This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPEL.2017.2768572, IEEE
Transactions on Power Electronics
An Improved Hybrid Modulation Method for the
Single phase H6 Inverter with Reactive Power
Compensation
Jianhua Wang, Member, IEEE, Fangfang Luo, Zhendong Ji, Yichao Sun, Member, IEEE, Baojian Ji, Wei Gu,
Member, IEEE, Jianfeng Zhao
Abstract- Transformer-less photovoltaic (PV) inverters are
more widely adopted due to high efficiency, low cost and light
weight, etc. Many novel topologies and their corresponding
modulation methods have been proposed, verified and put into
use, solely focusing on active power injection without leakage
current issue. However, some new grid codes require PV
inverters to have the ability of injecting reactive power into the
utility for grid support. In order to map the challenge, an
improved hybrid modulation method is proposed and evaluated
for one non-isolated H6 topology as an example. With only
simple modification for switching patterns and phase shift for
current reference, the variable reactive power generation ability
with zero crossing distortion is achieved, while the common mode
voltage is also eliminated. The operation modes with the
improved hybrid modulation approach are presented in detail
and some design considerations are also provided. Extensive
results from a 4kVA prototype along with the SMPLIS
simulation verify the proposed hybrid modulation method.
Keywords- H6 inverter; improved hybrid modulation;
reactive power ability; leakage current
I. INTRODUCTION
Photovoltaic power generations are continuously booming
in recent years, driven by an imperative demand of clean and
reliable electricity [1]. With high penetration PV installation
in grid, PV inverter needs to play a more active role
considering grid capability and stability issues. Besides well
known harmonic limits and anti-islanding requirements, new
Manuscript received March 20, 2017; revised July 13, 2017; accepted
October 18, 2017.
This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and
Development Program of China (2016YFB0900404), by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (51477030), by the Cooperative Innovation Fund
of Jiangsu Province-the Prospective and Joint Research Project (BY2015070-18),
by the Natural Science Youth Foundation of Jiangsu(BK20140944), and
Science and Technology Project of STATE GRID Corporation of China (PD71-
17-008).
Jianhua Wang, Fangfang Luo, Wei Gu, Jianfeng Zhao are with Jiangsu
Provincial Key Laboratory of Smart Grid Technology & Equipment, School of
Electrical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China (email:
wangjianhua@seu.edu.cn).
Zhendong Ji is with Department of Electrical Engineering, School of
Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.
Yichao Sun is with School of Electrical and Automation Engineering,
Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
Baojian Ji is with College of Electrical Engineering and Control Science,
Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2017.2768572
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grid codes and standards are issued by many countries,
committees, and utilities. Among them, leakage current limit,
low voltage ride-through (LVRT) under grid faults, grid
active/reactive power support issues have been released in
succession for safety concern, grid voltage and frequency
stability[2]. Numerous topologies and control schemes are
proposed to bridge the technology gap between codes and
products by academia and industry [2]-[12].
For leakage current issue, a leakage current over 300 mA
must trigger a break within 0.3s in VDE 0126-1-1.Traditional
unipolar full bridge four switches inverter is replaced by the
novel H5, HERIC, H6 circuits for single phase string grid-tie
applications. These topologies are still the mainstream
alternatives. However, German codes VDE-AR-N 4105
(issued time: August 2011) summarizes that grid-tied PV
inverters should compensate the reactive power commanded
by utility power companies, as presented in Table I, which is
not released in VDE 0126-1-1 (issued time: February 2006).
With updated VDE-AR-N 4105, displacement factor
requirement is listed in Tab. I. With power rating of inverter
≥3.68kVA，the leading and lagging displacement factors of
PV inverters should be commanded by the power
companies[13].
TAB.I DISPLACEMENT FACTOR OF THE POWER SYSTEM UNDER FIFFERENT
POWER RATING (STD.VDE-AR-N4105)
Displacement Factor
Power Rating
Requirement
0.95under-excited to 0.95over-
PGS/PGU≤3.68kVA
excited without control
0.95under-excited to 0.95over-
3.68kVA ＜
excited commanded by
PGS/PGU≤13.8kVA power companies
0.9under-excited to 0.9over-
PGS/PGU＞13.8kVA excited commanded by
power companies
•PGS/PGU：power generation system/power generation unit.
•The required displacement factor accuracy is 0.01.
Therefore, these codes require inverter manufacturers to
update their products continuously. Since the HERIC inverter
can only operate at unity power factor (i.e. no reactive power
injection capability), the grid current would be severely
distorted at voltage zero-crossing points in LVRT operation
for reactive power support [14]. Similar cases occur for H5
inverter due to the line voltage is insufficient to magnetize the
inductor in the negative power regions. It leads to inductor
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Transactions on Power Electronics

current dropping below the reference current at the zero vgrid

crossing of line voltage, and results in current distortion [15]. igrid
Based on full bridge topology, reference [16] proposed a
reactive power injection strategy including constant average
t
active power control, constant active current control, constant
peak current control, and thermal optimized reactive power
control strategy, which is dedicated to improve the reliability
during LVRT operation. Dual buck inverter topologies with S1&S4
high efficiency feature were continuously improved for t
S2&S3
reactive power control in [17]-[18]. t
S5
Reactive power injection capability of H6 inverters is also a
challenge to existing H6 inverters. The motivation of this t
S6
manuscript is to find a proper solution with only software t
updated. In this paper, one type H6 inverter with a unity
power factor is reviewed. The zero crossing distortion Figure 2 Traditional hybrid modulation method for selected H6 inverter
mechanism is analyzed. Therefore, an improved hybrid
modulation scheme is proposed and analyzed in detail for vgrid
reactive power injection capability. SIMPLIS Simulation and igrid
experimental results verifies the proposed control schemes.
t
II. SELECTED H6 INVERTER WITH DIFFERENT MODULATION
METHODS
Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅰ
There are many types of H6 inverter in literatures and (a)
applications. One type of H6 inverter with a unity power vgrid
factor is selected here as an example as shown in Fig.1 and
Fig.2. igrid
Fig.3 shows the operation modes of line voltage and
inductor current under leading and lagging power factor, t
four voltage and current zones are depicted here. The
positive power region operation modes in Fig.3 are the
same as that in Fig.2.Then, the zero crossing zone principles Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅰ
are further analyzed in the negative power region, where the (b)
Figure 3 Operation modes of line voltage and inductor current under power
power is transferred from grid to supply. factors of (a) 0.9 leading and (b) 0.9 lagging
For the first negative power region I in Fig.3(b), the grid
di
voltage is positive, and S5 is always on. The region I Vdc  vgrid  L (1)
modulation scheme adopted here likes that in region II as dt
Fig.2 shown. When S1, S4 turns on synchronously, the input According to (1) and Fig.3 (b), the inductor current tends to
high dc voltage applied to the output filter and grid with small increase from negative to zero. However, when S1, S4 turns off
voltage value during the zero crossing zones. synchronously, the existing path in Fig.2 (b) could not help
A. Current distortion of selected H6 inverter with a negative inductor current iL to be freewheeled due to diode for
variable power factor unidirectional current flow, current distortion occurs.
Considering small grid voltage value during the zero crossing
zones, the inductor current operates in discontinuous current
S1 S2
mode at that moment, which makes current distortion worse.
B. Zero crossing distortion of selected H6 inverter with a
C1 C2 S5 S6 L1 variable power factor
Vdc iL igrid
D1 D2 Considering the cause of current distortion mentioned above,
A C0 vgrid additional freewheeling path should be added. The control
B scheme is improved as Fig.4 shown. Compared with Fig.1, it
S3 S4 is found that the switching pattern of high frequency switches
L2
S1, S2 , S3, S4 remains the same, while the line frequency
switches S5, S6 operate with extra high frequency modes in off
N mode near zero crossing zone. It provides extra path for
vcm CN
negative power transfer. Detail operation modes are illustrated
in Fig.5.
Figure 1 Selected H6 inverter
Detail mode analyses are presented below:

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Transactions on Power Electronics

Mode 1 ：As Fig.5 (a) shown, during positive half line inverter bridge middle point voltage and the common mode
cycle, the same sine wave sinusoidal pulse width modulation voltage Vcm are defined by (10), (11) respectively.
high frequency pulses applied to switches S1、S4, while the VAB  VAN -VBN =0.5Vdc -0.5Vdc =0 (10)
switch S5 is always on and the others are all turned off. The Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(0.5Vdc +0.5Vdc )  0.5Vdc (11)
grid current is formed through S1, S5, output filter, grid, S4 by
Mode 6 ： It is a mirror mode of mode 1, as Fig.5 (f)
voltage input dc voltage source Vdc. The inverter bridge
described, during negative half line cycle and positive power
middle point
transfer mode, high frequency pulses are applied to switches
VAB  VAN -VBN  Vdc -0  Vdc (2)
S2、S3, while the switch S6 is always on and the others are all
and the common mode voltage Vcm is defined by turned off. The grid current is formed through S3, output filter,
Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(Vdc  0)  0.5Vdc (3) grid, S6, S2 by input dc voltage source Vdc. The inverter bridge
Mode 2：As Fig.5 (b) illustrated, during positive half line middle point voltage and the common mode voltage Vcm are
cycle, the high frequency switches S1、S4 are deactivated. The defined by (12),(13),respectively.
grid current is naturally free-wheeled through diode D2, output VAB  VAN -VBN  0-Vdc =  Vdc (12)
filter, grid, S5. Then the inverter bridge middle point voltage Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(Vdc  0)  0.5Vdc (13)
and the common mode voltage Vcm are defined by (4), (5)
Mode 7：Mode 7 is also a mirror state of mode 2,as Fig.5
respectively.
(g) given. During negative half line cycle and positive power
VAB  VAN -VBN =0.5Vdc -0.5Vdc  0 (4)
transfer mode, the high frequency S2、S3 are all deactivated,
Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(0.5Vdc  0.5Vdc )  0.5Vdc (5) while the grid current is naturally free-wheeled through diode
Mode 3：As Fig.5 (c) illustrated, during positive half line D1, output filter, grid, S6. Then the inverter bridge middle
cycle but near the voltage zero crossing zones, another free- point voltage and the common mode voltage Vcm are defined
wheeling mode is inserted here. The only difference between by (14),(15),respectively.
free-wheeling mode 2 and mode 3 is that switch S6 works at VAB  VAN -VBN  0.5Vdc -0.5Vdc =0 (14)
high frequency instead of line frequency in this mode. It Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(0.5Vdc  0.5Vdc )  0.5Vdc (15)
provides another precise voltage clamp branch for VBN=0.5 Vdc
vgrid
during the inductor current operates in the DCM mode when
the instaneous current in the clamp diode D2 is zero. Then the igrid
inverter bridge middle point voltage and the common mode
voltage Vcm are defined by (6), (7) respectively. t
VAB  VAN -VBN =0.5Vdc -0.5Vdc =0 (6)
Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(0.5Vdc  0.5Vdc )  0.5Vdc (7)
S1&S4
Mode 4：As Fig.5 (d) illustrated, during negative half line t
S2&S3
cycle and negative power transfer mode, high frequency
t
switches S2, S3 and line frequency switch S6 are turned on. The S5
positive grid current flow through body diodes DS6, DS2 and S6
t
DS3 naturally and decreased by dc source and ac grid.
Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅰ t
Therefore, the reactive power control aim is achieved. It t0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t0
Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode
should be noted that if the MOSFET is adopted here for 1&2 3 4&5 6&7 8 9&10
switches, the inductor current would also flow through the Figure 4 Improved hybrid modulation method
source-drain channel where the MOSFET works like a
synchronous rectifier. Then the inverter bridge middle point S1 S2
voltage and the common mode voltage Vcm are defined by (8),
L1
(9), respectively. S5 S6
VAB  VAN -VBN =0-Vdc =-Vdc (8)
Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(0  Vdc )  0.5Vdc (9) Vdc D1 D2
vgrid
Mode 5：As Fig.5 (e) illustrated, during negative half line A B
L2
cycle and negative power transfer mode, additional free-
wheeling mode is also inserted. The only difference between
S3 S4
free-wheeling mode 5 and mode 3 is that the line grid voltage
is negative in mode 5 while the former is positive. The
N
traditional line frequency switch S5 is high frequency activated
Mode 1
here for the free-wheeling path formed .At the same time, (a)
VAN=0.5Vdc is also precisely achieved due to activated S5
especially in the inductor current DCM mode. Then the

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Transactions on Power Electronics

S1 S2 S1 S2
L1 L1
S5 S6 S5 S6

Vdc D1 D2 Vdc D1 D2
vgrid vgrid
A B A B
L2 L2

S3 S3 S4
S4

N N
Mode 2 Mode6
(b) (f)

S1 S2 S1 S2
L1 L1
S5 S6 S5 S6

Vdc D1 D2 D1 D2
vgrid Vdc
vgrid
A B A B
L2 L2

S3 S4 S3 S4

N N
Mode 3 Mode 7
(c) (g)

S1 S2 S1 S2
L1 L1
S5 S6 S5 S6

Vdc D1 D2 D1 D2
vgrid Vdc
vgrid
A B A B
L2 L2

S3 S4 S3 S4

N
N
Mode4 Mode 8
(d)

S1 S2
S1 S2
L1
L1 S5 S6
S5 S6
Vdc D1 D2
Vdc D1 D2 vgrid
vgrid A B
A B L2
L2

S3 S4
S3 S4

N
N Mode 9
(h)
Mode5 (i)
(e)

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Transactions on Power Electronics
S1 S2
L1
S5 S6
Vdc D1 D2
vgrid
A B
L2
S3 S4
N iL
Mode 10
(j)
Figure 5 Improved H6 inverter operation modes
Mode 8：As Fig.5 (h) illustrated, during negative half line
cycle and positive power transfer mode but near voltage zero
crossing zone, operation mode 8 looks like mode 3 that S5
starts to work at high frequency instead of line frequency. It
provides another precise voltage clamp branch for VAN=0.5Vdc
during the inductor current operates in the DCM mode when
the instaneous current in the clamp diode D1 is zero. Then the
inverter bridge middle point voltage and the common mode
voltage Vcm are defined by (16), (17), respectively.
VAB  VAN -VBN =0.5Vdc -0.5Vdc =0 (16)
Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(0.5Vdc  0.5Vdc )  0.5Vdc (17)
Mode 9：As Fig.5 (i) illustrated, during positive half line
cycle and negative power transfer mode, the negative inductor
current flows through body diodes DS5 (or S5 and DS5),
DS1(or S1 and DS1), and DS4 (or S4 and DS4) naturally and
decreased by dc source minus ac grid. Therefore, the reactive
power control aim is achieved. Then the inverter bridge
middle point voltage and the common mode voltage Vcm are
defined by (18), (19), respectively.
VAB  VAN -VBN =Vdc -0=Vdc (18)
Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(Vdc  0)  0.5Vdc (19)
Mode 10：As Fig.5 (j) illustrated, during positive half line
cycle and negative power transfer mode, the traditional line
frequency switch S6 is high frequency activated here for the
free-wheeling path formed by diode D1, S6, output filter, grid.
At the same time, VBN=0.5Vdc is also precisely achieved due to
activated S6. Then the inverter bridge middle point voltage and
the common mode voltage Vcm are defined by (20), (21),
respectively.
VAB  VAN -VBN =0.5Vdc -0.5Vdc =0 (20)
Vcm  0.5(VAN  VBN )  0.5(0.5Vdc +0.5Vdc )  0.5Vdc (21)
Similarly, when line voltage is lagging the inductor current
as Fig.3 shown, the above analysis would be repeatedly with
almost the same conclusions. The main differences between
them are the two negative power regions with their operation
modes inserted at different juncture of time. Due to limited
pages, the operation modes for the lagging power factor are
not presented here.
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III. DESIGN CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION FOR REACTIVE
POWER COMPENSATION
A. H6 inverter control method
SPWM
L1
vdc Power Stage vgrid
L2
θ
sin PLL
vref
PI
iref
PI
Iref
Fig. 6 Control block of the H6 inverter with reactive power capability
Fig.6 shows the control block of the H6 inverter, where a
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is not
included here and it is set like that in its front-end
converter[19]. The HV bus voltage Vdc is regulated by the
inverter dc bus feedforward voltage loop control. The output
current magnitude Iref is given by the voltage loop. The
instantaneous current reference value iref is obtained by Iref
multiplied by a sine table with additional phase shift defined
in section C below, which is synchronous with the grid
voltage through PLL circuit. A fast current inner loop
guarantees the inductor current tracks the reference current
value iref. Finally, the SPWM signals generation block is
improved for current distortion elimination in section B.
B. Additional switching patterns for current distortion
elimination
When the line voltage is leading the inductor current, at the
first negative power region [t2-t3], operation modes are
illustrated Fig.5 (d), (e) shown. To avoid the current distortion,
body diodes DS6, DS2, DS3 not only provide reactive current
path between the input and output terminal, but also help the
other inductor current decrease quickly through output filter. It
should be noted that the traditional line frequency switch S5 is
turned on/off opposed to S2, S3 using high switching frequency
at this time, which provides freewheeling path as Fig.5(e)
shown.
In the other negative power region [t5-t0] with positive line
voltage and negative grid current, the circuit operate as
Fig.5(i),(j) shown. In Fig.5(i), as the polarity of the line
voltage changes from negative to positive, S1, S4, S5 are
activated to reduce reverse grid current. Due to the grid
current is negative, the traditional line frequency switch S6
need to be activated for freewheeling operation with high
frequency feature. Therefore, the freewheeling current flows
in the path of grid ,output filter, D1, S6, naturally.
C. Relationship between power factor(PF) and time setup
In section II, it is observed that the leading and lagging
phase between the grid voltage and line current is determinate
by the time intervals [t2-t3] & [t5-t0]. Considering the
symmetry of the operation principles, the time interval [t2-t3]
and the interval [t5-t0] are the same.
For given power factor=-0.9 or 0.95, the corresponding
angle is determinate by
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Transactions on Power Electronics

 = cos-1 ( PF )
300

(22) 200

Vgrid / V
100
0
-100

Considering the dead time effect for shoot through issue, -200
-300

 4

t1 -t0  t3 -t2  T  tdead

igrid / V
(23) 0

2
-4

-8

200

D. Advanced DM, CM features, reactive power generation 180

Vcm / V
160

ability and cost 140

120

40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58

In the improved operation modes as Fig.4 and Fig.5 shown, time/mSecs 2mSecs/div

the operation modes for positive power region in [t0-t2] are (a) Grid voltage (vgrid), grid current (igrid), common-mode voltage (vcm)
4

illustrated in Fig.5(a),(b),(c),and those in [t3-t5] are described

S6 / V
3
2
1

in Fig.5(f),(g),(h). Extra mode 3 and mode 8 are adopted for 0

4

S5 / V
3

common-mode voltage elimination during grid voltage zero 2

1
0

crossing zone. The additional modes for negative power 4

S2&S3 / V
3

region [t2-t3] in are shown in Fig.5(d),(e), and those in [t5-t0] 2

1
0

are illustrated in Fig.5 (j),(k), respectively. 4

S14 / V
3
2

Additional Table II further provides comparison summary 1

40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58

between the proposed technique and the conventional time/mSecs 2mSecs/div

(b) Gate drive signals(S1-S6)

modulation techniques. It is found that extra 6 modes due to 4

S6 / V
the proposed techniques are added to provide reactive current 2

paths of the H6 topology. The improved hybrid modulation 4

S5 / V
3
2

method not only achieves unipolar modulation feature with +1, 1

0

0, -1 state output at inverter bridge terminal, but also achieves 4

S2&S3 / V
3
2

the bipolar modulation method with constant 0.5Vdc common 1

0
4

mode voltage. However, due to the freewheeling paths are

S14 / V

3
2
1

using not only extra independent diodes but also body diodes 0
49.2 49.4 49.6 49.8 50 50.2 50.4 50.6 50.8 51

time/mSecs 200uSecs/div

in mode 4&9, which would slightly decrease the inverter (c) Extended waveforms of gate drive signals(S1-S6)
efficiency as a cost. Figure 7 H6 inverter with PF≠1 simulation results(output terminals)
TAB.II COMPARISON SUMMARY Fig.7 & 8 shows key waveforms of H6 inverter with PF≠1
Figure
Traditional Improved Corresponding Level from output terminals. It is found that the H6 inverter achieves
Method Method Current paths vcm vdm constant common-mode voltage and adjustable power factor
S1, S5, L1, grid,
5 (a) Mode 1 Mode 1
L2, S4
0.5Vdc Vdc both. For voltage zero crossing zones, additional high
D2, S5, L1, grid, frequency switching patterns of traditional line frequency
5 (b) Mode 2 Mode 2 0.5Vdc 0
L2 switches eliminates current distortion as Fig. 7(a) and (c)
D2, S5, L1, grid,
5 (c) ／ Mode 3
L2
0.5Vdc 0 illustrate.
DS3(S3), L1, Fig.8 further shows extended simulation waveforms of
5 (d) ／ Mode 4 grid, L2, 0.5Vdc 0 active and passive components currents for H6 inverter with
DS6(S6), DS2(S2)
D2, S5, L1, grid,
PF≠1, which are the corresponding results with improved
5 (e) ／ Mode 5 0.5Vdc 0
hybrid modulation method applied in Fig.7. Positive currents
L2
S2, S6, L2, grid, - 6
5 (f) Mode 3 Mode 6 0.5Vdc
IS1 / A

4
L1, S3 Vdc 2
0
D1, S6, L2, grid,
5 (g) Mode 4 Mode 7 0.5Vdc 0 -2

L1 6
5
ID2 / A

D1, S6, L2, grid,

5 (h) ／ Mode 8 0.5Vdc 0 3
2
L1 -0

DS4(S4), L2, 6

／
igrid / V

5 (i) Mode 9 grid, L1, 0.5Vdc Vdc 4

DS5(S5), DS1(S1) 2

0
48.44 48.46 48.48 48.5 48.52 48.54
D1, S6, L2, grid,
5 (j) ／ Mode 10 0.5Vdc 0 time/mSecs 20uSecs/div

L1 (a) Extended waveforms 1 of active device current (iS1), passive diode

current(iD2), grid current (igrid)
1

-1
S14 / V

-2

IV. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION -3

-4

In order to verify the proposed hybrid modulation method 1.5

-5

of the H6 inverter, a virtual circuitry and prototype is built, 0.5

IS1 / A

tested in SIMPLIS software and laboratory, respectively. Main -0.5

-1
-1.5

related parameters of the H6 schematic are listed in Tab. II, -2

50.28 50.3 50.32 50.34 50.36 50.38 50.4 50.42 50.44 50.46 50.48 50.5

respectively. time/mSecs 20uSecs/div

(b) Extended waveform 2 of device current (iS1), gate drive signal (S1)
A. Simulation results Figure 8 H6 inverter with PF≠1 simulation results(inner devices)

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Transactions on Power Electronics

are observed in S1 and D2 in Fig.8(a), which indicate that

active power is transferred from dc source to grid. Besides that,
the negative currents flow through S1 while its gate drive
signal is turned off in Fig.8(b). It means that reactive power is
flowing backwarding from ac side to dc side, which verifies
the reactive power capability of the H6 inverter with improved
hybrid modulation method.
B. Experimental Results
TAB.III MAIN PAMETERS OF THE INVERTER
Parameter Value
Power rating S=4000VA
DC bus voltage Vdc=400VDC
Grid voltage vgrid=230VAC/50Hz
Switching frequency fs =20 kHz
Output inductors L1 = L2=880H
Output capacitor Cout =4.7F
Fig.9-Fig.12 show detailed experimental results of the
prototype with variable power factors. (a) PF=0.9
Fig.9 illustrates the corresponding switching patters of that
in simulation results of Fig.8.The differences between that
with leading and lagging factor are that the two negative
power regions are inserted at different juncture of time as
section II presented.

(b) PF=-0.9
Figure 10 Grid current (CH1), grid voltage (CH2), VAB (CH3) for differential-
mode voltage analysis
Fig.10 shows the modulation feature with +1, 0, -1 state
output at inverter bridge terminal, which means good DM
characteristic is achieved no matter how power factor varies.
(a)PF=0.9

(a) PF=0.95
(b) PF=-0.9
Figure 9 Gate drive signals: S2&S3 (CH1), S6 (CH2), S1&S4 (CH3), S5
(CH4)

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7.611mA (@PF=1), 7.671mA (@PF=0.95), 8.674mA (@PF=-

0.95) are recorded by oscilloscope respectively, which are all
far below the standard limit. Besides that, nearly zero crossing
distortion is observed, and the very small current distortion
occurs due to necessary dead time inserted when grid voltage
polarity changes.

(b) PF=-0.9

(a) PF=1

(c) Extended waveform 1 of (a)

(b) PF=0.95

(d) Extended waveform 2 of (a)

Figure 11 Grid current (CH1), grid voltage (CH2), VAN (CH3) and VBN (CH4)
for common-mode voltage analysis
Fig.11 further provides VAN and VBN waveforms and it is
easy to be found that the VAN plus VBN equals DC bus voltage,
which predicts good CM voltage features.
From another view point, leakage current rms values are (c) PF=-0.95
measured at different power factor conditions as Fig.12 shown,

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Figure 12 Grid current (CH1), grid voltage (CH2), common-mode current
(CH3)
Efficiency
98.00%
97.00%
96.00%
95.00%
94.00%
PF=1
PF=-0.9
93.00% PF=0.9
92.00%
91.00%
90.00%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Power ratio
Figure 13 Efficiency curve
At last, Fig.13 shows high efficiency curves of H6 inverter
at different power factor conditions. It is found that the
efficiency of H6 inverter with variable power factor is slightly
lower than that with constant power factor=1.The main reason
is that body diodes are used for reactive power transferred to
dc source as section III presented. However, with conditions
of output power >20% rated power ratings, efficiencies are all
higher than 96% and quite small efficiency differences are
observed.
In a word, the improved hybrid modulation method helps
the existing H6 inverter products obtain good compromise and
balance between main performance indexes, with only a
simple change in switching patterns and phase shift for current
reference is adopted. Therefore, the improved modulation
method would be easily modified and applied to other many
H6 and similar topologies.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an improved hybrid modulation method for
grid-tied single phase H6 PV inverter is proposed. The main
advantages of the proposed method can be summarized as:
1) Compared with the traditional hybrid modulation method
for active power rejection only, a simple modification in the
switching patterns with phase shift for the current reference is
just needed for reactive power capability of H6 inverter.
2) At a slight cost of acceptable efficiency decrease due to
the partly used body diodes, the reactive power capability,
zero crossing distortion and excellent DM/CM voltage
features in the H6 circuitry are totally achieved in balance.
3) The improved hybrid modulation method would be easily
modified and applied to other H6 and similar topologies.
ACKNOWLEDGMETNT
The authors would like to thank Miss Lingyu Li of
Southeast University for her technical support, especially for
simulation, analysis, and discussion.
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Jianhua Wang (M’11) received the B.S. and
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Nanjing University of Aeronautics &
Astronautics, Nanjing, China, in 2004 and 2010,
respectively. In 2010, he joined the faculty of
School of Electrical Engineering in Southeast
University, Nanjing, China, where he is currently an Associate
Research Professor. He has published more than 30 technical
papers. He is the holder of 2 China patents. His main research
interests are solid-state transformer, power electronics system
stability, general power electronic circuit topologies, modeling,
and control.
Fangfang Luo received the B.S degree the School of
Automation in Nanjing University of Science and Technology,

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPEL.2017.2768572, IEEE
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Nanjing, China, in 2010. Now she is studying Professor at Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China. He has
for his M.S. degree in School of Electrical published more than 50 technical papers. His current research
Engineering in Southeast University, Nanjing, interests include digital control techniques and the
China. Her main research interests are solid- development of a grid-tied inverter for renewable energy
state transformer, power electronics system applications.
stability, modeling and control of new energy
system. Wei Gu (M’06–SM’16) received his B. Eng
degree and Ph.D. degree in Electrical
Zhendong Ji received the B.S. and Ph.D. Engineering from Southeast University, China,
degrees in electrical engineering from in 2001 and 2006.
Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2007 From 2009 to 2010, he was a Visiting
and 2015, respectively. Scholar in the Department of Electrical
Since 2015, he joined the School of Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287,
Automation in Nanjing University of Science USA. He is now a Professor in School of Electrical
and Technology, Nanjing, China, where he is currently a Engineering, Southeast University. His research interests are
Lecturer. His main research interests include cascade power system stability and control, smart grid, renewable
multilevel converters and solid-state transformers. energy technology and power quality.

Yichao Sun (S’13–M’17) received the B.S. and Jianfeng Zhao received the B.S. from Huainan
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Mining Institute, Huainan, China, the M.S.
Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2010 degree from Nanjing University of Aeronautics
and 2017, respectively. & Astronautics, Nanjing, China, and the Ph.D.
From February 2015 to August 2016, he was a degrees from Southeast University, Nanjing,
Visiting Scholar in the Power Electronics Group China, in 1995, 1998, and 2001, respectively,
(PEG), RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia. Since all in electrical engineering.
2017, he joined School of Electrical and Automation In 2001, he joined the Faculty of School of Electrical
Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China, Engineering, Southeast University, where since 2008 he has
where he is currently a Lecturer. His current research interests been a Professor and has been engaged in teaching and
include the modulation and control of power electronic research in the field of high-power power electronics. Since
converters, with a particular emphasis on multilevel converters. 2014, he has also been the Dean of School of Electrical
Engineering, Southeast University. He has authored or
Baojian Ji received his B.S. degree in coauthored more than 100 technical papers. He holds more
Automation Engineering from the Nanjing than 20 China patents. His current research interests include
Normal University, Nanjing, China, his M.S. utility applications of power electronics in smart grid such as
degree in Electrical Engineering from the solid-state transformer, active filters for power conditioning,
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and flexible ac-transmission system devices, multilevel ac-motor
Astronautics, Nanjing, China, and his Ph.D. drives, and efficient energy utilization.
degree from Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2002,
2007 and 2012, respectively. In 2016, he became an Associate

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