Active Power Decoupling Research Articles

A Study on PV AC-Module with Active Power Decoupling and Energy Storage System

In general, electrolytic capacitors are used to reduce power pulsations on PV-panels. However, this can reduce the reliability of the PV AC-module system, because electrolytic capacitors have a shorter lifetime than PV-panels. In addition, PV-panels generate irregular power and inject it into the grid because the output power of a PV-panel depends on the surrounding conditions such as irradiation and temperature. To solve these problems, a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) AC-module with active power decoupling and energy storage is proposed. A parallel bi-directional converter is connected to the AC module to reduce the output power pulsations of PV-panels. Thus, the electrolytic capacitor can be replaced with a film capacitor. In addition, the irregular output power due to the surrounding conditions can be regulated by using a parallel energy storage circuit. To maintain the discontinuous conduction mode at low irradiation, the frequency control method is adopted. The design method of the proposed converter and the operation principles are introduced. An experimental prototype rated at 125W was built to verify the performance of the proposed converter.

Evolution of single-phase power converter topologies underlining power decoupling

Single-phase power converters are widely used in electric distribution systems under 10 kilowatts, where the second-order power imbalance between the AC side and DC side is an inherent issue. The pulsating power is decoupled from the desired constant DC power, through an auxiliary circuit using energy storage components. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of single-phase converter topologies underlining power decoupling techniques. Passive power decoupling techniques were commonly used in single-phase power converters before active power decoupling techniques were developed. Since then, active power decoupling topologies have generally evolved based on three streams of concepts: 1) current-reference active power decoupling; 2) DC voltage-reference active power decoupling; and 3) AC voltage-reference active power decoupling. The benefits and drawbacks of each topology have been presented and compared with its predecessor, revealing underlying logic in the evolution of the topologies. In addition, a general comparison has also been made in terms of decoupling capacitance/inductance, additional cost, efficiency and complexity of control, providing a benchmark for future power decoupling topologies.

Control and Modulation of Bidirectional Single-Phase AC–DC Three-Phase-Leg SPWM Converters With Active Power Decoupling and Minimal Storage Capacitance

In a single-phase grid-connected nanogrid system, a bidirectional ac–dc converter is usually required to transfer energy between the ac grid and a dc bus. Active ac power balancing is often implemented to prevent the ac grid ripple power from injecting into the dc bus. A four-phase-leg sinusoidal pulsewidth-modulation (SPWM) converter can readily provide power factor correction and active ac power balancing. In this paper, the use of three-phase-leg SPWM converters for achieving these functions is analyzed. A family of bidirectional single-phase ac–dc three-phase-leg SPWM converters with an ac storage capacitor for use in a nanogrid system is designed with a general control structure and a modulation scheme for minimizing the ac storage capacitance. The general control structure is designed to achieve a decoupled system of a power-factor-correction converter cascaded with an active ac power load at the dc bus. The decoupled system is developed based on decomposition to differential-mode and common-mode voltages. The modulation method involves an extra zero-sequence voltage injection derived from the three-phase-leg SPWM voltages without introducing higher order harmonic distortions. A significant reduction of the ac storage capacitance and an improvement of converter efficiency are achieved. The design and analysis are verified by simulations and experimental measurements.

Integration of an Active Filter and a Single-Phase AC/DC Converter With Reduced Capacitance Requirement and Component Count

Existing methods of incorporating an active filter into an AC/DC converter for eliminating electrolytic capacitors usually require extra power switches. This inevitably leads to an increased system cost and degraded energy efficiency. In this paper, a concept of active-filter integration for single-phase AC/DC converters is reported. The resultant converters can provide simultaneous functions of power factor correction, DC voltage regulation, and active power decoupling for mitigating the low-frequency DC voltage ripple, without an electrolytic capacitor and extra power switch. To complement the operation, two closed-loop voltage-ripple-based reference generation methods are developed for controlling the energy storage components to achieve active power decoupling. Both simulation and experiment have confirmed the eligibility of the proposed concept and control methods in a 210-W rectification system comprising an H-bridge converter with a half-bridge active filter. Interestingly, the end converters (Type I and Type II) can be readily available using a conventional H-bridge converter with minor hardware modification. A stable DC output with merely 1.1% ripple is realized with two 50-μF film capacitors. For the same ripple performance, a 900-μF capacitor is required in conventional converters without an active filter. Moreover, it is found out that the active-filter integration concept might even improve the efficiency performance of the end converters as compared with the original AC/DC converter without integration.

Benchmark of AC and DC Active Power Decoupling Circuits for Second-Order Harmonic Mitigation in Kilowatt-Scale Single-Phase Inverters

This paper presents the benchmark study of ac and dc active power decoupling (APD) circuits for the second-order harmonic mitigation in kilowatt-scale single-phase inverters. First, a brief comparison of recently reported APD circuits is given, the best solution that can achieve high efficiency and high-power density is identified and comprehensively studied, and the commercially available film capacitors, the circuit topologies, and the control strategies adopted for APD are all considered. Then, an adaptive decoupling voltage control method is proposed to further improve the performance of dc decoupling in terms of efficiency and reliability. The feasibility and superiority of the identified solution for APD together with the proposed adaptive decoupling voltage control method are finally verified by both the simulation and experimental results obtained on a 2-kW single-phase inverter.

Active Power Decoupling for High-Power Single-Phase PWM Rectifiers

Single-phase pulsewidth modulation rectifiers suffer from ripple power pulsating at twice the line frequency. The ripple power is usually filtered by a bulky capacitor bank or an LC branch, resulting in lower power density. The alternative way is active power decoupling, which uses an active circuit to direct the pulsating power into another energy-storage component. The main dc-link filter capacitor can, therefore, be reduced substantially. This paper proposed a new scheme of active power decoupling. The circuit consists of a third leg, an energy-storage capacitor and a smoothing inductor. The topology combined the advantages of high energy-storage efficiency and low requirement on control bandwidth. Both the pulsating power from the ac source and the reactive power of the smoothing inductors are taken into consideration when deriving the power decoupling scheme. The active power filter's (APF) capacitor voltage control system consists of inner loop pole-placement control and outer loop proportional-resonant control. To enhance the steady-state performance, the capacitor voltage reference is modified in a closed-loop manner. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed APF scheme has good power decoupling performance and is more suited for high-power applications where switching frequency is limited.