DEVELOPMENT OF A 10KW SINGLE-PHASE

IGBT INVERTER
FOR GRID-CONNECTED PV APPLICATIONS

Gene Z. Guo

32nd Annual Canadian Solar Energy Conference

2nd Solar Buildings Research Network Conference
Calgary, AB, June 10-13, 2007
 Presentation Contents
„ Introduction

„ Improved Predictive Current Control Algorithm

„ Fuzzy Logic Based Maximum Power Point Tracking

Strategy

„ Protection Functions of PV Inverter

„ Display and Communication of PV inverter

„ Conclusion
 Introduction
For environmental and commercial benefits,
R&D on photovoltaic (PV) systems have
been significantly advanced in recent years

Grid-connected PV inverter is one of

important solar energy applications.
 Highly integrated grid-connected PV inverter should

‹ Complete DC-AC conversion with high output quality

- Current THD is one of key index
- Demands advanced PWM strategy and proper design
of output filter;
‹Employ suitable system control algorithm
- such as maximum power point tracking
‹Has comprehensive protection functions
- Various protection functions, including anti-islanding
protection

‹Display and communication functions

- Friendly user interface
- Remote control and communication function
Basing on experience of nearly 2 decades’ R&D work on
inverters, a 10kW, solar power input, grid-connected IGBT
inverter is developed.

Main Specifications:
Input voltage: 150V-600V (rated voltage: 400V)
Rated power: 10.0kW
Peak power: 12.5kW
Grid: Single-phase, 240V/60Hz
DSP is employed to realize the control and protection function;
Assembly language is used to program the code.
Another microprocessor, PIC18F6722 is used to complete the
display and communication function, C language is used to
program the code of this part.
Schematic diagram of the developed PV inverter
The developed 10 kW PV inverter features:

¾ Advanced predictive current controller for space vector

pulse-width-modulation
¾ Fuzzy logic based maximum power point tracking
¾ Comprehensive protection functions including
accelerated phase shift anti-islanding algorithm
¾ Display/remote control/communication functions through
internet
 IMPROVED PREDICTIVE CURRENT CONTROL
ALGORITHM

Current THD is one of the most specification of a grid-connected

inverter. To reduce the THD, suitable current control algorithm
should be employed.

Various inverter current controller/algorithms can be used:

- Hysteresis current controllers (HCC),
- Ramp comparison current controllers (RCCC)
- Predictive current controllers (PCC).

Different algorithm has different advantages, but certain

disadvantages also exist.

An improved predictive current control algorithm (IPCC) was

presented and applied to the developed PV inverter.
 Grid-connected inverter topology

diload
Govern equation: L = VOp − V grid
dt
Control target: at instant n+1, the real current I load [n + 1]
equals to the reference current I ref [ n + 1]
 Timing scheme of standard PCC

Timing scheme of improved PCC (IPCC)

Predicted average output voltage:

I ref [ n + 1] − I load [ n ]
V op_av [ n ] = 1 .5 V grid [ n ] − 0 .5 V grid [ n − 1] + L
T period

SVPWM is then employed to realize the current control

 START
Start/Stop
Control
Input & Output
Control
System Initialization LCD Display
MPPT algorithm
Contactor/Fans
Control
Main Loop Module System
protection

Communication and
remote control

Zero-crossing
Detection

Anti-islanding
Capture ISR
Algorithm

Interrupt Serving Improved predictive

ADC ISR current control
Modules
computaion

SVPWM
Realization

PWM
Signal Sampling
Underflow ISR

Timers
Synchronization
Simulated load current and predictive output voltage

Tested load current and grid voltage

Tested current THD and inverter acoustic noise level

Output Power Current THD Noise

(kW) (%) [dB(A)]

4 2.4 53

5.5 1.7 56

7 1.3 59

8.5 1.2 63

10 0.9 64

12 0.9 67
 FUZZY LOGIC BASED MAXIMUM POWER POINT
TRACKING STRATEGY
To pursue a short payback of the PV system investment,
extracting as much power as possible from the solar power
is desired, therefore Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
method should be employed.

Two system parameter-independent methods,

Hill-climbing searching (HCS)
Fuzzy logic searching (FLS)
can be employed to realize the MPPT.

An advanced MPPT method, which combines HCS and FLS

was presented and applied in the developed 10kW PV
inverter.
 Schematic diagram of inverter MPPT method.
Idc
INVERTER BRIDGE

IGBT1 IGBT3

Iload

Vdc L
Vgrid
V
V
IGBT2 IGBT4

PWM
Idc Vdc
Iload
Vdc Idm
HCS FLC CC Vgrid

MPPT

HCS module: to search the optimal operation points of PV arrays

FLC module: to force Vdc follow Vdc* through adjusting I dm
CC module: current controller (IPCC and SVPWM)
 PROTECTION FUNCTIONS OF PV INVERTER

High operation reliability and comprehensive protection

function are critical for the commercialization of PV inverter.
Real time fault detection and fast protection is realized by a
two-tier protection mechanism in the developed PV inverter.

Main fault conditions of PV inverter:

‹ Input over voltage/current

‹ Grid over/under voltage
‹ Grid frequency fault
‹ Islanding operation
‹ Output over current
‹ Inverter over temperature
‹ Control power supply under voltage…
Two-tier fault detection mechanism is employed:

¾Software fault detection

¾Hardware fault detection

The threshold settings of the software detection are

slightly smaller than that of the hardware detection

When a fault, either a hardware detected one or a

software detected one, is detected, relays and contactor
of the inverter will be triggered.

Employment of two-tier fault detection mechanism

significantly improve the safety and reliability of the PV
inverter
 Accelerated phase shift anti-islanding algorithm

Islanding is not desired for the PV inverter used as DG

system
Anti-islanding protection is integrated in the developed PV
inverter.
A novel Accelerated Phase-Shift (APS) algorithm was
proposed and applied to the complete the anti-islanding
protection function.
The proposed APS algorithm creates a quick phase shift
when a grid fails while only generates very small phase shift
when grid is normal.
 The procedure to investigate islanding of DG system using APS is
as following:

When islanding occurs and persists, following conditions more likely exist:

⎧ΔT = Taverage − T[ j + 1] > 0 if θ ALPS f 0

⎨
⎩ΔT = Taverage − T [ j + 1] < 0 if θ ALPS p 0
The cause and effect (PCE) of above conditions during N cycles
(starting from kth cycle, j=k-1, k, …k+N-1 ) is evaluated, when
PCE is larger than 0.5 at the end of N cycles, then Taverage, the
average period during previous N cycles, remain previous value,
and an additional increment phase shift θ 0 [k ] is added to the basic
phase shift θ A L P S B to form total phase shift θ ALPS [ j ] :
θ ALPS = θ ALPSB + θ 0 [k ] θ [k ] = θ [k − 1] + Δθ ⋅ sgn (ΔT )
0 0

Δθ : a small constant
⎧ + 1, ΔT ≥ 0 ⎛ Taverage − T [k − 1] ⎞
T [i ]
sgn (ΔT ) = ⎨
1 N
⎩− 1, ΔT p 0
θ ALPSB [k ] = π ⎜⎜
⎝ T [k − 1]
⎟⎟
⎠
Taverage = ∑
N i =k − N
 θ ALPS = θ ALPSB + θ 0 [k ] θ 0 [k ] = θ 0 [k − 1] + Δθ ⋅ sgn (ΔT )

During the periods with θ 0 [k ] , each average value of N/2 voltage

periods is monitored. If the difference between two consecutive
N/2 periods is less than a specified value, θ 0 [k ] will be set to 0, and
the computation of Taverage is resumed. Otherwise, θ 0 [k ] is enabled
but Taverage remains previous value.
Simulated Results

If an island persists, the

calculated θ ALPS will
diverge, through suitable
approach, this diverge can
be detected thus the
protection can be triggered.
 Laboratory test setup

Tested on the lab-made islanding condition. The presented

APS anti-islanding algorithm successfully detected the
islanding fault. 12 cycles is taken to trip off since the
occurrence of the power island.

The APS algorithm can produce intense positive feedback in

the current phase when a power island occurs while maintains
a tiny random phase shift in grid connected (normal) operation.
 DISPLAY AND COMMUNICATION FUNCTIONS
In the developed PV inverter, LEDs and LCD display module
are employed to indicate the inverter’s information.

Displayed information:

Normal operation: grid voltage/current, output power,

generated energy, etc.
Fault condition: fault detail

PIC18F6722 from Microchip Technology is used to build the

display module. Communication with DSP and with other
units in the DG system, as well as the remote control through
internet are also integrated to the module and realized
through PIC18F6722.
C language is used to program the module.
 CONCLUSION
A 10kW grid-connected PV inverter is developed using the
presented innovative techniques. These innovative technical
solutions include:

„ Improved predictive current controller for space vector

PWM;
„ Fuzzy logic based maximum power point tracking;
„ Comprehensive protection functions including voltage,
current, and frequency protections and accelerated
phase shift anti-islanding protection;
„ Provisions for communications and remote control
through internet
Test results of the developed inverter have well verified the
presented algorithms.
 Thank You!

Questions and Comments…