ABSTRACT

The need for a cleaner environment and the continuous increase in power demands makes
decentralized renewable energy production, like solar and wind, more and more
interesting. Decentralized energy production using solar energy could be a solution for
balancing the continuously-increasing power demands. This continuously increasing
consumption overloads the distribution grids as well as the power stations, therefore
having a negative impact on power availability, security and quality. One of the solutions
for overcoming this is the grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system. PV inverter systems
can be improved in terms of efficiency using transformerless topologies, but new
problems related to leakage current need to be dealt with. The work presented in this
thesis deals with analyzing and modeling of three-phase transformerless PV inverter
systems regarding the leakage current phenomenon that can damage solar panels and pose
safety problems.

In this thesis, a three-phase grid-connected PV topology (named H8) is simulated to

address the leakage current issue. AC common-mode voltage and earth leakage current
causes problems in the transformerless grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. It
increases the distortion of the current injected into the grid and the losses, also it
generates unwanted radiated and conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI). The
voltage source full-bridge (FB) inverter, which is also known as B6-type converter is
widely used for three-phase PV systems. The B6-type inverter suffers from the leakage
current, which limits its application to transformerless grid-connected PV systems. H8
topology reduces the leakage current as well as common-mode voltage variations through
the separation of the PV array from the grid during the zero voltage states. Through
analysis and simulations results, a comparison between the proposed topology and the
conventional B6-type topology is performed. Results validate the performance
improvements of H8 inverter in terms of leakage current and total harmonic distortion
(THD) of the output currents injected into the grid. Simulation results are presented for a
2 kW grid-connected PV system.

i
 CONTENTS

Abstract i
List of Figures iii
List of Tables iv

1.Introduction 1
1.1 Transformerless PV Inverter 2
1.2 Objective 3
1.3 Outline of Thesis 3
2. Literature Survey 4
3. Three-Phase PV Inverter Topologies 5
3.1 B6 Inverter 5
3.2 H8 Inverter 6
4.Common Mode Voltage (CMV) 9
4.1 Common Mode Leakage Current Model of B6 and H8 Inverter 10
4.1.1 B6 Inverter 10
4.1.2 H8 Inverter 14
5.Control Strategy of B6 and H8 Inverter 17
5.1 PV Array 18
5.1.1 Determination of Series and Parallel PV Arrays 19
5.2 Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) 19
5.2.1 DC-DC Boost Converter 20
5.2.2 P & O Method 20
5.3 DC Link Capacitor 22
5.4 L-C-L Filter 23
5.5 PI Controller 24
5.6 PR Controller 25
5.7 Clarke (abc to ) and Inverse Clark ( to abc) Transformation 26
6. Simulation and Result 29
7. Conclusion & Future Scope 38
References

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Fig No Title Page

No
Fig 1 Block diagram of grid-connected PV system 1
Fig 2 Grid connected PV system with transformerless inverter 2
Fig 3 Conventional B6 PV Inverter Topology 5
Fig 4 H8 PV Inverter Topology 7
Fig 5 Schematic Illustration of Parasitic Capacitance 9
Fig 6 Grid-Connected Three phase Full Bridge (B6) PV System 11
Fig 7 Simplified common mode leakage mode for phase-a and phase-b 11
Fig 8 Simplified Common Mode Model for three-phase system 12
Final simplified equivalent common-mode circuit for the
Fig 9 transformerless gridconnected three-phase PV system with B6-type 13
inverter.
Fig 10 Proposed H8 Three-Phase Topology 14
Fig 11 Proposed Modulation Technique for H8 Inverter 15
Final simplified equivalent common-mode circuit for the
Fig 12 transformerless gridconnected three-phase PV system with H8-type 15
inverter
Fig 13 Structure of the controller used for both B6 and H8 Inverters 17
Fig 14 PV Cells,Modules,Panel, and Array 18
Fig 15 Equivalent Circuit of Boost Converter 20
Fig 16 Principle of P&O Algorithm 21
Fig 17 Flowchart of P&O Method 22
Fig 18 L-C-L Filter and components 23
Fig 19 Simulink Model of B6 Inverter 30
Fig 20 20 Simulink Model of H8 Inverter 31
Fig 21 MPPT P&O Implemented in Simulink 32
Fig 22 PR Controller for B6 and H8 Inverter 33
Fig 23 Implementation of SPWM in Simulink for B6 and H8 Inverter 33
Fig 24 Simulated DC Link Voltage for B6 and H8 Inverter 34
Fig 25 Simulated Gate pulses for H8 Inverter 34
Fig 26 Simulated Grid Voltage for B6 Inverter 35
Fig 27 Simulated Grid Voltage for H8 Inverter 35

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Fig 28 Simulated Grid Current for B6 Inverter 35
Fig 29 Simulated Grid Current for H8 Inverter 35
Fig 30 FFT Analysis of grid current for B6 Inverter 36
Fig 31 FFT Analysis of grid current for H8 Inverter 36
Fig 32 Simulated leakage current in B6 Inverter 37
Fig 33 Simulated leakage current in H8 Inverter 37
Fig 34 Simulated Stray capacitor voltage for B6 Inverter 37
Fig 35 Simulated stray capacitor voltage for H8 Inverter 37

LIST OF TABLES

Table No Title Page

No
Table 1 Switching sequence for B6 Inverter 6

Table 2 Switching sequence for B6 Inverter 7

Table 3 Total Common Mode Voltage for B6 and H8 Inverter 16

Table 4 Technical specifications of Transformerless PV System 17

iv