Experimental tests on a multilevel converter for grid-connected photovoltaic systems

Author

Grandi, G. ; Ostojic, D. ; Rossi, C.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of Bologna, Bologna

fYear

2008

fDate

17-20 Aug. 2008

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

7

Abstract

A complete set of experimental tests on a novel conversion scheme for three-phase grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) generation systems is presented in this paper. The proposed scheme is based on two insulated strings of PV panels, each one feeding a standard two-level three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI). The inverters are connected to grid by a three-phase transformer with the open winding configuration on inverters side. The resulting conversion structure acts as a multilevel converter, doubling the power capability of a single VSI with given current rating. An original control method has been introduced to regulate the dc-link voltages of each VSI, allowing the whole converter to inject the PV energy into the grid and to perform as a power active filter.

Keywords

active filters; invertors; photovoltaic power systems; power convertors; power filters; power grids; power transformers; PV panel insulated strings; dc-link voltages; multilevel converter; power active filter; three-phase grid-connected photovoltaic generation systems; three-phase transformer; three-phase voltage source inverter; Active filters; Costs; DC-DC power converters; Inverters; Phase transformers; Photovoltaic systems; Power transformer insulation; System testing; Topology; Voltage control;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Control and Modeling for Power Electronics, 2008. COMPEL 2008. 11th Workshop on

Conference_Location

Zurich

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2550-1

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2551-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/COMPEL.2008.4634698

Filename

4634698