A flyback-assisted single-sourced photovoltaic power conditioning system using an asymmetric cascaded multilevel inverter

Abstract

This paper proposes a power conditioning system (PCS) for distributed photovoltaic (PV) applications using an asymmetric cascaded multilevel inverter with a single PV source. One of the main disadvantages of the cascaded multilevel inverters in PV systems is the requirement of multiple isolated DC sources. Using multiple PV strings leads to a compromise in either the voltage balance of individual H-bridge cells or the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation due to localized variations in atmospheric conditions. The proposed PCS uses a single PV source with a flyback DC-DC converter to facilitate a reduction of the required DC sources and to maintain the voltage balance during MPPT operation. The flyback converter is used to provide input for low-voltage H-bridge cells which processes only 20% of the total power. This helps to minimize the losses occurring in the proposed PCS. Furthermore, transient analyses and controller design for the proposed PCS in both the stand-alone mode and the grid-connection mode are presented. The feasibility of the proposed PCS and its control scheme have been tested using a 1kW hardware prototype and the obtained results are presented.