A Double Grounded Transformerless Photovoltaic Array String Inverter with Film Capacitors and Silicon Carbide Transistors

A new photovoltaic (PV) array power converter circuit is presented. The salient features of this inverter are: transformerless topology, grounded PV array, and only film capacitors. The motivations are to reduce cost, eliminate leakage ground currents, and improve reliability. The use of Silicon Carbide (SiC) transistors is the key enabling technology for this particular circuit to attain good efficiency. Traditionally, grid connected PV inverters required a transformer for isolation and safety. The disadvantage of high frequency transformer based inverters is complexity and cost. Transformerless inverters have become more popular recently, although they can be challenging to implement because of possible high frequency currents through the PV array’s stay capacitance to earth ground. Conventional PV inverters also typically utilize electrolytic capacitors for bulk power buffering. However such capacitors can be prone to decreased reliability. The solution proposed here to solve these problems is a bi-directional buck boost converter combined with half bridge inverters. This configuration enables grounding of the array’s negative terminal and passive power decoupling with only film capacitors. Several aspects of the proposed converter are discussed. First a literature review is presented on the issues to be addressed. The proposed circuit is then presented and examined in detail. This includes theory of operation, component selection, and control systems. An efficiency analysis is also conducted. Simulation results are then presented that show correct functionality. A hardware prototype is built and experiment results also prove the concept. Finally some further developments are mentioned. As a summary of the research a new topology and control technique were developed. The resultant circuit is a high performance transformerless PV inverter with upwards of 97% efficiency.