A Maximum-Output-Power-Point-Tracking-Controlled Dual-Active Bridge Converter for Photovoltaic Energy Integration Into MVDC Grids

Abstract

This paper presents a novel maximum output power point tracking (MOPPT) strategy for a three-phase dual-active bridge (DAB3) converter to integrate a large-scale photovoltaic (PV) energy generation into medium-voltage dc grids. The DAB3 converter is employed as a single-stage solution to step up dc voltage levels and perform the maximum power point tracking of the PV farm at the same time. In order to achieve a high weighted average efficiency over a wide operation range, design considerations of the stray inductance and transformer's turns ratio are presented to shape the soft-switching region of the DAB3 converter in order to match the area of the maximum power points for the PV panels in the given environmental conditions. To further maximize the energy yield of the entire PV power generation system, a novel MOPPT method is proposed to track the maximum output power point of the DAB3 converter. The MOPPT is implemented by a cascaded closed-loop voltage control with the PV current feedforward compensation to improve the dynamic performance. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is validated by both simulations and the experimental verification of a down-scaled laboratory prototype.