Dissertation On

ROLE AND APPLICATION OF SINGLE PHASE MULTILEVEL INVERTER IN GRID CONNECTED PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS.

 Literature Review
Photovoltaic System The multilevel inverter

Pulse Width Modulation Technique

Technical Issues References

Literature Review
The multilevel inverter has been proven to be one of the

important enabling technologies in photovoltaic (PV) utilization.

Hydro, photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy conversion have

advantages such as reliability reasonable installation and energy production costs low environmental impact capability to support microgrid systems and to connect to the electric grid

Among these energy sources the PV is pointed out as one of

the most modular and environmentally friendly technologies.

Photovoltaic System
Photovoltaic (PV) power supplied to the utility grid is gaining more and more visibility, while the worlds power demand is increasing.

Photovoltaic Technology
PV systems as an alternative energy resource

complimentary energy-resource in hybrid systems.

Necessary:
high reliability

reasonable cost
user-friendly design

Islanding
Islanding is the continued operation of the inverter when the grid has

been removed on purpose, by accident, or by damage

Detection schemes - active and passive.
1. The passive methods -monitor grid parameters. 2. The active schemes introduce a disturbance into the grid and monitor

the effect.

Small stand-alone DC or AC system

The PV array charges the battery during daylight hours and the battery supplies power to the loads as needed. The charge regulator terminates the charging when the battery reaches full charge. The load center may contain meters to monitor system operation and fuses to protect wiring in the event of malfunction or short circuit in the house.

Grid connected systems

Grid-connected photovoltaic power systems are power systems energized by photovoltaic panels which are connected to the utility grid.

Grid-connected photovoltaic power systems comprise of Photovoltaic panels MPPT solar inverters power conditioning units grid connection equipments Unlike Stand-alone photovoltaic power systems these systems do not have batteries.

Applications of PV

Water Pumping: PV powered pumping systems are excellent , simple ,reliable life 20 yrs Commercial Lighting: PV powered lighting systems are reliable and low cost alternative. Security, billboard sign, area, and outdoor lighting are all viable applications for PV Consumer electronics: Solar powered watches, calculators, and cameras are all everyday applications for PV technologies. Telecommunications Residential Power: A residence located more than a mile from the electric grid can install a PV system more inexpensively than extending the electric grid

source of)

PV Technology
The key to successful solar energy installation is to use quality components that have long lifetimes and require minimal maintenance. The future is bright for continued PV technology dissemination.

PV technology fills a significant need in supplying electricity, creating local jobs and promoting economic development in rural areas, avoiding the external environmental costs associated with traditional electrical generation technologies.
Major power policy reforms and tax incentives will play a major role if all the above said is to be effectively realized.

Multi level inverter

The elementary concept of a multilevel converter is to achieve

higher power to use a series of power semiconductor switches with several lower voltage dc sources to perform the power conversion by synthesizing a staircase voltage waveform.

Multilevel inverters, in case of n-level, can increase the power by

(n-1) times than that of two-level inverter through the series connection of power semi conductor devices without additional circuit to have uniform voltage sharing. dissertation.

Three types of multilevel inverter have been proposed in our

1. Diode Clamped multilevel inverters 2. Flying Capacitor multilevel inverters 3. Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters

As the levels increases, the voltage that can be spanned by summing multiple voltage levels also increases. In high power and high voltage application multilevel inverters are used to avoid limitations of 2- level inverters at high frequency

Generalized waveform of cascaded multilevel inverter

1. Diode Clamped multilevel inverters

The diode clamped inverter uses half bridge version in each level. The diode clamped multilevel inverter is most commonly used. However, it is difficult to control voltage of each capacitor constituted DC-link beyond four level.

One leg of 3-level diode clamped inverter topology

2. Flying Capacitor multilevel inverters

The flying capacitor multilevel inverter does not require separately isolated dc sides and additional clamping diode.

One leg of 3-level flying capacitor inverter topology

3. Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters

A cascaded multilevel inverter consists of a series of H-bridge (single-phase, full bridge) inverter units. The cascaded multilevel has no voltage sharing problem except for series connected devices and capacitors but it has separately isolated dc power supplies, which requires special input transformer.

One leg of cascaded H-bridge inverter topology

Features Of Multilevel Inverter

The key features of a multilevel structure follow:
The output voltage and power increase with the number of

levels. The harmonic content decreases as the number of levels increases and filtering requirements are reduced. With additional voltage levels, the voltage waveform has more free switching angles, which can be preselected elimination. In the absence of any techniques, the switching losses can be avoided. Increasing output voltage and power does not require an increase in rating of individual device. The switching devices do not encounter any voltage sharing problems.

 It is easier to produce a high power and high voltage with the multilevel structure. High power ratings and reduced cost. No transformers are needed to produce these high voltages, whereas traditional 12, 24,

Advantages Of Multilevel Inverter

and 48-pulse inverters require transformers. If a component fails on a multilevel inverter, most of the time the inverter will still be usable, at a reduced power level [14].So it is reliable. Multilevel inverters allow for the utilization of smaller, more reliable components. Increasing the number of voltages levels in the inverter without requiring higher ratings on individual devices can increase the power rating. The structure of multilevel voltage source inverters allow them to reach high voltages with low harmonics. By using multilevel structure, the stress on each switching device can be reduce in proportional to the number of levels and thus the inverter can handle higher voltages. Consequently in some application, it is possible to avoid expensive and bulky step up transformer. The multilevel inverter can also be used to provide ride-through capability under emergency conditions.

Applications Of Multilevel Inverters Multilevel inverters utilize several dc voltages to synthesize a desired

ac voltage. For this reason, multilevel inverters can be implemented using distributed energy resources such as photovoltaic and fuel cells. The application of multilevel inverters being considered is connecting the fore mentioned energy resources with an ac power grid. Using a multilevel inverter as a reactive power compensator can help to improve the power factor of a load. If the dc sources of the multilevel inverter are banks of batteries or capacitors, the multilevel inverter can also be used to provide ridethrough capability under emergency conditions. Another possible application of multilevel inverters is their use in Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs). Multilevel inverters generally allow for smaller components, thus reducing weight [14].

PULSE WIDTH MODULATION TECHNIQUE

The energy that a switching power converter delivers to a motor is controlled by Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) signals applied to the gates of the power transistors. PWM signals are pulse trains with fixed frequency and magnitude and variable pulse width. There is one pulse of fixed magnitude in every PWM period. However, the width of pulses changes from pulse to pulse according to a modulating signal. When a PWM signal is applied to the gate of a transistor, it causes the turn on and turn off intervals of the transistor to change from one PWM period to other PWM period according to the same modulating signal [12] The frequency of a PWM signal must be much higher than that of the modulating signal, the fundamental frequency such that the energy delivered to the motor and its load depends mostly on the modulating signal.

Pulse-Width Modulation
Objective of PWM Control of inverter output voltage Reduction of harmonics
Disadvantages of PWM Increase of switching losses due to high PWM frequency Reduction of available voltage EMI problems due to high-order harmonics

Advantages Of PWM
Easy to implement and control. No temperature variation and ageing caused drifting or

degradation in linearity. Compatible with todays digital microprocessors. Lower power dissipation. It allows linear amplitude control of the output voltage/current from previously not present. It provide high quality white light with high efficiency through easy application. Little heat whilst working. It can utilize very high frequencies (50-100 KHz is not uncommon.)

Disadvantages Of PWM
Drastically increased switching frequencies Attenuation of the wanted fundamental component of

the PWM waveform. Generation of high frequency harmonic components. It is susceptible to EMI (electromagnetic interference) and sometimes even produces audible noises.

Technical Issues
The main grid interface criteria which should be checked with the utility are the following: Voltage regulation Frequency regulation Harmonic distortion in the operating load range:
Total of all current harmonics (usually 5% maximum) Any single current harmonic (usually 3% maximum) Total of all voltage harmonics (usually 5% maximum)

Power factor and reactive power consumption Protection and operation criteria
Inverter disconnect criteria in the event of a grid failure. Inverter reconnect criteria. Adequate safeguard against islanding.

Total harmonic distortion

One of the leading problems in inverter is the harmonic contents. The harmonics can be classified into voltage harmonics current harmonics. Current harmonics is usually generated by harmonics contained in voltage supply and depends on the type of load such as resistive load, capacitive load and inductive loads. Harmonic distortion can have detrimental effects on electrical equipment.

How harmonic distortion can affect the operation?

Equipment responds to harmonics differently depending on

their method of operation. For example incandescent lights and most types of household electric heaters and stoves are not affected adversely at all. On the other hand, induction motor windings are overheated by harmonics, causing accelerated degradation of insulation and loss of life. Harmonic voltages can give correspondingly higher currents than do 50 Hz voltages and one can easily underestimate the degree of additional heating in the motor. The operation of some equipment depends on an accurate voltage wave shape and they can malfunction when harmonics are present.

REFERENCES
[1] Key world energy statistics - 2009, International Energy Agency (IEA), 2009. Available at: http://www.iea.org.

[2] F. Kininger, Photovoltaic systems technology. Kassel, Germany: Universitt Kassel, Institut fr Rationelle Energiewandlung, 2003. Available at: www.uni-kassel.de/re.
[3] M. Liserre, T. Sauter, J.Y. Hung, Future energy systems: integrating renewable energy sources into the smart power grid through industrial electronics, IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine, vol.4, no. 1, pp. 18-37, Mar. 2010. [4] Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics Until 2014, European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). Available at: http://www.epia.org. [5] Energy poverty: how to make modern energy access universal, World Energy Outlook 2010, International Energy Agency (IEA). Available at: http://www.iea.org. [6] Management of storage batteries used in stand-alone photovoltaic power systems report, IEA PVPS T310:2002, International Energy Agency (IEA), 2002. Available at: http://www.iea.org. 7] J. P. Benner and L. Kazmerski, Photovoltaics gaining greater visibility, IEEE Spectr., vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 3442, Sep. 1999.

8] Limits for Harmonic Current Emission (Equipment Input Current <16 A per Phase), EN 61000-32, 1995. [9] B. Verhoeven et al.. (1998) Utility Aspects of Grid Connected Photovoltaic Power Systems. International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems, IEA PVPS T5-01: 1998. [Online]. Available: www.iea-pvps.org [10] J. H. R. Enslin and P. J. M. Heskes, Harmonic interaction between a large number of distributed power inverters and the distribution network, in Proc. IEEE PESC03, vol. 4, 2003, pp. 17421747. [11] V. G. Agelidis, D. M. Baker, W. B. Lawrance, and C. V. Nayar, A multilevel PWMinverter topology for photovoltaic applications, in Proc.IEEE ISIE, Guimes, Portugal, 1997. [12] P. K. Hinga, T. Ohnishi, and T. Suzuki, A new PWM inverter for photovoltaic power generation system, in Conf. Rec. IEEE Power Electron. Spec. Conf., 1994. [13] Agelidis.B and Calais.M, Multilevel converters for single-phase grid connected photovoltaic systems-an overview, In Proc. IEEE ISIE,1998, Vol. 1. [14] M. Calais, V.G. Agelidis, Multilevel converters for single-phase grid connected photovoltaic systems-an overview, in Proc. IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, July 1998, vol. 1, pp. 224-229.

Thank You.