A PV Power Conditioning System Using Nonregenerative Single-Sourced Trinary Asymmetric Multilevel Inverter With Hybrid Control Scheme and Reduced Leakage Current

Abstract

A power conditioning system (PCS) using multiple module-integrated converters and a single sourced 27-level asymmetric cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (MLI) without regeneration for photovoltaic (PV) applications is proposed. A newly suggested hybrid-switching closed-loop strategy is proposed to enable the use of a 27-level inverter in PV systems. The suggested hybrid-switching strategy implements fundamental line-frequency switching in the main H-bridge to ensure a high efficiency and low leakage current operation. Furthermore, high-frequency switching is used in the auxiliary H-bridge cells to achieve a higher bandwidth control loop. A cost-effective unidirectional single-ended 1-kW dc-dc module based on a boost coupled inductor and charge-pump circuits is proposed to achieve a single PV source per module for a multistring configuration. To couple the unidirectional converters with the central inverter, a jumping element in the hybrid switching strategy is introduced to enable an optimal nonregenerative operation. The proposed PCS with the control scheme is analyzed and verified using hardware results in a grid connected mode of operation.