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Abstract—In some photovoltaic applications it is possible to generates a voltage reference applying the nearest vectors to
remove the transformer of the system in order to reduce losses, make the calculation of the switching times.
cost and size. In transformerless systems the photovoltaic module In PV systems where series PV arrays are connected to
parasitic capacitance can introduce leakage currents in which the
amplitude depends on the converter topology, on the pulse-width- a conventional two-level inverter, the occurrence of partial
modulation and on the resonant circuit composed by the system shades and the mismatching of the arrays leads to a reduction
components. In this paper a modulation technique for three- of the generated power [9][10]. To overcome these problems,
phase neutral point clamped multilevel inverters is proposed to the connection of the arrays can be made using a multilevel
eliminate the leakage current in photovoltaic systems without converter [11]-[13]. The multilevel converter maximizes the
requiring any modification on the multilevel inverter. The neutral
point clamped inverter is studied for systems with function of power obtained from the arrays, reduces the device voltage
active filter using the p-q theory. The proposed system presents stress and generates a lower output voltage harmonic distortion
control of the maximum power point and compensation of [11]. Studying the three basic topologies of the multilevel
current harmonics and reactive power. inverters (neutral point clamped (NPC), cascaded and flying
capacitor), the NPC topology was chosen mainly due to its
I. I NTRODUCTION
characteristics of easing control, specially when compared
Most of the topologies for photovoltaic (PV) systems have to the flying capacitor topology that has a difficult voltage
a transformer that adjust the dc voltage input for the in- control of the clamping capacitors. In this paper, a modulation
verter and isolates the PV panels from the grid [1][2]. The technique for three-phase NPC multilevel inverters is proposed
transformer can be used in line or high frequency, but the to eliminate the leakage current in transformerless photovoltaic
line frequency transformer has large size and weight. The systems without requiring any modification on the multilevel
high frequency transformer is used in PV systems with some inverter and any additional hardware.
stages, decreasing the efficiency and making the system more On the other hand, it was proposed in 1983 a new theory
complex [3]-[5]. The main disadvantage of the topologies for the control of active filters in three-phase power systems
without transformer is the connection of the PV array to the called p-q theory [14][15]. The theory was initially developed
grid without galvanic isolation, that rises the leakage current for three-phase three-wire systems, with a brief mention to
through the parasitic capacitance of the PV array. Due to this systems with neutral wire. Later, the theory was extended to
capacitance and depending on the inverter topology and the three-phase four-wire systems [16][17]. Since the p-q theory
switching strategy, fluctuations of the potential between the is based on the time domain, it is valid both for steady-state
PV array and ground can appear. These fluctuations inject and transient operation, as well as for generic voltage and
a capacitive leakage current and this current can cause grid current waveforms, allowing the control of the active filters in
current distortion, losses in the s ystem and safety problems real-time. In this paper a transformerless photovoltaic topology
[5]. In standard topologies, high currents appear because of the using neutral point clamped inverters is studied for systems
conventional pulse-width-modulation (PWM) and three-phase with function of active filter using the p-q theory.
inverters are not suitable for transformerless PV applications.
Some works show alternatives of PWM to reduce the II. P HOTOVOLTAIC S YSTEM C ONTROL
common-mode voltage (CMV) [6]-[8] for electrical machines The PV system control uses the p-q theory. This theory
and it is not necessary to keep the CMV constant. The makes the transformation of the stationary reference in abc
reduction in the CMV presented in [7] eliminates a vector that coordinates for the reference in 𝛼-𝛽-0 coordinates.
would be applied in the switching period. In [8], the vectors
that are applied in a switching period are chosen in such a A. p-q Theory
way to keep the CMV constat in this interval. The same result The transformations applied to the line voltages and load
is obtained in [6], where the proposed PWM, called 1DM, currents are given by:
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ipv v dc
*
Voltage (V)
Currents (A)
C
0 0
S2a -10
Source Voltage (vS) -75
Source Current (iS)
-20 -150
40
N 20
Currents (A)
Voltage (V)
Current (A)
system are the same of a real three-phase system, but only one
Fig. 3. Simulation results: (a) linear load and (b) non-linear load.
of the three compensation currents (𝑖∗𝑐𝑎 ) is used as reference
for the control of the active filter. Therefore, the virtual three-
phase system is effective in a single-phase system.
The proposed control system with function of active filter B. Three-phase Inverter
using the p-q theory discussed in section II is applied to the The simulation conditions for the three-phase NPC topology
single-phase NPC leg connected to the grid. The single-phase (Fig. 5) are the same of the single-phase NPC inverter. Two
control is a adaptation of the three-phase control. The simula- load conditions were tested in simulation: a load composed of
tion conditions for the single-phase NPC topology are: switch- one resistance (25 Ω) and two inductances (50 mH each) with
ing period 𝑇𝑠 = 100𝜇𝑠, source frequency 𝑓 = 50𝐻𝑧, filter all elements in parallel for each phase and a load composed of
inductance 𝐿𝐹 = 2.35𝑚𝐻, source voltage 𝑉𝑆 = 115𝑉 (𝑟𝑚𝑠) a three-phase rectifier. The simulation results of the load (𝑖𝐿 )
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P
20 150
(a)
10 75
Voltage (V)
Current (A)
vS 0 0
Currents (A) 20
0 Load Current (i )
L
40V/div Filter Current (i )
-20 F
10A/div *
Reference Current (iCa)
-40
10A/div (a)
40 150
iL 20 75
Voltage (V)
Current (A)
i*Ca 0 0
0 Load Current (i )
L
(b) Filter Current (i )
F
*
Reference Current (iCa)
Fig. 4. Experimental results: (a) linear load and (b) non-linear load. -50
0.145 0.15 0.155 0.16 0.165 0.17 0.175 0.18 0.185 0.19
(b)
Time (s)
Fig. 6. Simulation results to phase a: (a) linear load and (b) non-linear load.
and filter (measured - 𝑖𝐹 and reference - 𝑖∗𝐶𝑎 ) currents for
the two conditions are presented in Fig. 6. Figure 6(a) shows
the results for the linear load in such a way that the control
only needs to compensate the power factor making the supply A. Leakage Currents in Three-level Inverters
current in phase with the supply voltage. In Figure 6(b), the
It is possible to express the leakage voltage (voltage between
control is used to compensate harmonics.
the positive (𝑃 ) or negative (𝑁 ) dc bus and the neutral (𝑛) -
IV. M ODULATION T ECHNIQUES TO E LIMINATE L EAKAGE 𝑉𝑃 𝑛 or 𝑉𝑁 𝑛 ) in terms of the inverter output voltages:
C URRENTS IN T HREE - LEVEL I NVERTERS
For the transformerless grid connected PV systems, there is
a galvanic connection between the grid and the dc source and 𝑉𝑁 𝑛 = 𝑉𝑘𝑛 − 𝑉𝑘𝑁 (17)
thus a leakage current appears due to a resonant circuit that is 𝑉𝑃 𝑛 = 𝑉𝑘𝑛 − 𝑉𝑘𝑃 = 𝑉𝑘𝑛 − (𝑉𝑘𝑁 − 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 ), (18)
created if the PV array is grounded [3][4]. This resonant circuit
includes the PV array stray capacitance, the filter and grid where 𝑘 = 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐶 (Fig. 5).
inductances, the inverter stray capacitances and the inductance Under balanced operating conditions, the following condi-
between the ground connection of the inverter and the grid. tion for the inverter voltages can be written:
The magnitude of the PV array leakage capacitance depends
on weather conditions, changing from 𝑛𝐹 up to 𝜇𝐹 [5]. 𝑉𝐴𝑛 + 𝑉𝐵𝑛 + 𝑉𝐶𝑛 = 0 (19)
Therefore, leakage current can reach high values becoming
an important issue in transformerless PV systems. Using (17), (18) and (19),
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TABLE I
C ORRESPONDING SPACE VECTOR FOR THE POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS OF
𝑉𝐴𝑁 + 𝑉𝐵𝑁 + 𝑉𝐶𝑁 THE INVERTER SWITCHES FOR THE FIRST 1500 .
𝑉𝑁 𝑛 = − (20)
3 𝑆1𝑎 𝑆2𝑎 𝑆1𝑏 𝑆2𝑏 𝑆1𝑐 𝑆2𝑐 Vector 𝑉𝐶𝑀
𝑉𝐴𝑁 + 𝑉𝐵𝑁 + 𝑉𝐶𝑁 0 0 0 0 0 0 𝑉0 0
𝑉𝑃 𝑛 = 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 − (21)
3 1 1 1 1 1 1 𝑉0 𝑉𝑃 𝑁
0 1 0 1 0 1 𝑉0 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /2
The CMV for the three-phase inverter can be calculated as: 1 1 0 0 0 0 𝑉1 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /3
1 1 1 1 0 0 𝑉2 2𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /3
𝑉𝐴𝑁 + 𝑉𝐵𝑁 + 𝑉𝐶𝑁 0 0 1 1 0 0 𝑉3 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /3
𝑉𝐶𝑀 = . (22) 1 1 0 1 0 0 𝑉7 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /2
3
0 1 1 1 0 0 𝑉8 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /2
The leakage voltage 𝑉𝑁 𝑛 is the negative of the CMV and the 0 0 1 1 0 1 𝑉9 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /2
leakage voltage 𝑉𝑃 𝑛 is 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁 𝑛 . Therefore the leakage 0 1 0 0 0 0 𝑉13 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /6
currents can be attenuated by the control of the CMV. 1 1 0 1 0 1 𝑉13 2𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /3
0 1 0 1 0 0 𝑉14 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /3
1 1 1 1 0 1 𝑉14 5𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /6
B. Modulation to Eliminate Leakage Currents
0 0 0 1 0 0 𝑉15 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /6
The space vector PWM (SVPWM) is generally used to 0 1 1 1 0 1 𝑉15 2𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /3
control the three-level inverter output voltages and there are
nineteen possible space vectors as shown in Fig. 7: one zero
vector (𝑉0 ) with three switching possibilities, six long vectors lower than the amplitude of the voltages using the technique
(𝑉1 , 𝑉2 , 𝑉3 , 𝑉4 , 𝑉5 and 𝑉6 ), six medium vectors (𝑉7 , 𝑉8 , with medium vectors if sin usoidal voltages are desired.
𝑉9 , 𝑉10 , 𝑉11 and 𝑉12 ) and six small vectors (𝑉13 , 𝑉14 , 𝑉15 ,
𝑉16 , 𝑉17 and 𝑉18 ) with two switching possibilities for each V. C OMPARATIVE A NALYSIS
one, totalizing twenty-seven possible combinations of voltage.
In this section, transformerless PV three-phase inverters
Table I presents the space vectors associated to the possibilities
(Fig. 5) using different PWM techniques are compared based
of the inverter switches for the first 150∘ of the plane 𝛼-𝛽 and
on the output voltages amplitude, CMV and leakage currents.
the total CMV for the three-level inverter using (22).
The simulation parameters are: switching period 𝑇𝑠 = 100𝜇𝑠,
source frequency 𝑓 = 50𝐻𝑧, source inductance 𝐿 = 4.5𝑚𝐻,
V3 V8 V2 source voltage 𝑉𝑆 = 110𝑉 (𝑟𝑚𝑠), dc link voltage 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 =
650𝑉 , modulation index 𝑚 = 0.8, parasitic capacitance
V9 𝐶𝑔 = 470𝑛𝐹 and ground resistance 𝑅𝑔 = 25Ω. Simulation
V15 V7
V14 results for the leakage currents are presented in Fig. 8 for
different PWM techniques. In this figure, the proposed solution
V0 V1
V4 is compared to the solution proposed to solve the problem for
V16 V13 electrical machines. For transformerless PV applications, it is
necessary to keep the CMV constant to reduce the leakage
V10 V17 V18 V12 currents. The results in Fig. 8 show that using the proposed
PWM, the three-level inverters present low leakage currents
in transformerle ss PV systems. Figure 9 shows the results for
V5 V11 V6 the inverter output voltage and grid (source) current in phase a
for 1DM and proposed PWM. It can be seen that the current
Fig. 7. Space vectors in the output of a three-level inverter. waveform is not distorted when compared with other PWM
techniques.
The proposed technique consists in using only the medium
9
vectors and the zero vector with 𝑉𝐶𝑀 = 𝑉𝑃 𝑁 /2 to compose
0
the reference vector. Therefore, in the region between the
-9
Leakage Current (A)
Time (s)
with the SVPWM (𝑉𝑃 𝑁 / 3). There are other combinations
Fig. 8. Simulated leakage current of the three-level PV inverter: (a) SVPWM,
that guarantee a constant CMV using long and small vectors, (b) 1DM, (c) proposed PWM (medium vectors).
but in this case the amplitude of the output voltages will be
1135
Phase Voltage (V)
350
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT Proceedings on Industrial Electronics Society Conference, vol.2, July
The authors would like to thank CNPq, ERASMUS 1999, pp. 849-854.
MUNDUS and ISAC for the financial suport.
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