A single-phase current source solar inverter with reduced-size DC link

This paper presents a new current source converter topology that is primarily intended for single-phase photovoltaic (PV) applications. In comparison against the existing PV inverter technology, the salient features of the proposed topology are: a) the low frequency (double of line frequency) ripple that is common to single-phase inverter has been eliminated; b) the absence of low frequency ripple enables significantly reduced-size passive components to achieve necessary stiffness; and c) improved maximum-power-point-tracking performance is readily achieved due to the tightened current ripple even with reduced-size passive components. This paper presents the proposed topology and its working principle backed up with numerical verifications.