A novel grid-connected PV PCS with new high efficiency converter

In this paper, new topology is proposed that can dramatically reduce the converter power rating and increase the efficiency of total PV system. Since the output voltage of PV module has very wide voltage range, in general, the DC/DC converter is used to get constant high DC voltage. According to analysis of PV characteristics, in proposed topology, only 20% power of total PV system power is needed for DC/DC converter. DC/DC converter used in proposed topology has flat efficiency curve at all load range and very high efficiency characteristics. The total system efficiency is the product of that of converter and that of inverter. In proposed topology, because the converter efficiency curve is flat all load range, the total system efficiency at the low power range is dramatically improved. The proposed topology is implemented for 200 kW PCS system. This system has only three DC/DC converters with 20 kW power rating each other. It is only one-third of total system power. The experiment results show that the proposed topology has good performance.