DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF SINGLE PHASE PURE SINE WAVE INVERTER FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATION

Rafid Haider, Md. Rajin Alam, Khosru M. Salim, Nafisa Binte Yousuf, Fatima Binte Zia
School of Engineering and Computer Science, Independent University Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh Email: rafid-haider@hotmail.com
Abstract: This paper discusses the design and construction scheme of an inverter system which converts the DC voltage collected from a photovoltaic (PV) array into AC voltage. The output is a pure sine wave, with the voltage and frequency of the standard grid output. The system consists of a Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) and full bridge inverter circuit with a passive filter. The power supply supplies the DC voltage needed to activate the optocouplers, which are connected to the switches of the full bridge circuitry. The optocouplers work as an isolation for the full bridge circuit. High frequency Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) pulses are generated by a microcontroller (PIC18F4431) and provided to the switches of full bridge connection. The full bridge inverter outputs a PWM signal which is later conditioned by an L-C filter. Finally, the output voltage and current is measured and displayed on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Diode) display.

develop a cost-effective inverter system to provide pure sine wave AC voltage at maximum efficiency. 2. METHODOLOGY The system uses SPWM (Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation) technic to produce sine wave output from DC input. Pulse Width Modulation is the process of varying the width of pulse or pulses to control the output voltage of inverter. In SPWM, the width of each pulse of a pulse train is varied in proportion to the amplitude of a sine wave evaluated at the center of the same pulse [2]. The sine wave is considered as reference signal, while a triangular wave is treated as the carrier wave. The frequency of reference signal determines the inverter output frequency, and its peak amplitude controls the modulation index. The idea is to change the output state at the intersecting point of the two waves [3]. Fig. 1 shows SPWM generation in above mentioned method.

1. INTRODUCTION Renewable energy is one of the fastest growing trends in post-industrialized societies as they face growing energy demands and actively seek cost effective solutions. Solar energy is one of the potential sources, which is preferred over others due to availability, simplicity, lower maintenance and reliable operation [1]. Photovoltaic (PV) arrays drastically reduce energy expenses and dependency on non-renewable energy sources. Given a reasonable location and a well-designed application, photovoltaic arrays can provide an excellent, cost saving solution for users requiring large amounts of power. For these reasons, solar powered electricity can be an excellent solution for the power crisis of Bangladesh. A DC/AC power inverter is needed to convert the DC voltage gathered by photovoltaic cells into AC voltage. In Bangladesh, mainly square wave power inverters are used. While the square wave inverters have a simpler circuitry and are cheaper, they lag behind in terms of performance and reliability in comparison with the sine wave inverters. The sine wave inverters give a pure sine wave output. They operate in near perfect efficiency, maximizing the output. Use of inefficient square wave inverters put additional strain on our already crippled power sector. So, while using a renewable energy source, the aim should be to maximize the power consumption. Our main objective is to design and

Figure 1: SPWM Generation

PIC18F4431 has a power PWM module which generates PWM counter. It can be configured to count up and down mode, making it equivalent to an isoscele triangular wave. A sine look up table serves as the virtual sine reference wave. These two are compared and corresponding PWM signals are generated from the microcontroller. For single phase sine wave geneartion, two PWM pulses are needed. The reference sinusoids of these two pulses have a mutual phase shift of 180 and both of them are of same frequency [4]. A DC-DC boost converter works as the Switch Mode Power Supply for the optocouplers, which work as electrical isolation for the full-bridge

circuit. The PWM pulses and their compliments are fed to the switches of the full bridge circuit. The DC voltage output from solar PV array is supplied across the full bridge circuitry as shown in fig. 2.

Figure 2: Full Birdge Circuit Figure 4: SMPS, isolation and inverter circuit

The output of the inverter circuit is a PWM sinusoid. To get pure sine wave, an L-C filter is attached parallel to the load, which attenuates the PWM sine and produces pure sine wave. The overall system architecture is shown in fig. 3.

3.3 Filter Circuit The filter used over here is an L-C passive filter, consisting of a ferrite core inductor and a capacitor.

Figure 5: L-C filter

Figure 3: System Block Diagram

3. HARDWARE DESIGN The hardware for this project can be divided into four main phases, (a) Switch Mode Power Supply for drive circuit, (b) Full bridge circuitry and isolation, (c) Filter circuit and (d) Monitoring and display circuit. 3.1 Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) The optocoupler isolation drive circuit requires 18V DC to operate. To provide this DC voltage, a DC-DC converter circuit converts the 12V DC supply generated from a DC source into 18V DC by high frequency switching. An SG3525 IC acts as push-pull converter in the SMPS circuit. 3.2 Full Bridge Circuitry and Isolation The Full Bridge inverter circuit consists of four IGBTs, acting as high frequency switches. MBH15D-060 IGBTs have a maximum voltage rating of 600V and maximum current rating of 30A. A3120 optocoupler ICs isolate the IGBTs from the controlling circuit unit. Four optocouplers are connected with the four IGBT switches.

3.4 Monitoring and Display Circuit The monitoring circuit uses a voltage sensor and a current sensor to measure output voltage and current of the system. The voltage and current are shown in a 2x16 LCD display. The LCD display is operated by a PIC16F877A microcontroller. 4. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PIC18F4431 microcontroller has eight power PWM outputs. For single phase SPWM generation, four PWM outputs are needed; two independent and their two complements. From fig. 2; switches A and B are independent, and switch D is compliment to switch A and switch C is compliment to switch B. Fig. 6 shows the flowchart of the program. A look up table is created at the beginning of the program, which stores a fixed number of samples of a sinusoid at a predefined frequency (50 Hz in this case). Then, by real time extraction of data from the table using a pointer value, and updating the duty cycle registers of PIC18F4431 microcontroller, SPWM output pulses are created. An analog port intakes modulation index value and by ADC (Analog to Digital Conversion) retrieves the value, then accordingly revises the sine lookup table by multiplying the modulation index with the peak values of sine wave sample.

To implement soft start, the voltage across the load is notched by gradually increasing the modulation index, instead of letting it jump to the full voltage. This is done by creating a nested loop in the program, which increases the modulation index in several stages. Fig. 7 shows the flowchart of implementing the soft start. 5. OUTPUT FREQUENCY CALCULATION The number of samples in the sine lookup table is 400. The clock frequency is 20MHz. The PWM time base period for up-down counter mode is 128. The time period, TPWM = 2*PTPER*PTMRPS / (FOSC/4).(1) Eq. 1 [5] shows the time elapsed to process one sample. Here, FOSC = 20MHz, PTPER = 128 and PTMRPS = 1. So, from Eq.1, T PWM = 51.2us. As it takes 400 samples to complete a full cycle of the output sinusoid, the frequency will be, 1/ (TPWM*400)= 1/(400*51.2us)= 1/0.02s= 50 Hz
Figure 6: Program Flowchart for PWM generation

6. SYSTEM RESULTS For testing and verification, a makeshift DC power supply was used as the input to the inverter, which amplified and converted the AC voltage from grid to variable DC inputs with help of a variable and an isolation transformer. Fig. 8 shows the pulse width modulated sine signal produced by the full bridge inverter circuit.

The modulation index is used to implement soft start mechanism. Some electronic devices, such as motors, consume 600-800% of its full load current to start. This initial current is called the inrush current, which can have hazardous effect on the inverter system and appliances connected to it. To prevent this inrush current, soft start is needed.

Figure 8: Pulse Width Modulated Sine Wave

The PWM sine is then applied across the L-C filter. The filter attenuates the signal and prodeces pure sine wave. Fig. 9 shows the sine output across a resistive load. The frequency of the sinusoid was calculated 50Hz by a stoage oscilloscope.

Figure 7: Program Flowchart for Soft Start

Figure 9: Pure Sine Wave Output

The efficiency of the system was calculated from the input and output power of the inverter for a resistive load. The input and output voltages and currents of the system were measured, and the input and output powers were calculated from them. The following table (table 1) shows the efficiency of system for different inputs.
Table 1: Input and Output Data Total Input Power AC (calculating the Output loss in drive Power circuit) (W) (W) 36.4 49.4 64.4 81.4 100.4 121.4 144.4 169.4 196.4 225.4 256.4 289.4 324.4 361.4 400.4 441.4 484.4 529.4 576.4 625.4 676.4 729.4 784.4 841.4 27.27 38.85 56.16 68.6 90.56 105.91 124.2 150 172.2 204.7 228 265.2 299.75 334.95 369 404.775 448.8 488.175 540 585 639.6 680 747.6 809.6

DC Input Power (W) 35 48 63 80 99 120 143 168 195 224 255 288 323 360 399 440 483 528 575 624 675 728 783 840

System Efficiency 74.92% 78.64% 87.20% 84.28% 90.20% 87.24% 86.01% 88.55% 87.68% 90.82% 88.92% 91.64% 92.40% 92.68% 92.16% 91.70% 92.65% 92.21% 93.68% 93.54% 94.56% 93.23% 95.31% 96.22%

Figure 11: Sine Wave Output for Inductive Load

For inductive load, output remains similar, except for a few ripples (fig. 11). The display device also works well, fig. 12 shows the LCD display, demonstrating the output voltage and current.

Figure 12: LCD display

7. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE This paper discusses the design and development of an efficient pure sine wave inverter. While designing the circuit and selecting the components, the main objective was to keep the power losses to a minimum. And the data gathered testifies that the system is efficient enough. Simple additions such as circuit protection and a closed loop control system to implement MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) could greatly improve the performance of the system. An MPPT algorithm can be developed to find the maximum voltage point VMAX; and by maintaining it maximum power can be harnessed from the system [6]. The inverter, in its present condition, does work in the manner it was expected and has met every goal set at the commencement of this venture. REFERENCES
[1] G.J. Vander Metwe et al, 150W Inverter an optimal design for use in solar home system, International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, Vol.1, page 57-62. 1998 [2] T. Ohnishi, H. Okitsu, A novel PWM technic for three-phase inverter/converter, International Power Electronics Conference, 1983, pp. 384-395 [3] Hart. D, Introduction to Power Electronics, Prentice Hall, 1997 [4] M. H. Rashid, Power Electronics Circuits, Devices and Applications, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2007 [5] PIC 18F2331/2431/4331/4431 Datasheet, Microchip Technology Inc., 2003 [6] D.H. Hohm, M. E. Ropp, Comparative study of Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithms Using an Experimental, Programmable, Maximum Power Point Tracking Test bed, 28th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, 2000

900 800 Output Power (W) 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

Input Power vs. Output Power

y = 0.9589x - 11.699 R = 0.9995

400 600 800 1000 Input Power (W) Figure 10: Input Power vs. Output Power Curve

200

Fig. 10 shows the input power vs. output power curve, based on table 1. The approximation of the curve has an equation of y = 0.9589x 11.699, which means the slope is 0.9589. Therefore, the average efficiency of the system based on collected data is 95.89%.