Proceedings of ECTI-CON 2008

A Single-Phase GridConnected Inverter Using a

Boost Two-Cell Switching Converter with
Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm
Kamon tabaiya* Wanchak Lenwari* Cherdchai Prapanavarat**

*Dept.of Control System and Instrumentation Engineering, ** Dept.of Electrical Engineering,

King Mongkuts University of Technology Thonburi, 126 Prachauthit Rd, Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140. Thailand.

Abstract- This paper proposes a single-phase grid-connected connecting to the grid. The sinusoidal current is obtained by
inverter for Photovoltaic (PV) systems using a Boost Two-Cell the ramp comparison controller with a constant switching
Switching (BTCS) converter based on a Maximum Power Point frequency. The current is injected and synchronized with the
Tracking (MPPT) technique. Due to nonlinear I-V characteristic grid voltage.
of PV cells, the system must include an algorithm to obtain the
In this paper, a single-phase grid-connected inverter PV
maximum power from PV cells at any atmospheric condition.
The method used in this paper is the incremental conductance systems using BTCS converter is proposed. The maximum
(INC) algorithm. The BTCS converter is selected as a power power from PV is obtained by using an incremental
stage with the two-cell semiconductor switching devices conductance (INC) method. H-bridge inverter is used to
controlled to obtain a maximum power from PV cells. The H- synchronize with the utility. Incremental conductance method
bridge inverter provides a sinusoidal current and synchronizes is presented and BTCS converter is analyses. The
with the grid voltage. The control of the inverter is based on experimental results show the performance of the proposed
ramp comparison control with constant switching frequency and system.
zero crossing voltage detectors. The experimental results in a
test lab showed the effectiveness of the proposed PV system in
both constant and rapidly changing in atmospheric conditions. II. STATE-SPACE MODEL ANALYSIS OF A BTCS CONVERTER
Index Terms Boost two-cell switching converter, Maximum Fig.1 shows the circuit of the boost converter with dual
power point tracking, and Grid-connected inverter. switches connected to a PV cell [6].The analysis is based on
state-space model. From Fig.1, the two-cell switches operate
I. INTRODUCTION in a continuous inductor current mode. The switches, VGS1 and
Among the clean power sources, the photovoltaic (PV) VGS2 interleave in operation sharing current balance in
solar energy appears to be a very fascinating alternative inductors. D1 and D2 prevent reverse current. Dpv reduces the
renewable energy. Due to the high cost of PV modules, the voltage and current ripple from PV cell. Li and Lb are used to
focus is on the method to get the maximum energy from PV. maintain the current and can be regarded as current sources.
One of the required feature of a grid connected PV inverter is Ipv and Vpv are current and voltage from PV cell respectively.
the ability to track maximum power point of the PV arrays[1]. Cpv is used to minimize the voltage ripple of the PV cell. The
Therefore, the maximum power point tracking(MPPT) is analysis is divided into two modes, 1. when VGS1 and D2 are
required as the power obtained from a PV system depends on ON and 2. when VGS2 and D1 are ON.
environmental conditions such as the intensity of the light[2]. At time 0 < t  tON, the switch VGS1 and D2 are both ON.
As a PV cell generates dc voltage, a power interfacing The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig.2. The state-space
circuit is required, in order to synchronize with the utility equations for the sub-circuit 1 (Fig. 2) are
grid. Different configurations of interfacing circuit are
proposed in [3]. Even there are different in topologies, they
I pv (Vpv ) ii ib
are common in objective which is to achieve a highest power V = (1)
pv Cpv Cpv Cpv
on the system. A Boost Two-Cell Switching (BTCS)
converter is a dc-dc converter and can be used as the power
V pv X 1ii
conditioning in a PV system [4]. The advantage of BTCS i = (2)
i Li Li
over conventional boost converters is that a five-level
sinusoidal current can be obtained as the two-cells share
Vpv X 2ib V0
current in two inductors from PV cell resulting in the i = (3)
b
reduction of ripple current at the converter output. In addition, Lb Lb Lb
the stress of switching device and electromagnetic
ib V0 iL
(4)
interference (EMI) are reduced by this circuit configuration V0 =
C C C
[5]. Two-cell switches are controlled based on a MPPT
algorithm. In order to improve the efficiency of BTCS, a
phase shift circuit is applied between two-cells. The H-bridge
inverter is used to convert a dc current to an ac current before

978-1-4244-2101-5/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE 1001

 III. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
A. Incremental conductance method applied to the BTCS
There are different algorithms used for MPPT in grid-
connected inverter. This paper employs INC algorithm
method [1]. This algorithm is simple. In this method, the
input impedance of a switching converter is adjusted to a
value that matchs the optimum impedance of the PV array.
This method has a good performance under rapidly changing
conditions. The incremental conductance method is based on
Figure 1. The Boost two-cell switching converter circuit. the principle that at the maximum power point dP/dV = 0. In
this method, the slope of power with respect to voltage of PV
cell is used to track the MPP as described below. The change
of dP/dV is sent to the duty ratio controller to calculate duty
cycle of the BTCS converter circuit[5] as shown in Fig.1.
Fig.4 shows the I-V characteristic of the selected a PV cell
used in the experiment. The changing in atmospheric
conditions is the most important factor for tracking MP point.
Figure 2. Equivalent circuit while VGS1 and D2 are ON. For example, a moving cloud will affect the sunlight radiating
to the PV cell.
While a switch VGS2 and D1 are ON at tON < t  T, the
equivalent circuit is shown in Fig.3. The state-space equations
for sub-circuit-2 (Fig. 3) are:

VL X 1ii V0
i = (5)
i Li Li C pv

V pv X 2 ib
i = (6)
b Lb Lb
Taking state-space averaging of the above equations, the
following equations are derived:
V pv X 1i i V0
ii = (1 d ) (7)
Li Li Li Figure 4. Characteristics of the PV cell is data type the MSX-30L.
V pv X 2ib V0
ib = d Fig.5 displays the obtained duty cycle in relation with
(8)
Lb Lb Lb
MPPT based on incremental conductance method. The
flowchart of incremental conductance algorithm is presented

i V pv i V i
V0 = (1 d ) i d b 0 L (9) in Fig.6. It can be noticed from Fig.5 that the gate signal of
C Lb C C C VGS1 is always degree phase difference from VGS2 gate
The variable X1 and X2 used above represent the total signal according to BTCS configuration. The condition used
inductance. From (9), VO is the output voltage of the BTCS MP. If dP/dV = 0, the maximum power point is detected. If
to find MP is: If dP/dV > 0, the working point is on the left of

circuit. For maximum power tracking, the following control dP/dV < 0, the working point is on the right of MP. As the
law is applied [3]: power of PV is obtained from IPV and VPV, Equation 11 is
derived at MP point. Duty cycle of VGS1 is firstly calculated
d = k (V pv Vm ) (10) and explained as follows.

where d is the duty cycle applied to VGS1 in the BTCS dP d(Vpv Ipv) dP Ipv dI
= =0 = + =0 (11)
converter circuit and k is boltzman constant[6]. Maximum dV dV dV Vpv dV
voltage of the PV cell which is the open circuit voltage is Vm.
It can be noted that (11) consists of two term, Ipv/Vpv and
dI/dV. From the experimental test in this paper, if the
atmospheric condition is maintained (dI = 0), duty cycle
obtained from MPPT algorithm is equal to 58 %. When the
sunlight has changed, dI changes and algorithm in Fig.6 is
applied. If dI > 0(light intensity increases), the working point
has moved to the right from previous working point.
Figure 3. Equivalent circuit while VGS2 and D1 are ON.
Therefore, the duty cycle of VGS1 is decreased by -1% of
switching period in order to increase output voltage of BTCS

1002
converter. On the other hand, if dI < 0(light intensity
decreases), the power point has shifted to the left of previous
point and the duty cycle of VGS1 is increased by +1% to
reduce the converter output voltage. Similarly, if
Ipv/Vpv+dI/dV = 0, the MPP is retained and duty cycle is
fixed. However, if Ipv/Vpv+dI/dV > 0 or Ipv/Vpv+dI/dV < 0,
the new duty cycle is calculated using a flowchart shown in
Fig.6.
IV. THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To verify the performance of the proposed system as in
Fig.7, the experimental circuit was built. The circuit consists
of BTCS converter, H-bridge inverter and gate-drive circuit.
The circuit is controlled by a Cy8C27443 microcontroller.
MOSFETs (IRF640) are used as switching devices in the
inverter and BTCS converter. The device and component
parameters used for experimental test are shown in Table I.
The PV modules are Solarex MSX-30L. The light is
generated and adjusted by controlling the voltage across 117
sylvania lamps. Each lamp is rated at 12V, 50W.

TABLE I
PV cell Module and Component Parameters for Experimental Test
Main Component Parameters
PV cell Module
Component Value
Cpv (dc) 4,700 F
4 x MSX-30L,1000 W/m2 C (dc) 470 F
Figure 5. The dual switch control in the BTCS converter based on MPPT. T = 25C, Pmax =120 W Li 60 mH
Vmax = 68.4 V, Imax = 1.75 A Lb 20 mH
Voc = 84 V, Isc = 1.90 A L 7 mH
C1(ac) 2 F

First step before testing was to find an I-V characteristics of

MSX-30L cell at 935 W/m2 insolation. An open circuit
voltage (VOC) and short circuit current (ISC) were found to be
72.50 V and 1.11 A respectively. By using the resistance load,
Vmax, Imax, and Pmax were obtained with the values of 67.50 V,
1.03 A and 69.53 W respectively. The H-bridge inverter
connected with a BTCS was tested with resistive load at 935
Figure 6 . Flow chart of incremental conductance algorithm. W/m2. Without connecting to the gird, Fig.8 shows the load
current of the inverter. The load current is adjustable by
B. Application of BTCS on PV system control system already explained. After connected the
The BTCS works as a current-source converter. As BTCS complete system to the grid, Fig. 9 shows the voltage across
converter boosts the output voltage from PV cell, in order to switch VGS1 and VGS2 and Fig. 10 shows output voltage and
connect to the gird, a dc-ac converter is required. In this work, current of BTCS converter when the insolation is constant at
a H-bridge inverter is selected. VGS1H and VGS2H are ON 935W/m2 while Fig. 11 shows the output current and voltage
simultaneously. The control of the inverter is based on ramp of converter when the insolation was changed rapidly from
comparison with constant switching frequency. The 742 W/m2 to 935 W/m2. It can be noticed that the output
frequency of the triangular voltage reference is 20 kHz. The current of BTCS increased while voltage was maintained at
advantage of the ramp comparison current controller over the the same level as expected. This confirms that the BTCS is
hysteresis is that the inverter switching frequency is present working when the insolation is changing. Fig.12. presents
and well-define harmonics are produced. The complete sinusoidal current waveforms with respect to the grid voltage
system is shown in Fig.7. LC1 filter at the output of the of two different insolations(at 513W/m2 and 935W/m2). It can
inverter filters out the high frequency switching components. be noticed that higher power was obtained for higher light
This allows the clean sinusoidal current injecting to the grid. intensity. In addition, the currents are in-phase with the grid
The H-bridge inverter and its control excluding MPPT are voltages. The efficiency of the proposed PV system is
tested without connecting to the grid and obtained satisfied evaluated as shown in Fig.13. The calculation was based on
result as presented in section IV. the power of PV cell and power of grid-connected inverter as
D1 I0 in (12) [1]. For example, at three different insolations, Pin and
i D1 D2
V V
GS1H
L
GS 2 H
Pout are as follows: (68.85W, 64.22W at 935W/m2), (51.46W,
D
pv X 1 , Li X 2 , Lb
iD2
D1 H
i inv D2 H 48.13W at 742W/m2), (38.47W, 35.46W at 513W/m2).
ii ib C V V
GS 1L C1
Utility
GS 2 L Consequently, the obtained efficiencies of this system are
Grid
Cpv
V GS1 V GS 2
V0 93.57%, 93.53% and 92.18% respectively and the average
i S1 i S2 D1 L D2 L
efficiency is 93.17% which is higher when compared with the
V
pv
PWM
i inv
system proposed in [5].
I pv MPPT
Controller iref
Pout
H Vtrig
% Efficiency of the system = 100 (12)
Figure 7. The proposed grid-connected inverter PV system using BTCS Pin
converter.

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 IV. CONCLUSION
The paper presented a single-phase grid connected system
using BTCS converter controlled by means of the maximum
power point tracking topology. The current control of inverter
is based on ramp comparison control with constant switching
frequency. The effectiveness of the proposed system has been
confirmed through the experimental work. The experimental
results also show the performance of the proposed PV system
in both constant and rapidly changing atmospheric conditions.
CH1 = 0.2 A/Div, Time = 10 ms/Div.
Figure 8. Load current of H-bridge inverter with resistive load.
CH1 = 50 V/Div, CH2 = 40 V/Div, Time = 20 s/Div.
Figure 9. Voltage across Switch VGS1 and Switch VGS2.
CH1 = 40 V/Div, CH2 = 0.2 A/Div, Time = 5 ms/Div.
Figure 10. BTCS converter output when the insolation is constant.
CH1 = 20V/Div, CH2 = 0.5A/Div, Time = 5 ms/Div.
Figure 11. BTCS converter response when the insolation is rapidly changed.
1004
Vgrid
(a)
(b)
CH1 = 20V/Div, CH2 = 1 A/Div, Time = 5 ms/Div.
Figure 12. Grid-connected inverter current at different insolations:
(a) 513 W/m2 (b) 935 W/m2
Figure 13. Electrical input and output power and the efficiency of
the proposed system.
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