=O 5
p.f.=l.O

because the single phase power

next;
= E, I, (cos
PO

+ - cos (2e-g ))
has very large pulsation as

(6)
L --- _____ I
2n

Fig. 7. Inverter's DC current (Ke=O.S,pf=l.O).

393

'f
I,
Fig. 8. Solar cell: characteristics and load curve relations
And, in the interval (01-€9), the DC current idl, id2
= (cos cp- cos (20-q))- sin (e - cp) (14)
*TIo Ke
The D C current id1 and id2 in another interval are obtained
similarly. These can be easily obtained for the unbalanced DC
voltage condition.
Figs. 5 and 6 show the average DC current waveform of id1
under the balanced condition (edl=ea=SOV) for p.f.=l and
p.f.=0.8 at Ke=l respectively. It can be seen that the peak value
for e\.ery half period is almost the same for this operating
condition. The current variation become large for the case of
the reduced voltage control (Fig. 7 ) .
Therefore, the inverter preferred to control under the
balanced DC voltage and the high control index Ke. T h e
capacitor must be designed from these point of view.
V. SOLARCELLCHARACIERIS~ICS
. 4 m OPERATION
The solar cell characteristic influences the operation of the
inverter and the control system. Fig. 8 shows the solar cell
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characteristics and load curve relations. When the solar light
intensity is L1 and the load power is Po (= p,) there are two
crossover points pa and pb as shown. In this system, the load
power is constant so that the output voltage is controlled to the
constant reference voltage eo*under the constant load.
The system operates at the stable point pa but not the saddle
(unstable) point pb shown in Fig. 8. Therefore, the operating
voltage of the solar cell is higher than the maximum point volt-
age Vopt The shadow area is the stable operating region. The
control range of the output voltage Eo (rms) is given as next:
Vopt< c'2Eo<vo (15)
The operating point is decided by the relation between the solar
cell characteristics depend on the light intensity and the constant
power curve depend on the load.
When the solar light intensity reduce lower than LI, curve
the system can not operate successfully for the constant power
Po. In this case, the operating point is given from the relation
between the solar cell chaxacteristics and the load cuwe. Even if
the light intensity is greater than L2, the uncontrolled portion
may be appear in a the period using a small capacitor Cdl, Cd2.
Fig. 9 s h o w s the simulated results of the operating
waceforms under the next operating conditions
a) Solar cell: open-circuit voltage = 80 V
short-circuit current = 10 A
b) Inverter: DC side capacitors Cl=C2 = lO0OOpF
c) Reference Voltage (E<lr)r.m.s. = 100-V, 60Hz
d) Load : current=5A, load power factor = 0.8
T h e two level P W M output can be obtained and the
sinusoidal output voltage waveform coincide with the reference
signal eor. It is noted that the solar cell current is1,isZ through
the capacitor filter have some ripple component because the DC
current has large pulsation components as mentioned above. The
some pulses around the sinusoidal waveform appear at the instalit
of step changing point of the PWM level. These pulses depend
on the mismatch the operating mode. It can be found that the
solar cell current is[, i,z through the capacitor filter have ripple
component because the dc current contain large pulsating
component, as mentioned.
Fig. 10 shows the operating waveform of the inverter
with seen from the PWM waveform with the different step
width, the sinusoidal voltage waveform same as the above can
be obtained even for the different DC voltage sources by
controlling instantaneously the output voltage. In this case, the
ripple of the solar cell current increases.
RESULTS
VII. EXPERIMENTAL
In order to verify the feasibility and performance of this
method of power conversion and confirm key predicted
waveforms, the proposed PWM inverter was tested under the
following circuit specifications:

Fig. 9. Simulation Results ( &l=Ea=80V,f=60Hz) .
Fig. 10. Simulation Results (Edl=8OV, Ea=lWV,f=60Hz).
a) Maximum DC voltage = 100-V
b) Maximum load current = 5-A ,load power factor=0.8
c) DC side capacitors (Cl=C2) = 2200pF
d) output LC filter: Ll+L2 = 1mH and L2 = O.lm
capacitor C= 20 pF
The waveforms for PWM output voltage and load current
for the balanced voltage conditions ( Edl=E&=80V) are shown
in Fig. 11. The unbalanced voltage conditions of the operating
system is shown in Fig. 12. It can be observed that the load
voltage waveform eo is almost sinusoidal by the PWM switching
in spite of the unbalanced DC voltage (Edl=80V and Ea=100V).
Higher efficiency and lower acoustic noise at loads than the
conventional two level inverter was also confirmed.
VIII. CONCLUSIONS
A multi-step P W M inverter suitable for the photovoltaic
power generation system and its control system are presented.
This inverter has a special feature as next:
a) Stepwise PWM waveform
b) Small size of the output filter.
c) Easy construction with separate solar cell module.
d) Low switching loss and low acoustic noise.
And, we showed that the sinusoidal output waveform can be eas-
ily obtained by the closed loop control of the output voltage
through the small filter circuit. The system can be successfully
operated for the higher voltage than the Pmax point voltage
Vopt under the constant load power. The feasibility of the sys-
395
-
Fig. 11. Experimental Rewlts (Edl=E&=80V, f=60H7).
Fig. 12. Experimental Results (Edl=80V',Edz=100V,f=60~).
tem was confirmed by the simulation and experimental results.
Then the presented scheme is suitable for photovoltaic
power generation system for residential applications.
ACE;NOWLtDGMENT
The work reported in this paper was made possible by the
support from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.
The authors would like thank Mr. Roberto Rojas for his
invaluable contributions during the discussion sessions.
RE.t.ERE;NCE.S
[ l ] T . Ohnishi and H. Okitsu, "Microcomputer controlled
photovoltaic solar power conversion system using PW M
inverter", Proc. of IEEE/IECON'84,Tokyo,l984.
[2] T. Ohnishi and S. Takata, "Comparisons of maximum power
tracking strategy of solar cell output and control characteristics
using step up/down chopper circuit", Trans. of IEE of Japan,
Vol. 112-D, No. 3, 1992.
[3] T. Ohnishi, "Single phase current fed type PWM inverter
for residential photovoltaic solar power generation system",
PCIM'88, pp.489-498.
[4] K. Hinga, T. Ohnishi and T . Suzuki, "Multi-step PWM
inverter for photovoltaic power generation system ",Proc. of
Annual meeting of IEE of Japan, No. 525, 1993.
[SI K . Hinga, T . Ohnishi, T . Suzuki, " Multi-step PWM
inverter using a bi-directional switch", Proc. of Shikoku Section
joint convention record of the institutes of electrical and related
engineers, Japan, No. 5-21,1993.