Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2013, 1, 1-6
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jpee.2013.15001 Published Online October 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jpee)
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. JPEE
1
New Multilevel Mixed Topology Development to Improve
Inverter Robustness for Domestic Photovoltaic
Installations
Sébastien Jacqu es, Adelp he Caldeira, Ambroise Schellmanns, Zheng Ren, Nathalie Batut
GREMAN UMR-CNRS 7347, University of Tours, 7 Avenue Marcel Dassault, 37200 Tours, France.
Email: sebastien.jacques@univ-tours.fr
Received July 2013
ABSTRACT
Multilevel inverters are well u sed in grid connected domestic p hotovoltaic applications because of their ability to gen-
erate a very good quality of waveforms, reducing switching frequency, and their low voltage stress across the power
devices. However, this kind of inverter has to be modified to both limit common-mode currents and improve the ro-
bustness of the system. This paper presents a new mixed 5-level inv erter that meets these challenges. The op erating
principle of the converter is proposed. Several experimental measurements are described to validate this new concept.
The output voltage and current and the THD of the output voltage are particularly discussed.
Keywords: Domestic PV Applications; Common Mode Currents; Decoupling Capacitances; Mixed 5-Level Inverter
1. Introduction
The global market for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems
using tran sformerless config ur a tion has been growing
over the last decade or more with an average rate from
30% to 40% per year. In particular, grid-connected PV
installations contribute significantly to this a verage growth
rate [1]. The technical performances and robustness of
inverters are key elements t hat may have a significant
impact on the generation of electricity and the profitabil-
ity of domestic grid-con nected PV systems.
PV inverters typically operate with a switching fre-
quency of about 15 kHz. As can be seen in F igure 1, this
frequency can be reflected to the DC bus and gener ate
common-mode currents which flow through the metallic
frame and the stray capacitances of the PV modules [2,3].
These parasitic capacitances are key contributors of a
resonant circuit which consists of the PV modules, the
AC filter elements and the grid impedance. The value of
these str ay capacitances, which could reach 1 50 nFkW1,
depends on weather conditions, PV topology, PWM pat-
tern, the material used in the metallic frame and the pas-
sive elements of the converters [4]. The transformerless
configura tion for PV systems could result in safety prob-
lems particularly when leakage currents appear at th e
positiv e and negative PV terminals. Th e DIN VDE
0126-1-1 document specifies that the maximum leakage
ground current is equal to 300 mA [5]. Regarding do-
mestic applications, the UTE C 15-712 standa rd requires
the use of 30 mA differential circ uit breaker inside the
PV installation. However, the leakage current can in-
crease over 30 mA that lead s to the installation shutting
down. So, the limitation of common-mode currents has
become an important challenge.
NPC (Neutral Point Clamping) topologies are well-
known converter structures that are able to eliminate
common-mode currents because the middle point of the
DC source is fixed (i.e. clamped by diodes). Therefore,
no leakage current can be generated [6,7]. In symmetrical
configura tion, 5-level NPC inverter enables to signifi-
cantly improve the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of
the output voltage and current and decrease the voltage
constraints across the semiconductor devices in compar-
ison with the H-bridge converter topology. However, 5-
level NPC inverter requires the use of 4 decoupling ca-
pacitors, 8 power switches and 6 clamping diodes that
could considerably increase the complexity and cost-
effectiveness of the system. It is important to notice that
the electrolytic capacitors, u sed for power decoupling
between and the single-phase grid, are the main limiting
components inside the inverter. Equation (1) shows that
the operational lifetime (LOP) of the decoupling capacitor
depends on the hotspot temperature (Th). The LOP,0-pa-
rameter is the lifetime at a hotspot temperature of T0. The
T-parameter is the temperature increase that reduces the
lifetime by a factor of two [8].
0h
– T
(T )/DT
OP OP,0
LL 2= ×
(1 )
New Multilevel Mixed Topology Development to Improve Inverter Robustness for Domestic Photovoltaic Installations
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. JPEE
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Figure 1. (a) Constitutive elements of a single-glass PV module; (b) Common-mode current generation (example of a PV
plant using a full bridge inverter).
This article pr esents a new mixed 5-level inverter to limit
common mode currents, while at the same time generating
adequate robustness (limitation of decoupling capacitances
and semiconductor devices) and cost-effectiveness of the
system. The adv antages of this new conver ter are pointed
out and compared with 5-level NPC topology. A 500 W
demonstrator is particularly proposed to validate the
concept.
2. 5-Level NPC Inverter Limitations
2.1. Operation Principle Reminder
The conceptual schematic of 5-lev el NPC inverter used
in symmetrica l configuration is given in Figure 2(a).
Four DC voltage sources are needed for gen erating an
output voltage composed of 5 levels (i.e. 0, +E/2, +E,
E/2, E). The amplitude of each DC source is equal to
+E/2.
A widely used method to control inverter connec ted to
the grid is the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and par-
ticularly, Sinusoidal Pulse W idth Modulation ( SPWM)
[9]. This method is used to ensure that output signal
quality is as close as possible. It means that harmonics
must be shifted to higher values to improve the Total
Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the output voltage and
current. The control of the inverter consists in comparing
a sinus-sh aped modulating signal with four triangular
carriers. As can be seen in Figure 2(b), the “Tri1and
“Tri2” carriers enable to generate the output voltage le-
vels equal to +E/2 and +E respectively. In a symmetric
set-up, the level equal to E/2 and E are induced by the
“Tri3and “Tri4carriers respectively. The switching
conditions of each controllable device are summarized in
Table 1.
2.2. Advantages and Limitations
5-leve l NPC inverter used in symmetrical configur ation
helps to limit the voltage constraints across the semicon-
ductor switches (off-state voltage equal to E/2). In par-
ticular, th ese constraints are two times lower t han 3-l evel
NPC inverter ones. The NPC function enables to eradi-
cate the common-mode currents .
Despite all the advantages mentioned previously, 5-
level inverter has major limitations. Firstly, f ou r PV
sources are needed to supply the DC-AC converter. The
amplitude of each voltage source has to be equal to E/2.
Secondly, four decoupling capacitances and four MPPT
(Maximum Power Point Tracking) stages must be used.
Finally, the 5-level inverter is composed of 8 controllable
power switches and 6 clamping diodes. To conclude, the
number of conversion stages, active (power switches and
clamping diodes) and passive elements (decoupling ca-
pacitors) is too high. Since the reliability of these capa-
citances is a critical factor, it is necessary to propose al-
ternative topologies to increase the robustness of grid-
connected PV inverter.
3. New Mixed 5-Level Inverter Proposal
3.1. Theoretical Analysis
Figure 3 shows the electrical schematic of the new
mixed 5-level inverter. This new topology is based on
New Multilevel Mixed Topology Development to Improve Inverter Robustness for Domestic Photovoltaic Installations
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. JPEE
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Figure 2. Conceptual schematic (a) and control principle (b) of a 5-leve l NPC inverter used in symmetrical confi guration.
Table 1. Switching conditions of each controllable device of
the 5-level NPC structure used in symmetrical mode.
Switching conditions Devices in On-state Vs
Tri3(t) < a.sin(ωt) < Tri1(t) K’1, K’2 0
a.sin(ωt) > Tri1(t) K’1, K’2, K’3 +E/2
a.sin(ωt) > Tri2(t) K’1, K’2, K’3, K’4 +E
a.sin(ωt) < Tri3(t) K2, K3, K4 E/2
a.sin(ωt) < Tri4(t) K1, K2, K3, K4 E
Figure 3. Conceptual schematic of the new mixed 5-level
inverter.
one 2-level leg (composed of K7 and K8) coupled with
3-leve l NPC one (composed of K1, K2, K3, K4 and the
two clamping diodes). The K5 and K6 power switches
allow a bidirectional current and voltage operating mode
because of the symmetrical co nfiguration of the conver-
ter (one phase inverter). Thus, the new mixed 5-level
inverter is composed of 8 controllable semi-conductor
devices (the same number as the 5-level NPC inve rter
one) and 2 clamping diodes (3 times low er than the 5-
level NPC inverter one). Most important, the number of
decoupling capacitances is divided by 2 compared with
5-leve l NPC inverter used in symmetrical configuration.
The control technique of the new converte r is the same as
5-leve l NPC inverter one. The switching conditions of
each controllable device are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Switching conditions of each controllable device of
the new mixed 5-l evel inverter.
Switching conditions Devices in On-state Vs
Tri3(t) < a.sin(ωt) < Tri1(t) K2, K3 0
Tri1(t) < a.sin(ωt) < Tri2(t) K1, K2, K5, K6 +E/2
a.sin(ωt) > Tri2(t) K1, K2, K8 +E
Tri4(t) < a.sin(ωt) < Tri3(t) K3, K4, K5, K6 E/2
a.sin(ωt) < Tri4(t) K3, K4, K7 E
3.2. Demonstrator Presentation
Figure 4 shows the demonstrator of the new mixed 5-
level inverter. A SPWM technique is used to control the
DC-AC converter. A digital interface provides the format-
ting of control signals. An analog control is implemented
to adapt the signal generated to the power semiconductor
devices while managing de ad-time. A dsPI C30F6010A
Digital Signal Processor (DSP from Microchip) enables
to generate independently 4 PWM signals. It means that
the output of the DSP operate in an independent manner
and particularly, without an y interaction from the main
program uploaded into the processor. The DSP is coded
in C using the free MPLAB environment by Microchip.
The PW M function operates as follows. Firstly, a trian-
gular carrier is generated. A constant enables to fix the
duty-cycle. This constant value is loaded into a register
and then, compa red with the triangular signal. The result
of this comparison generates TTL logic (0 V DC or 5 V
DC) with constant duty-cycle. As mentioned previously,
the mixed 5-level inverter is controlled by SPWM tech-
nique. The sinusoidal modulating signal (signal frequen-
cy equal to 18 kHz) is discretized in the form of data list
and loaded into the register. The logic output of each
PWM signal is thus the end result of the comparison be-
tween the sinusoidal-shaped modulating signal and the
triangular carriers.
An analog circuit is implemented to create the drive
New Multilevel Mixed Topology Development to Improve Inverter Robustness for Domestic Photovoltaic Installations
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. JPEE
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Figure 4. New mixed 5-level inverter demonstrator.
signals to control 8 power switches from the PWM sig-
nals generated by the DSP. This analog circuit is com-
posed of a formatting stage, an R-C-D circuit that is able
to manage dead-time and an amplitude adjustment stage
(voltage and current of the control signals). AND, OR
and NAND logic gates (74HC08, 74H C32 and 74HC04)
are responsible for the formatting of the signals from the
DSP. The manufacturer of these logic gates gives the
signal propagation delays about 7 ns. The R-C-D circuit,
that manages dead-time, is used to avoid any combina-
tion (i.e. simultaneous control of the following power
switches: [K5; K6; K7], [K5; K6; K8], [K7; K8] or [K1;
K2; K3; K4]) that could lead to the voltage source short-
circuit during the switching phases. It is important to
notice that the delay is active for each rising edg e of the
drive signal (a diode is connected head-to-tail from the
gate resistor).
The new mixed 5-level topology requires a floating
and insulated control circuit. The bootstap technique is
used to generate 6 floating supplies (for K1, K2, K3, K 4,
K7, K8) [10,11]. Regarding the control of K5 and K6, an
insulated voltage source is selected because the bootstrap
is not able to generate a common reference for the other
power devices. Optocouplers (HCPL-3101 from Agilent
with the signal propagation delays and the output current
equal to 0.3 µs and 400 mA respectively) en able to create
the insulation of the control circuit.
The power part of the inverter is composed of eight
650 V, 33 A, 70 m super-junction MOSFETs
(STP42N65M5 from STMicroelectronics) and two 600 V,
60 A, ultra-fast an d soft recover y (recovery time equal to
75 ns) diodes (60APU06 from International Rectifier).
The diodes of the NPC leg must conduct the current as
quickly as possible. That is the reason why the soft re-
covery diodes are used. All the power devices mentionned
previously have been designed as to ensure that the in-
verter may operate for 3 kW domestic PV installations.
3.3. Experimental Measurement s
Several experimental measurements have been performed
to validate the new inverter concept functioning. Two
150 V, 10 A DC generators are used to power the de-
monstrator. The peak input power of the inverter is about
500 W. The outpu t current is set up with a rheostat. The
measurements have been done with 500 MHz digital
oscilloscope (TDS5054 from Tektronix). Voltages and
currents have been measured using differential probes
(P5205 from Tektronix, 100 MHz bandwith) and DC
coupled current probe (TCP202 fro m Tektronix, 50 MHz
bandwith) respectively. The output voltage and current
THD have been determined indirectly. Firstly, the output
voltage and current have been measured. Then, the graphs
have been drawn up with the LTspice post-processing
tool. Finally, output voltage and current THD have been
calculated using the LTspice simulator.
Figure 5 gives the output current and voltage that
demonstrate the proper functioning of the DC-AC con-
verter. The graph clearly shows that the output voltage is
composed of 5 levels. Its RMS value is about 220 V. The
RMS value of the output current is about 2 A with little
variation induced by the inductive behavior of the rheos-
tat. The measurement of the inverter efficiency has been
carried out using two High-End Digital Multimeters with
Power and Ene rgy Measurement (METRAHit29S from
METRAHIT ENERGY, measurement accuracy equal to
0.1 W). Its value is equal to 90%. It is important to notice
that no design optimization of the prototype has been
done.
Figure 6 shows the comparison between the mea-
New Multilevel Mixed Topology Development to Improve Inverter Robustness for Domestic Photovoltaic Installations
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. JPEE
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Figure 5. Output measurements (voltage and current) of the
new mixed 5 -level inverter.
Figure 6. Comparison between the measurement and the
simulation of the output voltage harmonic spectrum of the
new mixed 5 -level inverter.
surement and the simulation of the output voltage har-
monic spectrum. This spectrum is composed of 50 Hz
fundamental frequency, the other spectral lines being
harmonics of the modulation frequency (i.e. 18 kHz ).
Operation, the output voltage THD, ext racted using the
indirect method as mentioned previously, is about 26%.
This value is comparable with that which would obtain if
experimental measurements were done on 5-level NPC
inverter in symmetrical conf iguration. Figure 6 shows
also the simulated output voltage harmonic spectrum is
broadly similar to the measured one (the dis pe r s ion of the
results is about 4%) [12].
3.4. Discussion
The concept of the new mixed 5-level inverter descri bed
in this paper has been validated through many experi-
mental measurements. The output voltage and current
correspond to what might be expected on the basis of an
assessment of need. This new architecture allows keep-
ing the same characteristics in terms of power quality
(voltage and current THD) as the 5-level NPC inverter
ones. The design of this new topology is much easier (2
NPC diodes instead of 4, 8 controllable switches, 2 DC
sources instead of 4, 2 decoupling capacitors instead of 4)
making the inverter more robust (lower decoupling capa-
citors) and cost-effectiveness (low number of semicon-
ductor devices).
However, it should be noticed that all the power switches
are not subjected to the same voltage constraints during
the on-state. Some of them have to hold the full voltage
(i.e. E), while others hold half of the DC voltage (i.e.
E/2). This is not the case for the 5-level NPC inve rter,
since the voltage across each power device is equal to
E/2.
Some points remained open for improvement, includ-
ing the design of the prototype to maximize the efficien-
cy of the inverter and to increase its nominal power (e.g.
3 kW typically used for domestic PV plants).
4. Conclusions
In this paper, a new mixed 5-level topology has been
proposed to improve the robustness of inverter used in
domestic photovoltaic applications . Th is new inverter is
based on the mixture between a 2-level H-Bridge con-
verter and a 3-level NPC structure
The new mixed 5-level structure operation has be en
validated through experimental measurements. The mea-
surement results help to highlight the advantages of this
new topology compared with existing multilevel DC-AC
converters. In particular, the new mixed 5-level inverter
may ensure the best compromise between common-mode
current limitations (via the 3-level NPC leg), the number
of DC sources (2 voltage sources) and semiconductor
devices (8 controllable switches and 2 NPC diodes) to
optimize the cost-effectiveness of the system, the limita-
tion of decoupling capacitors (2 decoupling capacitances)
to increase the robustness of the system and the voltage
constraints across the pow er switches d uring the off-state
(may be higher than 5-level NPC inverter ones).
Additional measurements are r equired to complete the
analysis, including the design optimization of the struc-
ture to increase its nominal power (e.g. 3 kW typically
used for domestic grid-connected PV installations) and
its efficiency.
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