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Design and implementation of a 5 kW photovoltaic system with li-ion battery

and additional DC-DC converter

Conference Paper · October 2010

DOI: 10.1109/ECCE.2010.5618220 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Design and Implementation of a 5 kW Photovoltaic System
with Li-Ion Battery and Additional DC-DC Converter

Michael Bragard Nils Soltau

Student Member1 Student Member1

Rik W. De Doncker Armin Schmiegel

Fellow1 Member2
1
Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)
RWTH Aachen University
Jägerstr. 17-19 - 52066 Aachen - Germany
bg@isea.rwth-aachen.de
2
voltwerk electronics GmbH
Anckelmannsplatz 1- 20537 Hamburg – Germany
a.schmiegel@voltwerk.com

Abstract – The integration of photovoltaic (PV) generators in
the gird is still an ongoing topic. The peak efficiency of today’s
power electronics is already above 98 %, therefore innovative
aspects can grow from new ways of grid integration. This paper
focuses on the combination of a 5 kW PV-generator with a li-ion
battery. The temporal decoupling of the generation and injection
of energy into the European low voltage grid is presented.
Compared to a classic PV system, an additional bidirectional
DC/DC-converter is required to ensure the charge and discharge
of the battery. The power management of the system can be
controlled by the grid operator or according to the best profit
defined in a feed-in tariff law for renewable energy.
Special attention has to be paid to the efficiency of this
DC/DC-converter, due to the bidirectional energy passing before
a grid injection is possible in case of energy buffering. After a
brief introduction and system overview, this paper focuses on the
DC/DC-Converter.
Index Terms – Battery, dc/dc-converter, grid storage, li-ion,
photovoltaic (PV)
consumption is limited by the fact, that the peak of PV
production does not coincident with the load demand. For a
typical private household, with a yearly consumption of
5000 kWh, having a PV installation of 5 kWp, the rate of self
consumption is limited to 30%.
One way to improve this rate is the application of storage
technology. The European joint research project Sol-ion
seizes the chance given by this law by integrating a lithium-
ion (li-ion) battery into a PV converter system, which allows a
temporal decoupling of the generation and injection [2]. Such
system is not limited to politically motivated locations, also
island usage or a combination of both is possible. Regions
with low grid quality and frequent electrical power outage are
predestinated. Investigations and field test in Guadeloupe
prove the attractiveness and high market demand [3].
5000,00
Load PV Injection
4000,00

I. INTRODUCTION 3000,00

The European governmental aid for photovoltaic (PV) 2000,00

energy injected to the low voltage grid motivated numerous 1000,00

[W]

private individuals to install a 5 kWp PV generator on the 0,00

0
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roof of their private homes. Although the feed-in tariffs drop -1000,00

continuously, the amount of private PV generators is still -2000,00

increasing. Grid stability problems are an issue especially in -3000,00

countryside locations with strong end-of-line systems (i.e. -4000,00
farms). In order to reduce the loading of the grid in regions t [h]

with high penetration of renewable power generation, the
German government incentives the self consumption at the
site of generation. The latest draft of the Renewable Energy
Sources Act (EEG) from January 2009 guarantees the highest
tariffs in case of self consumption [1]. The rate of self
Fig. 1. Typical load profile of a household
with optimized self-consumption [4]
Fig. 1 shows the expected load profile of a typical
household with optimized self-consuming. This diagram is the
result of a simulation. The data behind are based on
measurements. Load profiles of multiple households with this paper. Nevertheless it is important to recognize the
conventional PV installations were analyzed [4]. symmetric dc-link. The voltages V+ and V- show the same
The system is able to store energy from the sun into a absolute values within normal grid operation. In case of a
powerful li-ion battery and feed it to the household on blackout the optional operation mode (backup-mode) is
demand. The task of an energy management system (EMS) is enabled. Now, an active balancing of these voltages has to be
to decide, which energy direction is used. Most important done by an external unit. This island operation must be able
input parameters are the current PV power, current power to handle asymmetric loads that use only one half-wave of the
consumption of the household, state of charge (SOC) of the sinusoidal output voltage, i.e. hair dryer. Within the proposed
battery, grid availability and time. The depicted data shows system this balancing function is handled by the battery
negative injection during night, which represents the converter.
consumed energy from the grid. The handling of this project
is interdisciplinary, because on the one hand there are high
demands on the battery and on the other hand a sophisticated
system of power electronics is required in order to control all
energy flows [5]. Due to the actual regulations the actual
control software was modified to avoid any charging of the
battery from the grid.
High requirements concerning life-time of the li-ion battery
on cycling usage have to be handled. The influence of the
control strategy of such system has been analyzed and
optimized in previous publications [6].
Fig. 3. Topology of the PV-converter and the inverter: The battery converter
II. SYSTEM OVERVIEW is coupled to the symmetric DC link of the system (C2 and C3) [4]

The overall system to decouple the generation and the use The simulated topology of the battery converter is given in
of photovoltaic energy is shown in Fig. 2. The solar energy is Fig. 4. This converter is located between the battery and the
converted to electrical energy by the 5 kWp solar panel at the dc-link. It is particularly in the interest of research as this is
roof of the building. At first a dc-dc converter called the innovative component in comparison to existing
PV converter) boosts the voltage and realizes a maximum commercial home PV systems on the market. Additionally,
power point (MPP) tracking. The output of this converter is this converter has to allow bidirectional power flow to charge
connected to the dc-link capacitors of the system. This dc-link and discharge the battery. The selection of suitable topologies
is controlled via constant voltage regulation. The energy from led to a two-phase bidirectional non isolated buck-boost
the dc-link can feed the grid or the household loads via a dc- converter. The chosen topology has been optimized by means
ac inverter. Alternatively, this energy can be stored into the of simulations and the corresponding components have been
battery via a second dc-dc converter called battery converter, selected. During this process the efficiency as well as the high
when it is not needed at the moment. lifetime and reliability of the converter have been
emphasized. The voltage range of the li-ion battery pack is
L1
L2 rated between 168 V and 336 V, depending on the SOC and
L3
= = N on the size of the battery system. The energy of the battery is
specified to 5-7 kWh. The voltage-range of the dc-link is
= ~ settled from 600 V to 680 V. Therefore the bidirectional
PV modules PV converter inverter current converter operates as a buck converter when charging
the battery and as a boost converter while discharging. This is
= V+
taken into account when adjusting the control parameters.
= V-
IPh1 V+
battery battery converter domestic loads Vbat
IPh2 V-

Energy Management
System C+ V Load+
L1 Ph1_TOP Ph2_TOP Circuit for
A balancing
Fig. 2. Overall schematic of the system A V+ and V-
L2
V C- V Load-
The topology of the PV-converter and the inverter is Ph1_ BOT Ph2_BOT
shown in Fig. 3. This asymmetric boost converter topology is
Vbat
well known in one phase PV systems and not primary topic of Fig 4. Topology of the battery converter; left part: the two phase
bidirectional buck-boost converter, right part: the balancing topology
 III. CONTROL
The battery converter basically consists of a synchronous
buck converter with two phases and a balancing unit. In order
to minimize the current ripple and the volume of the
capacitors, the switching patterns of the IGBTs and therefore
the inductor currents of the two phases are 180° phase shifted.
The narrowed current ripple benefits also the electromagnetic
compatibility, when the battery pack is located in another
cabinet than the converter. Two IGBTs of a phase are driven
complementary. The switching patterns are created via pulse
width modulation according to the duty cycles.
The duty cycles are calculated by a cascaded control
structure that is depicted in Fig. 3. Due to the cascaded
control, disturbances that couple into the inner control loop
are also compensated by the inner PI regulator, which
increases the reaction time of the control. Additionally the
control structure offers an easy to implement current limiting
by clipping the reference current.
Depending on the deviation of the output voltage v, the
outer PI regulator sets the reference current iph, which is the
input of the inner control loop. The inner control loop
consists of two PI controllers that regulate the phase currents
corresponding to the reference current by adjusting the duty
cycles d1 and d2. Where the duty cycle d describes the on-time
of IGBT Stop at the ratio of the switching period TS = 1/fS. It
should be mentioned that each phase current is controlled by
a separate PI regulator, which ensures equal phase currents in
steady state, even when the inductances vary because of
temperature or age.
* *
v iph d1
PI PI
- -
v iph1 d2
PI
-
iph2
Fig. 5. Cascade control of the two phases: Outer voltage regulation and
inner current control loop with a separate PI-controller for each phase
To adjust the control parameters and to guarantee stable
operation in the complete working area, the transfer function
of the system has to be known. Because of the high switching
frequency (fS = 18 kHz) in comparison to the time constants
of the system, state space averaging is applied to obtain the
transfer function. A linear time invariant system can be
described with its state space equations [7].
r r r
x& (t ) = Ax (t ) + Bu (t )
r r r If the converter discharges the battery and therefore
y (t ) = Cx (t ) + Du (t )
For state-space averaging there are two sets of state
equations one for each switch configuration. Both sets of state
equations are weighted by a factor, according to the duration
the respective switching state is set.
r r
x& (t ) = [d ⋅ A1 + (1 − d ) ⋅ A 2 ]⋅ x (t )
r (3)
+ [d ⋅ B1 + (1 − d ) ⋅ B 2 ]⋅ u (t )
r r
y (t ) = [d ⋅ C 1 + (1 − d ) ⋅ C 2 ]⋅ x (t )
r (4)
+ [d ⋅ D 1 + (1 − d ) ⋅ D 2 ]⋅ u (t )
Where the matrices with the index “1” describe the system
in which Stop conducts and Sbot blocks. There again the
matrices with index “2” define the complementary switching
state.
Deriving the transfer functions, the operations as buck and
boost converter are treated separately, due to the different
reference inputs. Operating as buck converter and therefore
charging the battery the reference input of the controller is
either the battery voltage v* = vbat or the phase current iph* =
0.5·Icharge, depending on the charging strategy of the battery.
On the other hand during boost operation, when discharging
the battery, the reference input of the controller is the voltage
of the dc-link v* = vDC.
For operation as buck converter, the dc-link voltage is
assumed constant. Based on the equivalent circuit shown in
Fig. 6 the following transfer functions are derived.
(VDC / Lph ) ⋅ s
iL (s)
= 2 (5)
d ( s ) s + ( R´bat / Lph ) ⋅ s + 1 /( Lph C bat )
vbat ( s ) 1 / C bat + Rbat ⋅ s
= (6)
iL ( s) s
Stop
iL Lph
CDC vDC Rload
vbat Rbat
Sbot
Cbat
Fig. 6. Equivalent circuit diagram of the battery converter used for
derivation of transfer functions
MATLAB along with its control system toolbox is used to
analyze the transfer functions in order to find the optimum
control parameters of the PI regulators. By looking into the
Bode diagrams and step responses, a good trade-off between
settling time and overshot can be found. In order to reduce
effort in the practical implementation, the controllers are
(1) designed in the time-discrete z-domain directly.
(2)
operates as a boost converter, his transfer function will
become nonlinear. Due to the use of state space averaging the
transfer function is linearized in a certain operating point that
is defined by the duty cycle d.
 ∆i L ( s ) s ⋅ CDCVbat / d 3 + 2Vbat /( R´load d 3 ) 200
=− 2 (7) 100%⋅ P m ax

Magnitude (dB)
∆d ( s ) s ⋅ Lph CDC / d 2 + s ⋅ Lph /( R´load ⋅ d 2 ) + 1 100 0%⋅ P m ax
∆vDC ( s) − s ⋅ Lph /( Rload ⋅ d 2 ) + 1
= (8) 0
∆iL ( s) s ⋅ CDC / d + 2 /( R´load d )
-100
Plotting the transfer functions in Bode diagrams the worst- -180
case concerning a stable control can be determined. In Fig. 7 -225

Phase (deg)
transfer functions for different working points are shown. Due -270
to the higher magnitude and the phase drop at lower
-315
frequency the operation at lower duty cycle is more critical
regarding the stability of the closed loop controlled system. -360
1 2 3 4
Therefore to ensure stable control behavior in the entire area 10 10 10 10
of operations, the control parameters are designed for lowest Frequency (Hz)
duty cycle, which is Fig. 8. Transfer function v-(s)/d(s) of the balancing circuit considering
different output powers
V bat, min 168 V
d min = = ≈ 0.25 (9) As before the transfer function of the plant is converted via
V DC, max 680 V
sample and hold to a time-discrete domain. Thus the
controller could be designed directly in the z-domain. This
100
Magnitude (dB)

d=0.55 simplifies the implementation of the control by the digital

d=0.25 signal processor a lot. Furthermore, the influence on the
50 d=0.15 control due to the sampling is considered during the controller
design.
0 IV. Results
360
After the control structure has been designed based on
270 analytically derived transfer functions, it was implemented in
Phase (deg)

180 a digital signal processor (DSP). A picture of the 5 kW test

90
set-up is shown in Fig. 9. The three relays, visible in the front,
are used for soft start and isolation measurements. The IGBT
0 modules and a heat sink are mounted underneath. The
0 1 2 3 4
10 10 10 10 10 inductances of both phases can be seen in the back left.
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 7. Linearized transfer function ∆vDC(s)/∆d(s) of boost converter

operation for different duty cycles

Concerning the control of the balancing unit, a PID

controller instead of the cascaded control structure is used,
making a current sensor redundant. This will reduce the cost
and the dimension of a later commercialized product. The
behavior of the balancing circuit can be analyzed using state
space averaging as well, leading to the transfer function
showed in (10).

v− ( s ) s ⋅ VDC / (LC )
= 2 (10)
( )
d ( s ) s + s ⋅ Pout 2VDC 2C + 1 /(2 LC )

During the design of the PID parameters, different output

powers and output voltage levels has been considered. As an
example the Bode diagram of (10) for different output powers
Fig 9. Realized test set-up of the 5 kW battery converter
is depicted in Fig. 8.
 First experiments have been done with a power supply 350
replacing the battery and the load, which will be connected in 300
the real application. The power supply represents the battery

Outputvoltage (V)
250
and can be programmed to different set points, which
200
represent various SOCs. During these experiments the load is
given by a resistor. The combination of different high power 150
resistors enables the testing of several grid situations. This 100
test setup enables the characterization of the converter by 50 | V+| | V-|
applying all relevant operation points. Of curse, the same 0
measurement procedure could be chosen with swapped -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
positions of the source and the load. Time (ms)
The measured phase currents of the first and second phase
25
are depicted in Fig. 10. Note that the current is distributed to I I
both phases and that the average currents are equal due to 20 ph1 ph2

Phasecurrent (A)
separate current regulators. The phase shift of the currents 15
was realized by shifting the switching pattern of the IGBTs.
10
5
5
Iph1
Iph2 0
4
Phasecurrent (A)

-5
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
3 Time (ms)

Fig. 11. Measured start-up of the battery converter; desired reference output
2 voltage V+ = V- = 300 V

In the final step the efficiency of the battery converter shall

1
0 0.05 0.1
Time (ms)
Fig. 10. Measured current distribution in phase one and two
From control perspective, one of the most interesting
phases is the start-up of the battery converter. This is also
measured and the results are shown in Fig. 11. While there is
a great error of the output voltage, the voltage regulator sets
the highest possible reference phase current that is 15 A. This
output current is limited by the used IGBTs. The output
capacitors (dc-link) are charged and the output voltage
reached the desired level. During this phase, the reference
current is continuously lowered by the voltage regulator in
order to feed the load. It should be noted that after the
currents disperse at first, the two PI current regulators secure
a common current distribution in the phases. The first
disperse is probably based on electrical tolerances. These
tolerances are especially based on the discrete inductors. A
cheap production of the whole system was one of the
optimization goals, which means control software is usually
cheaper than more exact hardware components.
0.15 be analyzed. The results of the measurement depicted in
Fig. 12 show that the efficiency is greater than 94 % in a wide
operation area. When the battery voltage level drops the
efficiency decreases significantly. A lower voltage at same
power level causes higher phase currents. Higher phase
currents result in higher conduction losses. At lower power
ratings the transmission of reactive power impairs the
efficiency. While a conventional buck or rather boost
converter would run in discontinuous conduction mode
(DCM), the inductor current becomes partially negative. This
produces higher losses in comparison to the DCM. In
simulation a modified control strategy that allows operation in
DCM has already been implemented. This is mainly achieved
by not triggering certain IGBTs. The modified control
strategy should allow an increase of the efficiency at partial
load [8].
The actual efficiency values suggest that the overall system
efficiency is sufficient for first economical applications. In the
actual project phase all components have been tested and
integrated. The roll-out of the field test units have already
started.
 VIII. REFERENCES
98
[1] Deutscher Bundestag, „Gesetz zur Neuregelung des Rechts der
erneuerbaren Energien im Strombereich und zur Änderung damit
96 zusammenhängender Vorschriften“, Bundesgesetzblatt 2008
[2] M. Braun, K. Büdenbender, D. Magnor, A. Jossen; “Photovoltaic
Self-consumption in Germany – Using Lithium-ion storage to Increase Self-
94 Consumed Photovoltaic Energy”, 24th EU PVSEC, Hamburg, September
Efficiency (%)

2009
92 [3] J.C. Marcel, G. Olivier, M.Robert, J.F. Cousseau, M. Lippert, A.
Vial-Collet; “Grid Connected PV Systems with Lithium-Ion Batteries energy
Storage for Daily Guaranteed Energy During Peak Power Time: Results and
90 Conclusions from Guadeloupe Field Tests” , 24th EU PVSEC, Hamburg,
V = 336 V September 2009
bat
Vbat = 250 V [4] Internal documentation: voltwerk electronics GmbH
88
[5] M. Dittmer, A.U. Schmiegel, J.F. Cousseau, M. Lippert; “Self
V = 168 V Consumption: Demand Driven Integrated PV-System with Lithium-Ion
bat
86 Batteries for Storage to Boost Self Consumption”, 24th EU PVSEC,
0 1000
2000 3000 4000 5000 Hamburg, September 2009
Inputpower (W) [6] D. Magnor, J.B. Gerschler, M. Ecker, P. Merk, D.U. Sauer; “Concept
Fig. 12. Efficiency map of the battery converter for different power and of a Battery Aging Model for Lithium-Ion Batteries Considering the Lifetime
battery voltage levels Dependency on the Operation Strategy”, 24th EU PVSEC, Hamburg,
September 2009
V. CONCLUSION [7] A. Oliva, S. Ang, and G. Bortolotto, “Digital control of a voltage-
mode synchronous buck converter,” Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions
The temporal decoupling of the generation and injection of on, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 157 – 163, jan. 2006.
energy to the grid will be a more and more discussed topic [8] D. Hirschmann, S. Richter, C. Dick, and R. W. De Doncker,
with the increasing amount of renewable energy on the “Unified control strategy covering ccm and dcm for a synchronous buck
converter,” in Applied Power Electronics Conference, APEC 2007 – Twenty
market. This paper proposes a system that reaches these Second Annual IEEE, feb. 2007, pp. 489 –494.
goals. Nevertheless, the handling of energy in private homes [9] M. Braun, K. Büdenbender, T. Stetz, U. Thomas; “Activation of
needs to be analyzed in more detail. A sensitizing of the user Energy Management in Households – The Novel Local Consumption Tariff
as well as a predictive control strategy can help to save for PV-Systems and its Influence on Low Voltage Distribution Grids”, ETG
Conference on Smart Grids 2009, Düsseldorf, October 2009
energy [9], [10]. [10] M. Braun, K. Büdenbender; “Self-Consuming Photovoltaic Energy
Additional functionality like backup-mode makes such a in Germany – Impact on Energy Flows, Business Cases, and the Distribution
system also interesting in countries with weak grid structure. Grid”, 4th IRES, Berlin, November 2009
New business cases have to refinance the expensive li-ion
battery.
The development and design of the system was shown
from the system perspective. Afterwards, the implementation
and control of the battery converter, which is the innovative
component, was given in more detail. Measurements proof
the concept and show an attractive efficiency above 97 %.

VI. OUTLOOK
The realization of a product development in direct
accordance to the results of the presented research is in
progress. A small pilot-run series is going to realize 50
devices in Guadeloupe and France as well as 25 devices in
Germany. Due to this strategy it will be possible to record and
accumulate real operation data. The acquired measurement
data will also be used to further optimize the models.

VII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The project is promoted by the German Federal Ministry
for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
and the French ministère de l'Économie des Finances et de
l'Emploi.

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