International Journal of Advances in Applied

Science and Engineering (IJAEAS)

ISSN (P): 2348-1811; ISSN (E): 2348-182X
Vol-1, Iss.-4, SEPTEMBER 2014, 42-52
IIST

COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TOPOLOGIES OF TRANSFORMER LESS PV

INVERTER
K.SURESH KUMAR
1

Associate Professor, Electronics & Electrical Engineering,

Dr.Samuel George Ins. Of Technology,Markapur, India

ABSTRACT:-There is a strong trend in the photovoltaic inverter technology to use transformerless topologies in order to acquire higher
efficiencies combining with very low ground leakage current. In this paper, a new topology, based on the H-bridge with a new ac bypass circuit
consisting of a diode rectifier and a switch with clamping to the dc midpoint, is proposed. The topology is simulated and a comparison with other
existing topologies is performed. High conversion efficiency and low leakage current are demonstrated.

INDEX WORDS: Photovoltaic, Conversion efficiency, topologies, Leakage current.

1. INTRODUCTION

transmission lines are not present. In the last decade

solar energy technologies have become less expensive

This chapter presents the background and the

and more efficient, which have made it to an attractive

motivation of the thesis, continuing with a short

solution, being cleaner and more environmentally

overview of grid-connected PV systems. Furthermore,

friendly energy resource than traditional ones like fossil

it details the aims of the project, continuing with a list

fuels, coal or nuclear. Nevertheless, a PV system is still

of the main contributions and finishing with the outline

much more expensive than traditional ones, due to the

of the thesis.

high manufacturing costs of PV panels, but the energy

BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION:

that drives them the light from the sun is free, available
almost everywhere and will still be present for millions

The need for a cleaner environment and the

continuous

increase

in

energy

needs

of years, long after all non-renewable energy sources

makes

have been depleted.

decentralized renewable energy production more and

more important. This continuously increasing energy

One of the major advantages of PV technology

consumption overloads the distribution grids as well as

is that it has no moving parts. Therefore, the hardware

the power stations, therefore having a negative impact

is very robust; it has a long lifetime and low

on power availability, security and quality [1]. One of

maintenance requirements. And, most importantly, it is

the solutions for overcoming this is the Distributed

one solution that offers environmentally friendly power

Generation (DG) system. DG systems using renewable

generation [2]. Now a days, PV panels are not only

energy sources like solar, wind or hydro, have the

used in space applications, but they are present in

advantage that the power is produced in close proximity

everyday

to where it is consumed. This way the losses due to

calculators, supplying loads in remote sites and, last but

life:

powering

wrist

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
42

watches,

small

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

Fig. 1 Cumulative installed capacity between 1992 and 2007 in the IEA-PVPS

not least, they are connected to the public grid,

reporting countries.

generating the green power of the future. [3]

AIM OF THE WORK

The efficiency of commercial PV panels is

GRID CONNECTED PV SYSTEMS

around 15-20%. Therefore, it is very important that the

As mentioned before, decentralized energy

power produced by these panels is not wasted, by using

production using solar energy could be a solution for

inefficient power electronics systems. The efficiency

balancing continuously-increasing energy needs. Grid

and reliability of both single-phase and three phase PV

connected PV systems have had an enormous increase

inverter systems can be improved using transformer

in their market share over the last decade. With a

less topologies, but new problems related to leakage

reasonable set of incentives, the solar photovoltaic

current and safety need to be dealt with.

market in the U.S. could grow more than 30% per year

The main goal of this project is to analyze and

over the next 20 years, from 340MW of installed

model transformer less PV inverter systems with

capacity to 9600 MW [4]. This market growth is also

respect to the leakage current phenomenon that can

present in other countries worldwide.

damage the solar panels and pose safety problems. New

According to the latest report of IEA PVPS on

topologies and control strategies that will minimize the

installed PV power, during 2007 there was a total of

leakage current and exhibit a high efficiency will be

2.25 GW of installed PV systems, of which the majority

proposed, investigated and verified.

(90%) are installed in Germany, Spain, USA and Japan.

The majority of PV inverters on the market

At the end of 2007 the total installed PV capacity

include a boost stage in order to raise the low voltage of

reached 7.9 GW of which around 92% is grid connected

the PV array to the needed DC-link voltage of around

[5] [6].

400V (single-phase system in Europe) or 700V (threeThe growth of installed capacity since 1992

phase system in Europe). During this research only

and the split of this capacity between the two primary

single stage DC to AC topologies for single- and three-

applications for PV, representing grid connected and

phase grid connection have been studied with a power

stand-alone applications, can be seen in Fig. 1.

rating of up to 5-6kW/phase for the low power utility

grid. The PV array has been simplified by using a DC
power source to rule out the need for a Maximum
Power Point Tracker (MPPT), both in simulation and
experimental tests. The grid has been modeled as an
inductance and resistance in series with an ideal
sinusoidal

voltage

MATLAB/Simulink

source.

For

environment

simulation
has

been

the
used

together with the PLECS toolbox, to simulate power

electronic

circuits.

All

the

active

Year
International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
43

and

passive

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

MODELING OF COMMON MODE VOLTAGE

components within the modeled electrical circuit were

taken to be ideal.

The leakage current of a certain topology is

greatly influenced by the generated common-mode
voltage that will be imposed on the parasitic

2. LITERATURE REPORT

capacitance of the PV array. To show the influence

A short list of contributions is included in the

on the common mode behavior of the topology in the

order they appear in the thesis.

case of inductor unbalance or inductance in the

REVIEW AND SIMULATION OF PV TOPOLOGIES

neutral wire, a model based method for calculating

A

comprehensive

review

is

presented

the total common mode voltage of transformer less

modeling several single and three-phase transformer

topologies has been developed in this thesis.

less topologies, focusing on the leakage ground current.

1.5.4 NEW TOPOLOGY

It has been shown that the H-Bridge topology with

Nowadays, PV inverters feed only active

unipolar PWM, as well as the three-phase full bridge

power to the grid, having a power factor of 1. When

topology, generates very high leakage current and are

there are many inverters injecting active power at the

therefore not suitable as transformer less PV inverters.

same time, the voltage at point of common coupling

It is also emphasized that connecting the

might rise over the limits stated in the standards and

midpoint of the DC-link to the neutral of the grid will

trigger

substantially reduce the generated leakage current in the

disadvantage, a new high efficiency transformer less

configuration might negatively influence the common

PV inverter topology called HB-ZVR (with very low

mode behavior of the topology.

leakage ground current) is proposed. The topology uses

INTERLEAVED PWM

a bidirectional switch for short-circuiting the output of

the converter during the zero voltage period using a

The capacitor in the inverters DC-link tends to

due

to

inverters leading to

available power. To overcome the before mentioned

topologies, although the chosen grid side filter

reduced,

safety of the

disconnection or limit the power production below the

case of the half-bridge or neutral-point clamped

get

the

cost

reduction

from

switch and a diode bridge, capable of active and

the

reactive power injection.

manufacturers side. This means that the ripple in the

DC-link will be increased, leading to higher leakage

1 H-BRIDGE WITH UNIPOLAR SWITCHING

ground currents through the parasitic capacitance of the

PV array. This thesis includes a new application of the

Most single-phase H-Bridge inverters use

interleaved PWM for three-phase inverters that has

unipolar PWM in order to improve the injected current

been modeled in simulation. The ripple of the DC-link

quality of the inverter, which is done by modulating the

voltage is reduced, thereby further reducing the leakage

output voltage to have three levels with twice the

current in case of the three-phase full bridge split

switching frequency. Moreover, this type of modulation

capacitor topology.

reduces the stress on the output filter and decreases the

losses in the inverter.

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
44

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

HERIC HIGHLY EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE

The positive active vector is applied to the

load by turning ON T1 and T4, as shown in Fig. 2. The

INVERTER CONCEPT

negative active vector is done similarly, but in this case

This topology, shown in Fig. 4, combines the

T2-T3 is turned-ON.

advantages of the three-level out-put voltage of the

In a unipolar switching pattern, the zero

unipolar modulation with the constant common-mode

voltage state, during the positive voltage, is achieved by

voltage, as in the case of bipolar modulation. This way

short circuiting the output of the inverter, as detailed in

the efficiency of the inverter is increased, without

Fig. 4.2, which introduces high frequency content in the

compromising the common-mode behavior of the

generated common-mode voltage.

whole system.

As seen in Fig. 3, in a transformer less PV

The zero voltage vector is realized using a

system using this type of topology and modulation, the

high-frequency

common-mode

voltage,

bidirectional switch, shown in the grey background in

measured

Fig. 5. This bidirectional switch is made up of two

across , will lead to very high leakage ground current,

IGBTs and two diodes (T5-T6). During the positive

making it unsafe, therefore not usable for transformer

half-wave of the load (or grid) voltage, T6 is switched

less PV applications.

ON and is used during the freewheeling period of T1

and T4. On the other hand, during the negative halfwave T5 is switched ON and is used during the
freewheeling period of T2 and T3.

Fig.2. H-Bridge topology with Unipolar PWM, active

vector applied to load, using T1-T4 for positive voltage.

Fig.4 .HERIC topology, active vector applied to

load, using T1-T4 during positive half-wave.

The zero voltage vector is rea-lized

by short-circuiting the output of the inverter,
and during this period the PV array is
separated from the grid, because T1-T4 or T2-

Fig. 3. H-Bridge topology with Unipolar PWM, zero

voltage applied to load, using T1-T3 for positive voltage

T3 are turned OFF.

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
45

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

Using T5, it is possible for the grid current to
flow in both directions, this way the inverter can also
feed reactive power to the grid, if necessary. During the
negative half wave of the load voltage, T2-T3 are used
to generate the active vector, and T5 is controlled using
the complementary signal of T2-T3 and generates the
zero voltage state, by short-circuiting the outputs of the
inverter and clamping them to the midpoint of the DClink.
During the dead-time, between the active
vector and the zero state, there is a short period while
all the switches are turned OFF, when the freewheeling
current finds its path through the anti-parallel diodes to
the input capacitor. This is shown in Fig. 6 and leads to
Fig. 5. HERIC topology, zero voltage applied

higher losses, compared to the HERIC topology where

to load, using S6 during positive half-wave.

the freewheel-ing current finds its path through the

bidirectional switch, either

PROPOSED TOPOLOGY (HB-ZVR)

through T5 or T6,

depending on the sign of the current.

Another solution for generating the zero

voltage state can be done using a bidirectional switch
made of one IGBT and one diode rectifier bridge. The
topology is detailed in Fig. 4.6, showing the
bidirectional switch, as an auxiliary component with a
grey background. This bidirectional switch is clamped
to the midpoint of the DC-link capacitors in order to fix
the potential of the PV array also during the zero
voltage period, when T1-T4 and T2-S3 are open. An
extra diode is used to protect the lower DC-link
capacitor from short-circuiting.
During the positive half wave, T1-T4 are used

Fig.6. HB-ZVR topology, zero voltage applied to

to generate the active vector, sup-plying a positive

load, using T5, during positive half-wave.

voltage to the load, as shown in Fig. 4.

The zero voltage state is achieved by turning
ON T5 when T1-T4 are turned OFF, as shown in Fig.

The output voltage of the inverter has three

4.5. The gate signal for T5 will be the complementary

levels, taking into account the freewheeling part during

gate signal of T1-T4, with a small dead-time to avoid

dead-time. In this case also, the load current ripple is

short-circuiting the input capacitor.

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
46

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

very small and the frequency is equal to the switching
frequency. To show that this topology does not generate
a varying common-mode voltage, Vcm has been
calculated for the switching states with regard to the
positive, zero and negative vectors:

4.1

: = ; = 0; =
ZERO: =

; =

; =

4.3

NEGITIVE : = 0; = ; =

4.2

4.4

SIMULATION RESULTS: The Below figures shows the simulation results of various transformer less PV inverters

Circuit diagram of unit topology

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
47

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

Inverter output voltage

Inverter output current

Ground cuurent

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
48

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

Circuit diagram of heric topology

Inverter output voltage

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
49

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

Load current

Ground currents

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
50

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

Circuit diagram of HB-ZVR

Load current

Ground current

International Journal of Advances in Engineering and Applied Science Vol-1, Iss-4, 2014
51

Comparison of Different Topologies of Transformer Less PV Inverter

CONCLUSION

generation

systems.

In

Power

Electronics

and

Applications, 2005 European Conference on, pages 10

pp.P.10, 0-0 2005.

Transformer less inverters offer a better efficiency,

5.

compared to those inverters that have a galvanic

Meng Qing-yun, Ma Wei-ming, Sun Chi, Jie Gui-sheng,

and Qi Wei. Analytical calculation of the average and

isolation. On the other hand, in case the transformer is

rms currents in three-level npc inverter with spwm. pages

243 248, nov. 2009.

omitted, the generated common-mode behavior of the

6.

inverter topology greatly influences the ground leakage

Lixiang Wei, R.J. Kerkman, and R.A. Lukaszewski.

Evaluation of power semiconductors power cycling

current through the parasitic capacitance of the PV.

capabilities for adjustable speed drive. In Industry

Bipolar PWM generates a constant common-mode

Applications Society Annual Meeting, 2008. IAS 08.

voltage, but the efficiency of the converter is low, due

IEEE, pages 110, Oct. 2008.

7.

to the two level output voltage. By using unipolar PWM

and E. Aldabas. A new high-efficiency single-phase

modulation, the output of the converter will have three

transformerless

levels, but in this case, the generated common-mode

8.

Industrial

Lin Ma, Tamas Kerekes, Remus Teodorescu, Xinmin Jin,

topology. In Power Electronics and Applications, 2009.

given an alternative solution for the bidirectional

EPE 09. 13th European Conference on, pages 110,

switch, used to generate the zero-voltage state. The

Sept. 2009.
9.

constant common-mode voltage of the HB-ZVR

R. Teodorescu, F. Blaabjerg, U. Borup, and M. Liserre. A

new control structure for grid-connected lcl pv inverters

topology and its high efficiency make it an attractive

with zero steady-state error and selective harmonic

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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AUTHORS PROFILE:

Comparison of traditional inverters and z-source inverter

K.SURESH KUMAR is working as an

associate professor in EEE Department
Dr. Samuel George institute of
technology Markapur.. He received his B.Tech in EEE
at SVH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,
Machilipatnam and P.G(M.Tech ) in Power Electronics
at VRS & YRN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,
Cheerala. . He has over 8 years teaching and 1 year
industrial experience.

for fuel cell vehicles. In Power Electronics in

Transportation, 2004, pages 125132, Oct. 2004.
W.-T. Franke, M. Mohr, and F.W. Fuchs. Comparison of
a z-source inverter and a voltage-source inverter linked
with

dc/dc-boost-converter

for

wind

turbines

concerning their efficiency and installed semiconductor

power. In Power Electronics Specialists Conference,
2008. PESC 2008. IEEE, pages 18141820, June 2008.
4.

topology.

transformer-less pv inverter topologies derived from npc

paper has introduced a transformer less topology and

3.

inverter

Dan Floricau, and Marco Liserre. The high efficiency

will lead to very high ground leakage currents. This

2.

pv

Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, 2009.

voltage will have high-frequency components, which

1.

T. Kerekes, R. Teodorescu, P. Rodriguez, G. Vazquez,

M. Mohr and F.W. Fuchs. Comparison of three phase

current source inverters and voltage source inverters
linked with dc to dc boost converters for fuel cell

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