1st Power Electronic & Drive Systems & Technologies Conference
Quasi Z-source Inverter for Photovoltaic System
Connected to Single Phase AC Grid
M. Shahparasti, Student Member, A. Sadeghi Larijani, Student Member, IEEE, A. Fatemi,
A. Yazdian Varjani, Member, IEEE and M. Mohammadian , Member, IEEE,
Abstract- A novel photovoltaic system based on quasi Z­
source inverter (qZSI) which is connected to a single phase grid is
proposed in this paper. Quasi Z-source inverter is a recently
developed topology derived from Z-source inverter (ZSI). qZSI is
a one-stage power conditioner that employs a capacitor-inductor
network for connecting inverter to photovoltaic module. By
means of controlling shoot-through duty cycle, the objective of
tracking maximum power point can be accomplished.
comparison with ZSI, qZSI benefits some prominent privileges
such as lower component ratings and source constant dc current.
In this paper, through introducing an appropriate
structure, qZSI is used for connecting photovoltaic system to
single phase grid. In the control structure, maximum power with
unit power factor and low THD current is delivered to grid by
controlling modulation index via PIS controller. Presuming
voltage stabilization, the amount of power delivered to grid is
regulated through the use of controller of qZSI capacitor voltage.
qZSI is also utilized to control the shoot-through duty cycle in
order to achieve maximum power point tracking
Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the competence of
the system.
Index Terms-- Quasi Z-source inverter, Photovoltaic system,
Single phase grid, Maximum power point tracking.
I. INTRODUCTION
Henvironmental issues are among the reasons the use of
igh price and impermanency of fossil fuels along with
renewable energy sources especially solar energy has
experienced rapid growth. On the other side, cost and size
reduction plus output power enhancement are some of
challenges confront solar energy systems.
Characteristic V-I curve of a PV array is nonlinear and
varies according to insolation and array temperature.
Furthermore, there is just one operating point in which
maximum solar power is delivered by PV array. This point is
called MPP (Maximum Power Point). Thus, an MPPT
controller is required to track the maximum power point. The
conventional MPPT methods are generally categorized into the
perturbation and observation (P&O) methods [1], incremental
conductance methods [2-4], methods based on artificial neural
network and fuzzy logic [5, 6], fractional open-circuit voltage,
The authors are with Power Electronic and Protection Laboratory (PEP
Lab.), Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering Tarbiat Modares
University, P.O.Box.l411S-143, Tehran, Iran. (e-mails: mshahparasti
@yahoo.com, alisadeghU@yahoo.com, alireza.fatemi@gmail.com, yazdian
@modares.ac.ir, mohamadian@modares.ac.ir)
978-1-4244-5971-1/101$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
fractional short-circuit current and RCC.
Conventional configuration for connecting a PV array to
grid is a combination of a DC/DC converter and an inverter
which is shown in Fig.I. DCIDC converter can act as a buck
or boost converter. Two functions should be considered in the
control system, tracking the maximum power point and
providing constant voltage for inverter. The function of
In inverter is delivering power to grid. Use of this configuration
imposes some drawbacks that increased price, reduced
efficiency and complicated control system are among them. To
control
eliminate aforementioned drawbacks, various single stage
converters are proposed for connecting PV array to grid so far.
Z-source inverter is a single stage converter suitable for
photovoltaic applications since it is capable of boosting
voltage and delivering power in a single stage structure. In [7]
it is used for connecting PV to a single phase grid, in [8] it is
employed as an intermediary stage between PV and three­
(MPPT).
phase grid and in [9] it is implemented for standalone
operation of PV. Recently, new topologies of quasi Z-source
inverter obtained from Z-source inverter are offered in [10].
One of these is voltage fed quasi Z-source inverter that has
some privileges compared to conventional Z-source inverter: i)
Power ratings of required components is reduced ii) Current
drawn from DC supply is continuous. In [11] this topology is
employed in a three-phase standalone photovoltaic system.
However, this configuration is not used in a PV system
connected to grid.
�Grid
�
Fig.I. conventional method for grid connected PV
This paper investigates a photovoltaic system based on
quasi Z-source inverter which is connected to a single phase
grid. Critical conductance method is used here for the purpose
of MPPT.
In the following sections, applied method of maximum power
point tracking and analysis of qZSI will be discussed.
Simulation results are provided in last section which proves
the proposed model.
II. CONFIGURATION OF THE PROPOSED STRUCTURE
Fig. 5 illustrates the proposed design. It consists of a PV
array and a quasi Z-source inverter which is connected to grid
through an inductor. In following subsections, structure of
456
 . M . Vin
quasi Z-source inverter and the incremental conductance
algorithm for MPPT are provided, respectively. Vac = B (3)

A. Single phase quasi Z-source inverter Where M is the modulation index.

The traditional voltage fed Z-source inverter and the novel
voltage fed quasi Z-source inverter are depicted in Fig.2.a and
Fig.2.b, respectively.
The same as conventional ZSI, qZSI operates in two modes
at the dc-side: i) shoot-through state and ii) non-shoot-through
state
Switching vectors of a typical VSI are two active and two
zero vectors. ZSI and qZSI also employ shoot through vector,
in which both switches of any phase leg are conducting. Shoot
In qZSI, the ac output voltage may be controlled by
regulating modulation index along with shoot-through-state
duty cycle. Fig.3 describes a straightforward method for
controlling boost factor in qZSI. In this method Usc and -Usc
are used as short circuit references. When the carrier signal is
higher than Usc or lower than -Usc , a short circuit vector will
be produced. Usc is equal to (4).
To
Usc =l-y
(4)

r-- r-
through vector provides the inverter with voltage boost
capability and makes it feasible to generate a desired ac output Usc --- /-t-------f.J -- ---,Hr------I-4,

even in the presence of DC bus variation.

Two major differences between ZSI and qZSI are (1) the
qZSI draws a continuous constant dc current from the source
while the ZSI draws a discontinuous current and (2) the
voltage on capacitor C2 is greatly reduced. Continuous -Usc 4-1--.o::::::+f--1..L-4+--O:::::::
: +I--JJ�
:
constant DC current makes qZSI appropriate for PV
applications.
D
To AC Load

Fig.3. switching scheme of lSI

Fig.2.a. voltage fed lSI B. Incremental Conductance Algorithm for MPPT

As mentioned before, the algorithm used here for MPPT is

incremental conductance. The incremental conductance
To AC Load method [9] is based on the fact that the slope of the PV array
power curve is zero at the MPP, positive on the left side, and
negative on the right side, as it is given by (5).

dP IdV =0, at MPP

dP I dV >0, left of MPP (5)

Fig.2.b. voltage fed qlSI

dP I dV < 0, right of MPP

Assuming that Tl, TO and T are switching period, shoot­
through duty cycle, and non-shoot-through duty cycle, Since
following equations are obtained for qZSI:
dPI dV = d(JV) I dV =1 +V(dI I dV) =1 +VM I L1V (6)
TI
Vc 1-
----V·In (5) can be rewritten as
TI-TO
(1)
TO
Vc2 = ---V in
M I L1V =-I1V, at MPP

TI-TO
M I L1V >-1 IV, left of MPP (7)
The peak dc-link voltage across the inverter bridge is:
M I L1V < -I IV, right of MPP

vPN =
Vcl + Vc2 =
T
1J. -TO
__ Vf n --k- Vfn
=

1 __0
=
B·Vfn (2) The MPP can thus be tracked by comparing the
instantaneous conductance (IN) to the incremental
T '
conductance (L1I1L1V ) as shown in the flowchart in Fig. 4. v pv
Where B is the boost factor of the qZSI. is the reference voltage at which the PV array is forced to
Output amplitude of a single phase inverter can be operate.
calculated using (3).

457
 The objectives of a PV system connected to grid are
converting the power of PV module from dc to ac and
injecting it to the grid. To accomplish these, a two loop control
system is employed which includes an interior loop for current
and power factor control and an exterior loop for controlling
ZSI capacitor voltage as well as the power injected to grid [8].
A. Voltage controller of qZSI capacitor

If qZSI capacitor voltages drop excessively, modulation index

will not be able to restore preferred ac output. This will cause
harmonic in the current injected to grid. On the other hand,
excessive increasing in capacitor voltage, may damage
capacitors and/or switches of the inverter bridge; hence there
is a need to an outer voltage control loop for regulation and
stabilization of qZSI capacitor voltages. Because of the direct
relationship between voltages of qZSI capacitors, by
controlling one voltage, the other one will be regulated
automatically.
Since capacitor voltages have a direct relation with output
power of a PV array, output power adjustment will be also
achieved by capacitor voltages regulation. A PI controller is
Ipll-M) = I"v(t)
used for that purpose. Voltage of C1 is compared with a
Vpll-M) = Vplt)
command value to obtain the current reference.

B. Current control interior loop

Fig.4. Incremental conductance algorithm
III. CONTROL STRUCTURE
Control structure is shown in Fig.5. It consists of two parts; (1)
power point tracking and (2) controlling the power delivered
to grid. As Fig.5 shows, after determining the voltage of
maximum power point, short circuit signal Usc can be
computed by using (8). Then it is employed in MPPT.
In order to inject a current with unity power factor to grid,
sinusoidal current tracker controller is used. When qZSI
capacitor voltages are stabilized, ac current can be controlled
by modifying the modulation index of voltage reference (M).
To be assured of that, a PI sinusoidal controller (PIS) with
equation (9) is employed.
(9)

where 0)=21[*f.
(8)
Utilizing this controller leads to a lower THD in the current
injected to grid [12].

J�
qZSI-PWM

Fig.5. control structure of proposed mathod

458
 150

IV. SIMULATION

To verify the proposed system, a PV array connected through

a ImH inductor to a grid is simulated. PV array and inverter
parameters are shown in Tables I and II, respectively. The grid
voltage and frequency are respectively 110V and 50 Hz. Solar
radiation is assumed to be 1000W/m2.
\ J
In Fig.6 output voltage of PV system is displayed. It can be
seen that the voltage of maximum power is followed properly \/
-150 v

with negligible error. 0.15 0.2 0.25

To prove the effectiveness of system operation in delivering time[s)

Fig.S. Injected current to the grid and grid voltage
maximum power with unity power factor, PV array output
power and inverter injected current to grid are presented in
Fig.7 and Fig.8. F damental (50Hz) = 19.86 , THD= 3.62%

Fig.9 demonstrates the low THD of output current. As it can 'iij0.6

be seen from qZSI capacitor C I voltage waveform in Fig.10, C
Q)

E
capacitor voltage is appropriately regulated.
0.4
'"
§
TABLEI u..

PARAMETERS OF PV ARRAY IN NOMINAL SOLAR RADIAnON (I OOOW1M2) o

�O.2
Imp IS.22A '"
'"
::;:

Vmp IO S.2V
o 200 400 600 BOO 1000
Pmax,e 1601.144W Frequency (Hz)
Fig.9. Frequency spectra of qZSI inverter output current
TABLEII
PARAMETERS OF QZSI NETWORK 200 ,
------�----�--�----�--r

L 2mH
C 2200uF 150

50

&
'"

�
,..
60 o -----�----
� o 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

lime[second]
"
"
40
Fig.lO. qZSI CI voltage
20

0
V. CONCLUSIONS

timers] In this paper, a novel photovoltaic system based on quasi Z­

Fig.6. PV array output voltage source inverter (qZSI) and connected to a single phase grid
was introduced. qZSI principles of operation was surveyed and
1600 an appropriate control structure was suggested for application
'" 1400
of qZSI as power conditioner in a PV connected to the single
� phase grid. The control method employs two control loops for
" 1200
.� injecting maximum power with unity power factor, low current
"% 1000
�c THO, and qZSI capacitor voltage regulation. It utilizes shoot­
800.
0: through duty cycle for PV maximum power point tracking.
'& This system injects the PV power to the grid with a single
c
� stage, therefore the cost is reduced and the efficiency is
"-
increased. The qZSI also, compared to the conventional ZSI,
0- has advantages of continuous input current, reduced source
o 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

time[s)
stress, and lower component ratings.
Fig.7. PV array output power

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[1]
VI. REFERENCES
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[3] K. Kobayashi, 1. Takano, and Y. Sawada, "A study on a two stage
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[5] M. Veerachary, T. Senjyu, and K. Uezato, "Neural -network -based
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Electron., vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 749-758, Aug. 2003.
[6] L. Zhang, Y. Bai, and A. Al-Amoudi, "GA-RBF neural network based
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18-23, 2002.
[7] P. Xu, X. Zhang, C. Zhang, R. X. Cao and Liuchen Chang, "Study of Z­
Source Inverter for Grid Connected PV Systems, " Power Electronics
SpeCialists Conference, pp. 1-5, 2006.
[8] Y. Huang, M. Shen and F. Z. Peng, "A Z-Source Inverter for Residential
Photovoltaic Systems, " IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol.
21, no. 6, pp. 1776 - 1782, 2006.
[9] R. Badin, Y. Huang, F. Z. Peng, K.H. Geun, " Grid Interconnected Z­
Source PV System ", IEEE Power Electronics SpeCialists Conference
(PESC), pp.2328 - 2333, 2007.
[10] 1. Anderson, F.l. Peng, "Four Quasi-Z-Source Inverters, " in Proc. IEEE
PESC'08, Rhodes, Greece, June 2008.
[11] Y. Li, 1. Anderson, F. Z. Peng, D. Liu, " Quasi-Z-Source Inverter for
Photovoltaic Power Generation Systems ", in Proc. IEEE PESC'09,
2009.
[12] S. Fukuda,T. Yoda,"A Novel Current-Tracking Method for Active
Filters Based on a Sinusoidal Internal Model", IEEE Trans. on Industry
Applications, vol. 37, no. 3, pp.888-895, MAY/JUNE 2001.
Mahdi Shahparasti was born in Iran, in 1981. He
received the B.S. degree from Birjand University,
Khorasan, Iran, in 2007. He is currently pursuing the
M.S. degree at Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran,
Iran. His current research is on UPS, parallel
inverters, DG and motor drives.
I•
.• • ' . ..
A1ireza Fatemi was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1986.
He graduated from Shiraz University of Technology
(SUTECH) in 2008 and is currently continuing his
education in the field of electrical engineering in
. Tarbiat Modares University. His main interests
. ./
. , consist of control and design power converters,
multilevel inverters and UPS systems.
Ali Yazdian Varjani received the B.S. degree from
the Sharif University of Technology in 1989 and
M.Eng and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Wollongong, Australia, in 1995 and
1999 respectively. He was employed from 1988 to
1990 as an Elec. and Compo Engineer by Electric
Power Research Centre, Tehran, Iran. From 1990 to
1992 he was employed as an Electrical Engineer and
then as Senior Engineer by Ministry of Energy where he gained considerable
industrial experience primarily in computer and power systems engineering.
From 1999 -2000 Ali was the Technical Manager of Iran University Network
project in Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology
(JROST). From 2001 -2004 he was involved in strategic planning for
information and Communication Technology (ICT) development in Iran
Telecom Research Centre (ITRC) as senior consultant. Since 1999, he has
been with Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, as an Assistant Professor
at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His other major
research activity is in the area of digital signal processing applicable in
harmonics (power quality) and power electronics based drive systems.
Current academic interests include a variety of research issues associated with
the "information and communication technology" including internet enabled
services, ad hoc networking, network security and control.
Mustafa Mohamadian (M'04) received the B.S.
degree in electrical engineering from AmirKabir
University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 1989
and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from
Tehran University, Tehran, Iran, in 1992 and his
Ph.D. degree (1997) in electrical engineering,
specializing in power electronics and motor drives,
from University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. Since
2005, he has been with Tarbiat Modares University,
Tehran, Iran, as an Assistant Professor at the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Dr. Mohamadian's main research interests include modeling, analysis,
design, and control of power electronic converters/systems and motor drives.
His area of interest also includes embedded software development for
automation, motion control and condition monitoring of industrial systems
with microcontrollers and DSPs.

Ali Sadeghi Larijani (S'09) was born in Amol, Iran,

in 1981. He received the B.S. degree in electrical
engineering from the K.N.Toosi University of
Technology (KNTU), Tehran, Iran, in 2006. He is
currently pursuing the M.S. degree in electrical
engineering at Tarbiat Modarres University (TMU),
Tehran, Iran. His current research is on multilevel
inverters and motor drives.

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