Design and Implementation of a Solar PV Panel Integrated Inverter with

Multi-mode Operation Capability

Rashmi Kale1, Sushil Thale2 and Vivek Agarwal2
1

Fr.C.Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

2
Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India

Abstract Solar PV panel integrated systems which are in

general referred to as micro-inverters provide a unique solution
with high reliability and high average efficiency overcoming
partial shading effect while delivering maximum available PV
power. Micro-inverters are grid connected systems, which shut
down in the event of grid failure. For residential as well as small
commercial applications, this can be discouraging as no power is
available during grid failure. By providing added features such
as sustaining the operation under islanded conditions, acting as
short-term back-up power supply (UPS) and reactive power
support system can enhance the utility and popularity of such
systems. The micro-inverter system proposed in this paper
features multimode operation such as grid connected mode,
standalone mode, UPS mode and VAR compensation mode. The
circuit topology includes integrated isolated SEPIC converters
feeding H-bridge inverter followed by EMI filter with grid
interface circuit. The paper describes the design and
implementation of the new multi-functional micro-inverter
system.
Index Terms SEPIC converter, solar PV, module integrated
inverter, multimode operation, micro-inverter

I. INTRODUCTION
In todays world conventional energy sources are
insufficient to fulfill the increasing electric energy demand.
Due to increase in energy utilization and population growth,
conventional energy sources are incapable of supplying the
required power. There is imbalance between demand and
supply. This has led to serious energy crisis which is an
important global issue today. A sustainable, reliable energy
source is required. There are many environment friendly,
everlasting sources such as solar, wind, tidal, biomass, ocean
thermal etc. Out of these renewable sources, solar energy is
available in abundance and is the cleanest form of renewable
energy.
Due to high cost, marginal reliability, low system efficiency
and operational limits, the rate of adoption and popularity of
solar PV could not reach the expected momentum compared
to other forms of renewable sources in the initial phase. But
now since it has gained the desired momentum, it is essential
to provide solutions with high system efficiency, high
reliability and simplified operations at an affordable cost [1].
Solar PV panels output power depends on solar irradiance,
temperature and the connected load. In order to extract the
maximum power and maximum energy yield from solar PV
panel, different maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
techniques are used. They can be mechanical or electrical

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MPPT schemes. The conventional solar PV system uses

series-parallel combination of PV panels to get desired dc link
voltage and power output. One of the main factor which
affects the overall system efficiency is the partial shading of
the PV panels. During partial shading the PV modules
constituting a PV source are subjected to different conditions
of irradiation and temperature. This happens as the common
MPPT scheme involves the overall PV source rather than
tracking the individual PV panels/modules for delivering the
maximum power. Early failure of electrolytic dc link
capacitors contributes significantly reducing the reliability of
PV systems [1]-[3].
To overcome the drawbacks such as marginal reliability,
loss of efficiency in partially shaded conditions and complex
operations in the existing solar PV systems, use of PV module
integrated inverters is one of the best options. Such an
inverter system is also commonly referred to as a microinverter. It offers easy installation but the cost is higher than
conventional PV systems at slightly lower efficiency at
normal operating conditions. The micro-inverters are installed
along with every panel, and are paralleled on the ac side to
feed power into the grid as shown in the Fig.1 [4]-[7].

Fig.1. Grid connected operation of PV panel integrated inverters

It consists of many PV panels connected separately and

independently to grid. Each panel has its own attached
converter-inverter module. This arrangement helps to
maximize energy yield even under partial shading conditions.
In PV panel integrated system, the operation is mainly
designed to work only in grid connected mode and it shuts
down in the event of grid supply failure.

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In order to make a PV panel integrated system more

appealing for small power applications, important task is to
reduce the cost, improve the efficiency and features which
will allow it to work and deliver the load power even in the
event of grid failure. The same concept can be further
extended to have small time backup supply integrating ultracapacitor with this inverter to act as UPS in the dark
conditions or at low solar irradiance conditions.
This paper presents a novel solar PV micro-inverter
featuring multi-mode operation. The multi-mode operational
control is implemented using a low cost digital signal
controller (DSC) TMS320F28027. The system is designed for
interfacing with a solar PV panel of 220 Watts. While
providing a high efficiency, high gain stage, the isolated dual
integrated SEPIC topology based front end minimizes the
requirement of large DC link capacitor and also minimizes
EMI filter requirements. The H-bridge inverter with DC link
voltage control feeds the power into the grid in current mode
control. The following sections explain the details of the work
carried out to design and implement the system.
II. PROPOSED INVERTER TOPOLOGY
The proposed solar PV micro-inverter as shown in Fig. 2
uses a two-stage topology with a high gain, high efficiency
integrated isolated single ended primary inductor converter
(SEPIC) followed by an IGBT based H-bridge inverter. The
dual integrated SEPIC topology provides a voltage boost of
400 Volts for PV output between 20-30 Volts. At the same
time it mitigates the EMI issues due to the presence of output
filter within the topology itself. The standard H-bridge
topology followed by LCL filter provides the necessary grid
interconnection. Both the stages are controlled using Texas

Instruments TMS320F28027, a 32 Bit Piccolo series digital

signal controller (DSC).
The system has four modes of operation as explained below:
Mode- I

: Grid connected mode- standard mode

Mode- II

: Islanded mode- only in the event of failure

of the grid and solar irradiance is sufficient

Mode-III
Mode-IV

: UPS mode- only when solar irradiance is

very low and grid failure (5 min. backup)
: Static VAR compensator

Mode-I is a default mode of operation where the dcdc

converter operates in MPPT mode to deliver the power to the
grid. As shown in Fig. 2, in this mode switches S1 and S2 are
closed. In this mode, the ultra-capacitor is charged using a
charge controller with S3 and S4 closed. The loads are shared
between the grid and the PV inverter.
Mode-II is the autonomous mode of operation where the
dcdc converter operates in voltage mode control without
MPPT to deliver the power to the load. In this mode switch
S1 is opened after detecting the island condition and S2 and
S3 continues to be closed and S4 is kept open. This mode
shuts down during low solar irradiance conditions.
Mode-III is the emergency mode of operation when inverter
is in islanded mode i.e. Mode-II where the PV panel output
reduces substantially. The ultra-capacitor feeds the dcdc
converter to deliver the power to the load with 5 minutes
backup. In this mode switches S1and S3 are kept open and S2
and S4 are closed.
.

Fig. 2. Proposed solar PV panel integrated inverter system with multi-mode operation.

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Fig. 3. (a) Schematic of the power section of the proposed micro-inverter; (b) Hardware setup of the proposed system.

Mode-IV is the VAR compensation mode when the load is

light in the night in the grid connected mode. The system acts
as a static VAR compensator (STATCOM). It enhances the
system utilization ratio and improves power quality
Mode I and Mode IV are standard modes of operation.
They are useful mainly in healthy conditions. Grid connected
mode is applicable for any time as default operating mode. In
case of grid failure, system mode switches to the standalone
mode i.e. mode II. Emergency mode (mode III) of operation
invokes in the event of grid failure as well drastic reduction in
available PV power. VAR compensation mode is the
additional feature for circuit utilization enhancement. System
is designed and configured to work in all modes under normal
conditions.
All the modes and switches operations are monitored and
controlled intelligently through the DSC TMS320F28027.
The detailed schematic of power electronics stages are as
shown in Fig.3. The power section of complete circuit is
elaborated in two main sections as converter and inverter
respectively. Front end converter is formed out of dual
isolated SEPIC converters fed from a common inductor and a
switch. The switching frequency of the SEPIC converter is
60KHz. Two high frequency transformers with 1: 12 turns
ratio provides the necessary voltage boost along with
necessary isolation. The output voltages are connected in
series to provide the net desirable DC link voltage. The
overall operation of the converter presents itself as the single
converter facilitating easier maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) control using DSC for harvesting maximum energy
yield out of solar PV panel. For single phase operation the

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desirable DC link voltage is 400 volts. The converter is

operated in CCM mode with MPPT control.
The inverter section is formed using a two leg H-bridge
inverter followed by LCL filter. In mode-I, the inverter is
operated in current mode control on grid side while
maintaining the with DC link voltage constant. In mode- II,
the SEPIC converter works without MPPT control and
inverter is operated in voltage mode control. The ultracapacitor is interfaced with the SEPIC converter using a bidirectional converter. In the absence of solar PV output or
under very low solar irradiance conditions, ultra-capacitor
feeds the short term power to the system. Under normal
conditions the solar PV output will charge the ultra-capacitor.
The smooth transfer from grid connected mode (Mode-I) to
autonomous or islanded mode (Mode-II) is achieved using a
passive island detection scheme and power management
control. The multimode operation makes PV integrated
inverter system to be more attractive and can contribute to
increase its penetration at residential applications.
The transfer function of the dual Integrated SEPIC
converter is derived using the state space averaging method to
represent the converter circuit into an approximate linear
system. It assumes system is continuous over small
perturbation [3]. The system is represented using eq.(1)

~
x = A0 x + B0 u + Ed

(1)

y = C 0 x + D0u
where, x= state vector, A0= state coefficient matrix, u= source
vector, B0 = source coefficient matrix, C0= output matrix, D0 =
feed forward matrix, y= output state vector; Matrix E takes

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care of converting the non-linearized system form into a

linearized system are as given in eq. (2)

(1 D)
(1 D)
1
0
0

L
L
L
1
1

1
D
1 D
0
0 B = 0
C

0
C1
0
A0 = 1

D
1

0
0
L2
L2

1 D
(1 D)
1
0

C2
C2
C2

Du 10

L1

C0 = 0 0 0 1
D (1 + D ) u 10

1 D
E=
u 10

(1 D ) L 2

Du 10

C2

0
0
1

C2

(2)

G (s) =

Vo
s ( L1 + L 2 ) D 1
= 2[
]
Vi
s 2 L 1 ( sRC 2 + 1 )

(3)

The reduced transfer function of the proposed integrated

SEPIC converter is as given in eq.(3), where L1 is the primary
inductor, L2 is the inductance of transformer and C2 is the
output capacitor referred to primary. The above equation
helps to understand the dynamics, sustainability and stability
of the converter system. The poles are on left side of the
imaginary axis which assures stability. Simulation of
complete system is done under all possible circumstances to
enhance the reliability aspect for all transient conditions.

III. SIMULATION AND HARDWARE RESULTS

Complete system simulation is carried out in MatlabSimulink software. Some of the key simulation results are
presented in Fig. 4. The converter takes some time to stabilize
its output while the grid supplies power to maintain the DC
link voltage. Thus grid acts as a source in the initial stage of
operation. As the converter output is stabilized, the role of
solar PV as a source comes into picture. Local load of
integrated inverter is either powered by grid or PV without
any interruption.
The propose circuit topology of solar PV micro-inverter is
simulated for 1second duration and observed the output. The
circuit dynamic response of the system is observed for few
decades of cycles. The multimode operations are differently
simulated. Their modes are simultaneously studied. Fig.4
shows the output of multimode operation. Initially grid
supplies power to the local load for 0.5s. The variations in the
grid, local load and SEPIC converter are studied with the help
of simulated waveforms. The converter takes time to stabilize
its output. When the SEPIC output becomes stable, it provides
power to local load as well as grid. The system dynamic
behavior is studied for all modes using circuit breaker which
is initially closed for 0.5s and then opened at 0.55s.
Fig. 4(a) shows the local load voltage. Initially for t=0.5s
grid maintains voltage across load. Grid stops supplying after
converter recovery as well as during intentional islanding at
t=0.5s and grid reconnection at t=0.55s. Fig. 4(b) shows the
local load current. It follows the same pattern as that of local
load voltage and is also dependent on type of load. Fig.4(c)
highlights on the transients in grid voltage for few cycles. Fig.
4(d) is a grid current.

Fig. 4. Simulation results of solar PV panel integrated inverter system with multi-mode operation (a) Local Load voltage (b) Local Load
current (c) Grid voltage (d) Grid current (e) SEPIC converter output voltage (f) SEPIC converter output current

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TABLE I
Item

LIST OF KEY COMPONENTS WITH DESIGNED VALUES

Specifications

Duty cycle

Dmin=0.2 , DAv=0.514, Dmax=0.5406

SEPIC Inductor selection

L1 = 100H/20Amps

Power MOSFET

IRFP4768, 250Volts/ 93Amps

Output diode selection

RHRG75120, 1200 Volts / 75 Amps

SEPIC coupling capacitor

22F,450V

SEPIC transformer design (=0.84 for CCM)

KA4823-CL with 1:12 ratio

H Bridge Inverter Switches

G50N120

LCL Filter Design

L1 = L2 = 2mH,C=0.22F

Sensing components

PT(230/3V), ACS714-5A and 20A CT IC

Relay circuits

MI-SH-212L: 2C/0 12 volts

Switch RC snubber

C=22nF,400V

R=22,10W

Table 2. Fig. 5(a) shows the operation of inductor current of

SEPIC converter in CCM mode and the SEPIC switch
voltage. Fig. 5(b) shows the respective converter output
voltage and current. Fig. 5(c) shows the inverter and grid
voltages.

Fig. 4(e) shows the development in the converter voltage up

to its settling time and then transients during grid
disconnection. Fig. 4(f) is a converter current waveform.
Solar PV with SEPIC converter acts as power source and
feeds the current after reaching steady state condition and
continues irrespective of grid status. Between t=0.5 to 0.55s is
the intentional grid disconnection and then grid receives
current from solar PV module.

The SEPIC converter is operated in CCM mode to ensure

optimum power transfer. As the duty ratio increases, the
converter output increases. Fig. 5(c) highlights on the steps
involved in grid synchronization.
The MPPT controller is implemented through DSC using
the Perturb and Observe (P&O) method to yield maximum
available solar PV power. While the H-bridge inverter is
controlled with conventional DC link voltage control
associated with output current control for active power
pumped into the grid. Thus integrated converter-inverter
system is the most promising method for grid
synchronization.

The hardware implementation of the proposed system as

shown in Fig. 3(b), is designed to provide a low cost energy
efficient solution. The DSC TMS320F28027 provides a very
low cost option while asserting a high level control
implementation. The key components of the systems are as
given below in the Table I. The circuit was tested for different
operating conditions as well as operating modes. Key results
are shown in Fig. 5. Emulated Solar PV output of 220Wp
with VMP of 22.9 V is used as the source which supplies
power to SEPIC converter. The observations are shown in

TABLE II
SEPIC CONVERTER OUTPUT FED FROM SOLAR PV PANEL
Vin(V)

Iinductor

(A)

Vsw (V) p-p

Vout(V)

Duty cycle

Output power (w)

22.9

4.13

88

173

0.1

70

22.9

10.6

124

352

0.2

120

22.9

13.3

158

405

0.45

170

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(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 5. Experimental Results: (a) SEPIC Inductor current and switch voltage for 0.2 duty cycle; (b) Converter output current and output voltage
for 0.2 duty cycle; (c) Inverter output voltage and grid voltage

The stand alone (isolated) inverter operation is achieved using

voltage mode control without MPPT in order to provide the
load a steady operating voltage. The role of ultra-capacitor
has been verified using reduction of solar PV voltage input to
the system making the ultra-capacitor to feed in the voltage in
the stand alone mode. The VAR compensator operation is
implemented through the reactive power control while only
inverter participates in the control keeping SEPIC converter
off.
IV. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a novel PV micro-inverter with
multi-functional features making it much more versatile for
application in the areas having regular load shedding
problems. It can work in grid connected as well as in islanded
mode making it a more reliable system in the context of
continuity of the supply. The preliminary investigations have
predicted that it is a better solution compared to a
conventional solar PV system. It signifies future scope in
energy sector and challenges associated with it. Complete
topology is simulated and analyzed. The hardware is designed
and implemented. Further investigations are underway and
those results will be presented in a subsequent paper in future.

[4]

[5]
[6]
[7]

[8]

Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Melbourne,

pp-3888-3893.
Yuval Beck, B. Bishara, D. Medini, Connecting an Alternate
Energy Source to the Power Grid by a DSP controlled DC/AC
Inverter, IEEE PES Conference and Exposition-2005, Durban,
South Africa, pp-120-124, July 2005.
Ned Mohan, T.M. Undeland, W.P. Robbins, Power Electronics
Converters, Applications and Design. John Wiley and Sons Inc.,
2003.
X. Cao, W.Zhang, Grid Connected Solar Micro-inverter
Reference Design, New Technology for Agricultural
Engineering (ICAE)- 2011, pp-239-243, 2011.
F. Z.Amatoul, M.T. Lamchich and A. Outzourhit, Design
Control of DC/AC Converter for a grid connected PV systems
with Maximum Power Tracking using Matlab/Simulink IEEE
Fourteen European Conference Power Electronics and
Applications (EPE2011), Birmingham, UK, 2011, pp-1-7.
Robert W. Erickson, Fundamentals of Power Electronics.
University of Colorado, Boulder, Springer Publications, 1997.

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