A Novel Utility Interactive Photovoltaic Inverter

with Generation Control Circuit

Hisao Watanabe, Toshihisa Shimizu, Gunji Kimura

Department of Electrical Engineering
Tokyo Metropolitan University
1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan
E-mail:hisao@kiki.eei.meb-o-u.ac.jp

Abslrucl - This papler describes a novel utility interactive problem, we propose a nove, utility interactive
photovoltaic inverter. Since photovoltaic modules in photovoltaic inverter with the ability to control the PV
photovoltaic power generation systems in urban areas are module's generation points. In this paper, the circuit
installed on roofs, shadows created by neighboring homes,
configuration and the operational characteristics of the
utility poles, and trew may sometimes cover some part of the
proposed inverter are described, and its effectiveness is
photovoltaic modules,. In this case, power generated from each
photovoltaic modulle becomes unbalanced and its total confirmed by experimental results.
generation power is greatly decreased, especially when the
photovoltaic module!$are connected in series. These problems 11. UNBALANCED GENERATION
cannot be solved in conventional systems. We developed a
novel utility interactive inverter with generation control Fig. 1 shows examples of the causes of unbalanced
circuit. In this proposed inverter system, each of these generation, including not only shadows cast by obstacles,
photovoltaic modules is individually operated at its
but also PV modules installed on the roofs facing two
corresponding maximum power point. By using this inverter,
the efficiency of photovoltaic system can be improved.
directions. In this case, the equivalent circuit including the
non-shaded PV modules, shaded PV modules, and load is
1.INTRODUCTION shown in fig. 2. Fig. 3(a) and 3(b) show the generation
characteristics of each PV module under unbalanced
Recently, the photovoltaic power generation system generation conditions. In fig. 3(b), when the system is
has attracted a grcat deal of public interest as a clean operated at point "A", where PV1 generates its maximum
energy resource. Most PV systems supply the AC power to power, the shaded PV modules PV2 cannot generate power
the utility line by using the utility interactive inverter. In to the load side. On the other hand, at point "B", the
this case, photovoltaic modules are connected in series to generated power from PV1 does not reach its maximum
obtain the DC voltage necessary for the AC output voltage power point. Consequently, the unbalanced generation
on the inverter. condition makes the overall generation power of the PV
However, when shadows cover some part of the system awfully low.
photovoltaic modules (PV modules) and the resultant
generation power ii-om each PV module becomes
unbalanced, the series connection suffers a decrease in its
ability to supply its total amount of generated power. For
example, when a typical urban home is equipped with a PV
system, the PV modules are normally installed on the roof.
However, shadows created by neighboring homes, utility
poles, and trees can sometimes partially cover a part of
these PV modules.
In this situation, which we call unbalanced generation,
the generated current on the non-shaded PV modules flows
through the by-pass diodes connected in parallel with the
shaded PV modules. As a result, the shaded PV modules Fig. 1. Examples of the causes of the unbalanced generation.

cannot generate the power to the load side. To solve this

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 points. Fig.5 shows the control block diagram. Part of the
-. I ..., Current
inverter circuit is a half-bridge inverter in which only two
PV1 switching devices are used. On the inverter portion, high
....
fiequency PWM technique and an instantaneous current
I control method are applied in order to maintain the unity
PV2 power factor at the utility side. Fig.6 shows the switching
(shaded) pattern of the inverter portion. In addition, by applying
I I Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control to the
AC output power, the PV module's maximized generation
Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit. power is fed to the utility line. The microprocessor
executes the MPPT control and determines the reference
A DC voltage VPV* in order to increase the power at all
non-shaded PV (PVi)
times.
On the other hand, the part of the generation control
circuit with switches SI and S2 is a buck-boost converter.
Here, the relation between the PV voltages V1,V2 and the
off-duty ratios of switches SI, S2 on steady state is,

VI : v2 = (SI'Soff-duty ratio) : (SZ'Soff-duty ratio). (1)

Voltage Therefore, each voltage of the PV modules can be
(a) Current-Voltage characteristics. controlled by the off-duty ratios of SI and S2, and enables
each PV module to operate at its maximum power points.
Fig .7 shows the switching pattern of the generation control
circuit portion. The off-duty ratios of SI and S2 are
determined automatically by the MPPT controller in the
manner of the inverter switches 3 1 , SE.

(b) Power-Voltage characteristics.

Fig. 3 Generation characteristics of the photovoltaic modules.

111. CIRCUIT CONFIGURATION AND ITS

OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Fig. 4.A novel utility interactive photovoltaic inverter
with generation control circuit.
In order to solve the problem described above, it is
effective to use a device which forces the shaded PV
modules to generate power ,we call the generation control
circuit. In this section, we propose a novel utility
interactive photovoltaic inverter with generation control
circuit.

A. Circuit Configuration controller sz

Fig. 4 shows the novel utility interactive inverter with
Fig. 5. Control block diagram.
the function of controlling the PV module's generation

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 I

Fig.6. Switchingpattern of the inverter portion.

slILn-E Voltage

s n2
n i (a) Proposed inverter.

Fig. 7. Switching pattern of the generation control circuit portion

B. Operational Chariicteristics

Fig. 7(a) and 7(b) show the theoretical optimum

operation points of each PV module on the proposed
inverter and those on the conventional half-bridge inverter I
Voltage
without the generation control circuit, respectively. In fig.
7(a), the operation points of each PV module appear (b) Conventional inverter.
individually at each of the maximum power points on the
proposed inverter. However, since the power output ftom Fig. 7. Theoretical optimum operation point of PV modules.
the upper arm of a half-bridge inverter is equal to the
output from the lower arm, the operation points on the
conventional inverter appear on line b in fig. 7(b). IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Therefore, the influence of unbalanced generation is
released by using tht: proposed inverter. In addition, when A. Experimental Conditions
the MPPT is executed on the conventional inverter, it is
impossible to generate the AC power on which the power The operational characteristics of the proposed
of the positive cycle is equal to that of negative cycle. This inverter are compared with that of the conventional inverter
is a result of the MPPT controller outputting VPV*so as to experimentally. In this experiment, two cases are measured.
increase the output power, even if the operation points of The first is the well-balanced generation, and the second is
each PV module exclzed the optimum points, as shown line the unbalanced generation between two PV modules; that is,
b in fig. 7(b). On the other hand, the former problem is PV2 is partially covered by artificial shadow. Table 1
avoided on the proposed inverter. shows the circuit parameters; however, the off-duty ratio of
The other defects of the conventional half-bridge S1 is equal to that of S2.
inverter is that the inverter discharges two capacitors C1
and C2 alternately according to the half-cycle of the utility
voltage. Therefore, the amplitude of the ripple voltages on Table 1. Circuit parameter.
the PV modules is increased. On the other hand, the two
capacitors are discharged simultaneously on the proposed Switching frequency 10 kHz
inverter, because the ratio of V1 to V2 is constantly
maintained as shown by equation (1). As a result, the Capacitor CI, CZ 3000 pF
amplitude of the riprlle voltage is decreased, which enabIes Inductor L 0.26 mH
the capacitance of C I and C2 to reduce compared to that of Inductor Ls 3.3 mH
the conventional invwter.
Utility voltage VAC 10.6 V (50Hz)

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B. Experimental Results

Fig. 8(a) and 8(b) show the experimental results of

balanced generation on the proposed inverter and on the
conventional inverter, respectively. These figures show the
waveforms of each section, where the AC output current iLs
of the former is equal that of the latter. These results clearly
show that the amplitude of the ripple voltage on the DC
capacitor is decreased on the proposed inverter.
Fig. 9 shows the experimental results in the case of
unbalanced generation, where the horizontal axis indicates
the number of calculation of the MPPT control that outputs
the reference DC voltage VPV*, while the vertical axis
indicates the AC power detected at the utility side. As
described in section 111, the output power of the proposed
inverter comes to a certain power point, while in case of
the conventional inverter, 11s is distorted as shown by the
waveform in fig. 10(b). The maximum generation power of
the proposed inverter is increased about 20% compared to
the generation power of the conventional inverter.
Since the power rating of the PV modules is small in
this experiment, the IGBT's loss looks relatively larger. (b) Conventional inverter.
However, if the PV module's rated power is larger, the Fig. 8. Experimental waveforms on unbalanced generation
IGBT's loss will be small as to be negligible, and the power
output to the utility side by the proposed inverter is greater
in comparison to that output by the conventional inverter. V. CONCLUSION

In order to solve the problem of unbalanced

generation in the PV modules, we propose a novel utility
interactive inverter with generation control circuit. The
proposed inverter system has the advantage of improved
generation characteristics, while also enabling the ripple
voltages on the DC capacitors to decrease compared with
those of the conventional inverter system. The
effectiveness of the proposed system is verified iby
experimental results.

0 10 20 30 40
(a) Proposed inverter. Number of calculation of the MPPT control
Fig. 8. Experimental waveforms on unbalanced generation. Fig. 9. Experimental results.

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VI. REFERENCES

[ 11 M.Hirakata, TShimizu, G.Kimura: "Generation Control

Circuit for Photovoltaic System", Papers of Technical
Meeting on Semiconductor Power Conversion IEE of
Japan, SPC-96-6, 1996 (in Japanese).

[2] M.Hirakata, T.Shimizu, G.Kimura: "Study on

Generation Control Circuit of Photovoltaic Modules by
t
using Series Connected Buck-Boost Converter", National
(a) Proposed inverter. Convention records IEE of Japan, no.929, 1997 (in
Japanese).

[3] T.Shimizu, G.Kimura: "Improvement of the Efficiency

Characteristics on the Photovoltaic Generation System
based on a Generation Control Circuit", Proceedings of
JSES/JWEA Joint Conference, no. 16, 1996 (in Japanese).

[4] H.Watanabe, T.Shimizu, G.Kimura: "Utility Interactive

Photovoltaic Inverter with Generation Control Circuit and
its Operating Characteristics", Papers of Technical Meeting
on Semiconductor Power Conversion IEE of Japan, SPC-
(b) Conventional inveter. 97-109, 1997 (in Japanese).

Fig. 10. Experimentalwaveforms on point "A"and " B in fig.9.

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