Power Adaptor Device for Domestic DC Microgrids Based on Commercial MPPT Inverters

This paper presents a power adaptor device, referred to as smart panel device, allowing the connection of additional energy sources and storage elements to a domestic photovoltaic (PV) grid-connected system. The adaptor output port is designed to behave as a power source/sink, thus enabling its hot-swap parallel connection to renewable power sources without modifying their maximum power point (MPP). Moreover, the adaptor device features a power characteristic with a single controllable MPP and allows the control of the injected power within the operating range of the dc-ac grid-connected inverter. The work presents the design principles of such device by describing the operation of a sliding-mode controlled quadratic-boost converter. The proper operation of the device is experimentally verified for several scenarios in a small PV-based microgrid system including a fuel-cell stack, a 1-kW three-phase wind turbine, a battery charger-discharger, and commercial grid-connected PV inverters.