School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
PhD Final Oral Defense
A Single-Phase Current Source Solar Inverter with Constant Instantaneous Power,
Improved Reliability, and Reduced-Size DC-Link Filter
by
Craig R. Bush
October 21, 2013
9:30 AM
GWC-487
Committee:
Dr. Raja Ayyanar
Dr. Lina Karam
Dr. Gerald Heydt
Dr. George Karady
Abstract
This comprehensive examination presents a novel current source converter topology that
is primarily intended for single-phase photovoltaic (PV) applications. In comparison
with the existing PV inverter technology, the salient features of the proposed topology
are: a) the low frequency (double of line frequency) ripple that is common to single-phase
inverters is greatly reduced; b) the absence of low frequency ripple enables significantly
reduced-size pass components to achieve necessary DC-link stiffness and c) improved
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) performance is readily achieved due to the
tightened current ripple even with reduced-size passive components. This work presents
the proposed topology and its working principle supported by numerical verifications and
hardware results. Conclusions and future work are also presented.