2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATION OF POWER, ENERGY, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

Virtual DC Bus to Eliminate Common Mode

Ground Leakage Current in PV System
Rohan P. Shinde

Dr. U.V. Patil

M. Tech. (Electrical-EPS),
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Dr. BabasahebAmbedkar Technological University,
Lonere 402 103(M.S.).
rpshindemtech@gmail.com

Asst. Professor,
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Dr. BabasahebAmbedkar Technological University,
Lonere 402 103(M.S.).
patil_uv@yahoo.com

AbstractThe conventional grid-interface PV system consist

of either a line frequency or a high frequency transformer
for the galvanic isolation between PV panels and the grid.
This reduces overall system efficiency due to additional
transformer losses. Elimination of this transformer increases
efficiency reduces size, and cost of the system. This leads to
flow of the common-mode (CM) ground leakage current
through parasitic capacitor formed between negative of grid
and PV panels. To overcome this problem, the concept of
transformerless PV inverter with virtual DC bus is
presented in this paper. This system, modulated with
unipolar SPWM reduces ripples in output-load current. A
comparative study of THD contents in the H5-inverter
output voltage without filter and with L, L-C, L-C-L filter is
also presented in this papers.
Keywords: Common mode (CM) ground leakage current,
photovoltaic (PV), transformerless H5-inverter, virtual DC bus.

I.

oftheCMgroundleakage
currentreducespowerconversionefficiency,
increasesgridcurrentdistortion,deteriorateelectricmagnetic
compatibility,andmoreimportantly,giverisetothesafety
threats[10].
This paper presents the concept of transformerless PV
inverter with virtual DC bus grid system. This reduces
CM ground leakage current, reduces weight and size of
PV grid system and improves overall efficiency. The
unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) is
used to control the H5 inverter output voltage. This
reduces THD contents in the inverter output. Therefore, a
smaller filter can be employed and the harmonic contents
of the output voltage is greatly reduced, and the overall
power quality of grid-connected system is improved.
II.

INTRODUCTION

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation has become one of

the important methods of using solar energy. The
renewable energy source based distributed generation
(DG) systems are normally interfaced to the grid through
power electronic converters [1]. Thus, developing a gridconnected renewable energy source system is important to
meet the increasing energy demands and related
environmental issues.
Thedistributedphotovoltaic(PV)powergeneration
systems
havereceivedincreasingpopularityinbothcommercialandresi
dentialareas[2][4].
Most
of
the
times
invertersareusedtofeedthePVpowerintotheutilitygrid.Itis
importantforthePV + inverter system to have
highefficiency,duetohighpriceofthePVpanels[5],[6].Smalls
ize PV systems are preferred for low power application
and
single
phase
systems,
especiallywheninvertersareinstalledindoor.
The conventional grid-interface PV system consists of
either a line frequency or a high frequency transformer for
the galvanic isolation between PV panels and
thegrid.Removal
ofthistransformercanbeaneffectivesolutionto
reducethesize,
cost,
and
increase
in
grid
efficiency[7].However,ifthetransformerisremoved,theCM
groundleakagecurrentmayappearontheparasitic capacitor
between thePVpanelsandtheground[8],[9].Theexistence

REVIEW OF EXISTING SYSTEMS

A. Common Mode Leakage Current

Removal of isolation transformer forms parasitic
capacitor between PV panels and ground. This leads to
development of common mode voltage (CMV) and flow
of leakage current called as common-mode (CM) ground
leakage. Fig. 1 represents transformerless grid-connected
PV inverter system with path for CM ground leakage
current [8], [9]. The output filter inductors (L1, L2), EMC
filter, ground impedance (ZG) and parasitic capacitor
(CPV) are also shown in the figure.

L1

A
Cdc

L2

PV

EMC Filter

Lcm

Cdm

Ccm
Ccm

CPV

ZG

icm
Fig.1:CM Current Path for Transformerless PV Inverter

The CM voltage vCMis defined by [7]

=

+(

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 2015 IEEE

(1)

ROHAN.P.SHINDE et al: VIRTUAL DC BUS TO ELIMINATE COMMON MODE GROUND LEAKAGE CURRENT IN PV SYSTEM

Where, vAOis the 0voltage difference between point A and

O,vBOis the voltage difference between point B and O.
B. State-of-the-art Topologies
To eliminate common mode (CM) ground leakage
current use full bridge inverter with the bipolar sinusoidal
pulse width modulation(SPWM)but the unipolar SPWM
has betterperformance, due to the generations ofswitching
frequency CM voltage it cannot beused directly for the
full bridge inverter. For this reason, some of thetopologies
based on the full bridge inverter with unipolarSPWM
such as the H5 inverter [11], the HERIC inverter [12] and
H6 inverter havebeen developed. Such inverter topologies
require two filterinductors which may lead to a rise in the
size and cost. TheDC and AC sides cannot be perfectly
disconnected by thepower switches because of the switch
parasitic capacitance, sothe common mode current may
still exist [13]. There are other topologies proposed
inrecent literatures. The Karschny inverter [14] and
theparalleled-buck inverter [15] are derived from the
buck-boost andbuck circuits respectively. These solutions
have high reliability,but are not capable of supplying the
reactive power to the grid. The inverter proposed in [16]
employs a capacitor voltage dividerto keep the CM
voltage constant, but is regarded to be of
higherconduction losses.
III.

positivepole of the virtual bus is connected to the ground

point N, sothat the voltage at the midpoint C is either zero
or -Vdc.Thedotted line in the figure indicates that this
connection may berealized directly by a wire or indirectly
by a power switch. With points B and C connected
together by a selectingswitch. The voltage at point A can
be of three different levels,+VPV, zero and
-Vdc. Due to
structure of the circuit CM current is eliminated naturally.
IV.

TOPOLOGY USED AND MODULATION TECHNIQUE

The used topology of the inverter with

negativevoltage generation concept i.e. virtual DC bus is
shown in Fig.3. It consists of five power switches S1~S5
and only one single filter inductor Lf. The PV panels and
capacitor C1 form the real DC bus while the virtual DC
bus is provided by C2. With the switched capacitor
technology, C2 is charged by the real DC bus through S1
and S3 to maintain a constant voltage. This topology can
be modulated with the unipolar SPWM. The detailed
analysis is as follows.

S1
C1

PV
S4

S2

NEGATIVE VOLTAGE GENARATION

Negative voltage can be generated by connecting the

grid neutral line directly to thenegative pole of the PV
panel and the voltage across the parasiticcapacitance CPVis
clamped to zero. This concept of the negative voltage
generation is represented in Fig. 2, and is also called as
virtual DC bus concept which is necessary for operation
of the inverter. This prevents any leakagecurrent flowing
through the PV grid system. With respect to the ground
point N,the voltage at midpoint B is either zero or +VPV,
according tothe state of the switch bridge.

iGRID

C2
N
S3

S5

LF

Fig. 3:Used Topology

Unipolar SPWM
The waveform for the unipolar SPWM of the used
inverter is displayed in Fig.4. The gate drive signals for
thepower switches are generated according to the relative
valueof the modulation wave ugand the carrier wave uc.

ug

Virtual DC
Bus

uc

O
t

Cdc

LF

Selecting
Switch

S2

PV

Grid

S4

S5
CPV

ZG

t
Fig. 4:Unipolar SPWM for Used Topology

Fig. 2: Negative Voltage Generation

If a propermethod is designed to transfer the energy

between the real busand the virtual bus, the voltage across
the virtual bus can bekept the same as the real one. The

During thepositive half grid cycle, ug> 0, S1 and S3are

turned on and S2is turned off, while S4and S5commutate
complementally withthe carrier frequency. The capacitors

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 2015 IEEE

2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATION OF POWER, ENERGY, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

V. MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF SOLAR CELL

The PV panels and the solar cell aremodeled and
simulated using MATLAB/simulink. The diode saturation
current is given by

(3)

0
-20

Selected signal: 50 cycles. FFT window (in red): 3 cycles

-40200
-60

0.002

0.004

0.006

0.008

0.01

0.012

0.014

0.016

0.018

0.02

Time

Fig. 5 (a):Inverter output voltage and load current without filter

-200
0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

where Io and Ipvare photo voltaic and saturation current of

the array, Vt is thermal voltage of array (
), NS is the
no. of cell connected in series, Ipvnis the light generated
current at nominal condition, = T-Tn (where T and Tn
being the actual and nominal temp in kelvin respectively),
G=is solar irradiation on device temp.,Gn is the nominal
irradiation, KI and KV are current and voltage coefficient,
q is electron charge, K is Boltzman constant, Vocn is
nominal open circuit voltage, Iscn is nominal short circuit
current. The parameters of the solar PV array are given in
Table 1.
Table 1. Parameter of solar Panel
Ratings

Solar irradiation (G)

Voltage Coefficient (Kv)
Nominal open circuit voltage(Vocn)
Nominal light generated current (IPvn)
Nominal irradiation(Gn)
Nominal short circuit current (Iscn)
Series Resistance (Rs)
Diode constant (a)
Boltzman constant (K)
No. of cell in series (Ns)
Electron Charge (q)
Current Coefficient (KI)
Nominal Temp. (Tn)
Actual Temp. (T)

600 W/m
15
70V
120A
8.5 W/m2
17A
1
30
78J/K
6
3C
8
200K
298.5K

RESULTS

Matlab/simulink
modelis
developedtoverifythefunctionalityofthe
usedtopologyandtheideaofthevirtualdcbusconcept.
The
terminalvoltageofthePVpanelis
135V.
Thefiltersare
usedtoreduce theripples in output voltage. The inverter
output voltage waveform without and with filter are
presented in sub-section A and B respectively.

Fundamental (50Hz) = 114.4 , THD= 65.96%

80
60
40
20
0

(4)

Parameter

100

50

100

150

200
250
Harmonic order

300

350

400

Fig. 5 (b):THD contents in inverter output voltage without Filter

Fig.5 (a) showsoutput voltage and load current of the

H5 inverterwithout filter. These waveforms are
sinusoidal in nature. Fig.5 (b) shows THD contents in
output voltage of the inverter without Filter with
fundamental frequency 50Hz. The THD contents in
inverter output voltage without filter is 65.96%.
B. THD analysis with different filter
pfc

150
Load Current

Load voltage

100

Output voltage and current

VI.

20

Mag (% of Fundamental)

+ ( )

exp

40

50
0
Selected signal: 50 cycles. FFT window (in red): 3 cycles

-50
100

-100
0

-150
0

0.005

0.01

0.015

-100

0
0.1
0.2 output
0.3 voltage
0.4
Fig.6
(a):Inverter

Mag (% of Fundamental)

Load Current
Load Voltage

(2)

The basic equation of the PV panel is written as

I=

pfc

60

Time (s)

Solar irradiation is given by

=

A. THD analysis without Filter

TheTHD contents in inverter output voltage are also calculated

and listed in Table 2.

Output voltage and current

C1and C2are in parallel.During the negative half cycle, ug<

0. S5is turned onand S4is turned off. S1and S3commutate
with
the
carrierfrequency
synchronously
and
S2commutates in complementto them. S1and S3are turned
off while S2is turned on. Thenegative voltage is generated
by the virtual DC bus C2 and theinverter output is at
negative voltage level, When S1andS3are turned on while
S2is turned off.The inverter outputvoltage VANequals zero,
meanwhile C2is charged by the DCbus through S1 and S3.

0.02

0.025

0.03

Time
0.6
0.7withfilter
0.8
and0.5 load current
Time (s)

0.9

Fundamental (50Hz) = 112.4 , THD= 2.94%

2
1.5
1
0.5
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Harmonic order
Fig. 6 (b): THD contents in inverter
output voltage with L-Filter

Fig.6 (a) shows the output voltage and load current of

H5 inverter with L-Filter and Fig.6 (b) shows the THD
content in output voltage of the inverter with L-Filter with

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 2015 IEEE

400

Selected signal: 50 cycles. FFT window (in red): 3 cycles

100

ROHAN.P.SHINDE
et al: VIRTUAL DC BUS TO ELIMINATE COMMON MODE GROUND LEAKAGE CURRENT IN PV SYSTEM
0
-100

Mag (% of Fundamental)

0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5 THD
0.6 content
0.7
0.8 in inverter
0.9
1
fundamental
frequency
50Hz.
Time (s)
output voltage with L-Filter is 2.9%.

Fundamental (50Hz) = 91.67 , THD= 0.70%

0.8

REFERENCES

0.6
0.4
Selected signal: 50 cycles. FFT window (in red): 5 cycles

100
0.2
0

-100

Mag (% of Fundamental)

0
Fig.

50

0.1
(c):

100

0.2 contents
0.3
THD

150
in

200
250
Harmonic order

300

0.4
0.6 voltage
0.7
inverter0.5output
Time (s)

350

400

0.9
with0.8LC-Filter

Fundamental (50Hz) = 130.6 , THD= 0.94%

2
1.5
1
0.5
0

of the inverter can be reduced significantly by using

filters.

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Harmonic order
Fig. 6 (d): THD contents in inverter output voltage with LCL-Filter

Fig. 6(c) and (d) shows the THD content in output

voltage of the H5 inverter with LC-filter and LCL-filter.
The fundamental frequency is 50 Hz. THD content in
inverter output voltage is 0.70% for LC-Filter and 0.94%
for LCL-Filter.
Table 2. Comparison of THD contents
Type of Filter

%THD Contents

Without Filter
L
LC
LCL

65.96
2.94
0.70
0.94

VII. CONCLUSION
To eliminate the CM ground leakage current for the
transformerless grid- interface PV inverter the virtual DC
bus concept is used by connecting the negative pole of the
DC busdirectly to the grid neutral line. This clamps the
voltage on the stray PVcapacitor to zero. A virtual DC bus
is created to providethe negative voltage level. The
required DC voltage is onlyhalf of the half bridge
solution, while the performance ineliminating the CM
current is better than the full bridge basedinverters. Based
on this idea, H5 inverter topology isused with the virtual
DC bus concept, it consists of only five powerswitches
and a single filter inductor. It isespecially suitable for the
small power single phaseapplications, where the output
current is relatively small sothat the extra current stress
caused by the switched capacitordoes not cause serious
reliability problem for the powerdevices and capacitors.
The results are compared for L, LC and LCL filters at the
inverter output with no filter for THD contents.
With excellent performance ineliminating the CM
current, the virtual DC bus conceptprovides a promising
solution for the transformerlessgrid-connected PV
inverters. Further, the THD contents in the output voltage

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978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 2015 IEEE

Rohan P. Shindewas born in 1988. He

received the B.E. degree in Electrical
electronics and power from Govt.
College of engineering Aurangabad,
Maharashtra, India, in 2012,where he is
currently pursuing the M. Tech degreein
Electrical Power System from Dr
BabasahebAmbedkar
Technological
University, Lonere, Raigad - M. S.
(India). His research interests include
PV power system.
E-mail: rpshindemtech@gmail.com

Udaykumar V. Patil (M13) received

Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from
V. N. I. T., Nagpur. He is currently an
Assistant Professor in the Department
of
Electrical
Engineering,
Dr.
BabasahebAmbedkar
Technological
University, Lonere, Raigad - M. S.
(India). His research area includes
Power Electronics, Electric Drives, and
Multilevel Inverters.
E-mail: patil_uv@yahoo.com