Technology Outline (Process Description)

To meet the increasing demand in renewable integration, there has been a significant surge in installation of roof-top PV systems. Typically, for roof-top integration, several PV panels are connected in series while supplying an inverter. This inverter is known as a String Inverter. However, series connection of PV panels reduces the power output during partial shading condition. A Micro-inverter processes the solar power from a few PV panels; thus, improving the power shading performance. Few PV panels lead to a lower terminal voltage. Lower input voltage of a Micro-inverter leads to lower power rating in order to limit the input current. Also, lower input voltage will require the micro-inverter to have high gain property. Current-Fed Switched Inverter (CFSI) is a high gain micro-inverter topology suitable for applications which have limited input DC source voltage. A very high step-up ratio between AC output and DC input along with inherent shoot-through protection makes it suitable for Micro-inverter inverter applications. As the power rating increases higher voltage gain leads to higher input current. This results in significant conduction loss in the converter thereby reducing the efficiency of the system. In this project, a novel n module interleaved topology for CFSI (ICFSI) is proposed to augment its power rating in an efficient manner.