PV String-Level Isolated DC–DC Power Optimizer with Wide Voltage Range

Hyungjin Kim,Jaehoon Kim,Gibum Yu,Sewan Choi

doi:10.3390/en14071889

Hyungjin Kim, Jaehoon Kim + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en14071889

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Mar 29, 2021
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Seoul National University of Science and Technology

Abstract

This paper proposes a photovoltaic (PV) string-level isolated DC–DC power optimizer with wide voltage range. A hybrid control scheme in which pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control and pulse width modulation (PWM) control are combined with a variable switching frequency is employed to regulate the wide PV voltage range. By adjusting the switching frequency in the above region during the PWM control process, the circulating current period can be eliminated and the turn-on period of the bidirectional switch of the dual-bridge LLC (DBLLC) resonant converter is reduced compared to that with a conventional PWM control scheme with a fixed switching frequency, resulting in better switching and conduction loss. Soft start-up control under a no-load condition is proposed to charge the DC-link electrolytic capacitor from 0 V. A laboratory prototype of a 6.25 kW DBLLC resonant converter with a transformer, including integrated resonant inductance, is built and tested in order to verify the performance and theoretical claims.

Highlights

IntroductionPhotovoltaic (PV) converters are key components in solar systems
This paper introduces the pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control operating under very wide voltage range from 300 V to 900 V based on the topology presented in [30]
In order to verify the performance of the proposed dual-bridge LLC (DBLLC) resonant converter, a

Summary

Introduction

Photovoltaic (PV) converters are key components in solar systems These converters maximize the power extracted from PV cells for delivery to the grid. The single-stage architecture does not extract the maximum energy from the PV modules, as the global maximum power point (MPP) is not the MPP for all individual modules, especially under partial shading, soiling, and mismatched conditions [11,12,13]. PV plants favor two-stage architectures with DC–DC converters that reduce the effects of partial shading, improve the energy yield, provide more flexibility in the plant design process, and improve the monitoring and diagnostics capabilities [14,15]

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