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Solar Based Inverter Design: A Brief Review

Chapter in Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering · January 2020

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-0626-0_36

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Solar Based Inverter Design: A Brief
Review

A. Vishwitha and Anil Kumar Bhat

Abstract Agriculture is one of the highly contributing sectors of Indian economy.

Successful agriculture mainly depends on availability of water, fertilizer and seeds.
Ever-increasing energy demand and the depletion of fossil fuels have lead to research
on the use of renewable energy in agriculture. An inverter converts DC voltage into
AC voltage. Solar-powered inverters are capable of reducing the dependency on
electricity supply and are capable of working in hybrid mode. This paper reviews
some of the work carried out related to different types of inverter design. Out of
the various inverter architecture like Square wave, Quasi sine wave and Sine wave,
the Sine wave inverter provides the best efficiency and low harmonic noise. MPPT
control is required to have a better power efficiency in PV panel, and Perturb and
Observe method is best suited in terms of cost and simplicity. Compared to MOSFET,
IGBT offers easier drive control and better efficiency. FPGA/Microcontroller-based
design provides reprogrammability and ensures reliable design.

Keywords PWM · Boost converters · MPPT technique · Perturb and observe

method · Incremental conductance method · HERIC · IGBTs · LC filter

1 Introduction

Agriculture is one of the highly contributing sectors of Indian economy. It is the

primary source of livelihood for a majority of India’s population. Agriculture is the
profession which is very close to the nature. Successful agriculture depends on farm-
ers having adequate access to water, fertilizer and seeds. Inadequate water supply
leads to crop crash. Irrigation issues are of two types. One is due to unavailability of
water, and the other is due to unavailability of means to supply water to the field. So,
good modern techniques in irrigation can help the farmers to increase their produce

A. Vishwitha (B) · A. K. Bhat

Department of ECE, NMAM Institute of Technology, Nitte, India
e-mail: [email protected]
A. K. Bhat
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 463
S. Kalya et al. (eds.), Advances in Communication, Signal Processing, VLSI,
and Embedded Systems, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 614,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0626-0_36

[email protected]
464 A. Vishwitha and A. K. Bhat

and also income. Motor pumps are used for irrigation. Electric motors are precisely
selected for size, application, performance and maintenance to ensure efficiency. AC
and DC motors are generally adopted for irrigation purpose. AC motors are more
common and best suited for the applications where the power performance is required
for extended periods. AC motor uses both inverter and converter. An inverter is basi-
cally a converter that converts DC to AC power. As the demand for better inverters
has surfaced, there has been a lot of progress in the inverter design and technol-
ogy. Currently, inverters find multiple uses and applications in ensuring DC to AC
conversion. The renewable resources have a massive potential for the agriculture
industry. Hence for the sustainable agriculture, there is a need for encouraging the
use of renewable energy systems. As compared with a diesel generator set, the under-
ground submersible solar photovoltaic (PV) water pump is an environmental friendly
and economically feasible option. Their costs have gone down, and their efficien-
cies have gone up. To utilize the naturally obtainable solar energy, solar inverters
are introduced. In addition, solar inverters are eco-friendly since the solar panels
produce power without waste or emission. Solar-based irrigation tends to use DC
motors. Although it is an effective device, the cost becomes prohibitive factor as the
farmer has to install a complete new setup. In order to incur less cost and utilization of
existing pumps, we can use solar-based inverter to drive power. This paper presents
a review on different approaches for the solar inverter designs.

2 Literature Review

A lot of literature is available for solar power harvesting and inverter design. Here, an
attempt has been made to identify the different design aspects, comparison between
different architecture and to draw a conclusion on a strategy that is best suited for
designing a solar-based inverter which is cost effective and efficient.
Different types of power inverters are discussed in [1]. The types include current
source and voltage source inverters, stand-alone grid-tied inverters, square, modified
sine and sine wave inverters. Open loop strategy is used for the MATLAB simulation
of the different types of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) inverter. Brief explanation
of battery, charge controller and the PV array is presented. Maximum Power Point
Tracking (MPPT) algorithm is used to track the maximum power from the solar
array. A comparison of different PWM techniques on the basis of cost, size, type of
load and application is presented. Among the inverter types, grid-tied microinverter
has been considered as the efficient one. The MPPT ensures maximum power from
each individual PV panel.
A design of single-phase grid-tied PV inverter is presented in [2]. For the imple-
mentation of MPPT technique, a boost converter is used, which provides the max-
imum power from the PV array. By using the Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation
(SPWM) technique with Proportional Integral (PI) controller, the current injected
into the grid is controlled. MATLAB Simulink is used for simulation, and the results

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Solar Based Inverter Design: A Brief Review 465

for diverse cases are presented. In the paper, the grid-tied system is proved to be the
best under different test conditions.
Design of a single-phase PV inverter without galvanic isolation is presented in
[3]. The output from the PV array is fed to the DC to DC boost converter. By using
MPPT control technique, the gate pulse of the IGBT of boost converter is controlled.
In order to efficiently convert the DC into AC, the boosted output is given to the
Highly Efficient and Reliable Inverter Concept (HERIC) inverter. The large number
of switches in the HERIC inverter in turn leads to higher complexity. To reduce
the leakage current, the idea of HERIC configuration is presented in the paper. The
analysis and verification of the simulation are done using MATLAB.
A single-phase inverter with improved control strategy is presented in [4]. The
Multiple Pulse Width Modulation (MPWM) is used as a control unit, which provides
the output waveform with reduced harmonic content. Microcontroller 8051 is used
to provide the triggering pulse, and this reduces the circuit complexity. For the har-
monic analysis, the simulation of power circuit is done in MATLAB. Different load
conditions are included and for the high-current inductive load, snubber parameters
are calculated.
A single-phase photovoltaic pure sine wave inverter with less harmonic distortion
is presented in [5]. The energy from the PV panel is converted into regulated DC
and fed to the inverter. The PIC16F876 microcontroller provides SPWM for the
MOSFET driver. The output of the inverter is detected by the sensor and fed to the
microcontroller. The compensation voltage is provided by the microcontroller for
any lag in the pre-set value. The result is highly accurate since it uses closed loop.
The output waveform is the distorted sine wave. Therefore, LC filter is introduced to
eliminate the harmonic interference. The design includes a transformer at the output
to ensure minimum eddy current loss. The objective of an efficient inverter with less
harmonic distortion and low cost is achieved here.
Design and real-time implementation of single-phase sine wave inverter is pre-
sented in [6]. SPWMs are generated by using PIC24F microcontroller. The SPWM
simulation is carried out in MPLAB and implementation in Proteus. The isolation
circuit uses TLP250 gate drivers for MOSFETs. For every test, the LCD displays the
voltage, current and the delivered power to the load. Mainly, the PIC microcontroller
used in the circuit avoids the drawbacks of the analog circuits. The design makes the
circuit efficient for resistive load.
A single-phase inverter design with new control method called Artificial Fish
Swarm Algorithm (AFSA) is discussed in [7]. The Perturb and Observe algorithm
is generally used in MPPT method for control because it is easy and simple to
implement. But the control is not precise. Therefore, to provide a better control
AFSA is used. AFSA has the advantage of providing strong optimization and speedy
dynamic response, and thus increasing the PV efficiency. In the paper, AFSA control
method is compared with the Perturbation and observation method by the simulation.
A design of single-phase inverter with numerical control method based on
ATmega32 is presented in [8]. The microcontroller-based control technique generally
reduces the harmonics. For the generation of PWM signals, ATmega32 microcon-
troller is used. The main aim is to provide the alternative for conventional method

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466 A. Vishwitha and A. K. Bhat

with fewer harmonics and also to provide the dead-time control. The dead-time period
must be proper in order to avoid the damage to the switches. To obtain the desired
analog value, LC filter circuit is included.
The paper [9] gives the design of three-phase sine inverter with 12 V DC source.
DC to DC converter is used to convert the source voltage into the desired high voltage
level, i.e., 565.6 V. The circuit is designed to generate appropriate pulses to switch the
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs). The PWM voltage is then fed to three-
phase LC circuit to generate the desired sinusoidal waveform. The circuit simulation
is done using PSIM software.
The design and implementation of firing circuit for a three-phase PWM inverter
is given in [10]. PWM signals are used to reduce the harmonics in the output. The
phase shift circuit for single phase and three phases is discussed in the paper. Also,
the paper summarizes the challenges of the design and modifications needed to meet
the requirements, and the demonstration circuit for the PWM generation that can be
used in the application like inverter.
A three-phase voltage source inverter design using 500 V DC as the input is
presented in [11]. SPWM technique provides the easier implementation of the design.
The harmonics that is caused from the PWM is eliminated by Selective Harmonic
Elimination (SHE) technique. SHE is based on reverse harmonic injection, and it
mainly eliminates the lower order harmonics from an output. The paper presents
the calculation of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) for different order harmonics
and then the opposite harmonics are injected. The disordered resultant sine wave is
compared with triangular wave, and the gate pulses are produced. The simulation is
carried out by using MATLAB.
Design and implementation of driver circuit for three-phase inverter by using
microcontroller ATmega16 is presented in [12]. The microcontroller reduces the
circuit complexity. The design includes regulated power supply, microcontroller,
isolation circuit and voltage source inverter. In the design, H-bridge is fed with
12 V DC supply. Depending on the load, MOSFET drives the high voltage and
current. Optocoupler is used as an isolation device between the microcontroller and
H-bridge. A fuse is connected to protect the component from over current. In the
proposed design, output frequency of the inverter can be changed without changing
the hardware. The design can be easily adopted for the applications like elevators
and induction motors.
A design of three-phase inverter with MPPT and V /f control is discussed in [13].
The design uses solar energy as an alternative to electricity. Perturb and Observe and
Incremental conductance methods of MPPT are used to ensure the maximum power
from the PV array. The pumping system is fed with the maximum power from PV
array. V /f control is provided instead of sensor control. In V /f control system, the
Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) signals are fed to the pump. The PWM signals are
generated by using dsPIC30F2010 microcontroller. The constant torque is generated
by maintaining a constant V /f ratio. In the prototype, ten solar panels are arranged
in series to provide MPPT to PV pump.
Three-phase micro inverter design with phase skipping control technique is pre-
sented in [14]. Generally, because of the variable weather conditions, the output of

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Solar Based Inverter Design: A Brief Review 467

the PV panel varies. This affects the micro inverter operation. The phase skipping
control is used to improve the light load efficiency. The control method is applied
at the DC-AC stage of the Half-Bridge Inverter. Based on the available power from
the PV panel, the selective power is injected and is monitored through the microcon-
troller. The main objective of the design is to achieve the increase in the efficiency
of the inverter at light loads.
The design of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based PV inverter with
SPWM control mechanism is discussed in [15]. MPPT controller is used to get the
maximum power from the PV array. The control algorithm is implemented in FPGA,
which provides speedy computation and reprogramming ability. FPGA plays a key
role in reducing the hardware requirements and hence cost and is also a better alter-
native to the microcontroller system. In the paper, SPWM technique is used, which
is designed using VHDL and implemented on Spartan 3A DSP FPGA. The power
analysis is carried out for different frequencies to ensure the maximum efficiency.

3 Summary and Observations

From the reviewed literature, we can classify the inverters into three main types based
on the output namely Square, Modified sine and Sine wave inverters. Square wave
inverters produce a square wave output and can be designed to operate with feedback
and without feedback. As the output is square wave, this type of inverter is noisy
and has a lot of harmonic distortion. This inverter topology is small in size and cost
effective. The feedback topology allows controlling of voltage and frequency and
hence can give better THD performance. If used with pumps or motors, this can cause
heating effect. Modified sine wave inverters’ output is a multilevel signal with abrupt
rise and fall in voltage at specific phase angle. This offers better noise performance
than square wave inverters but is more costly. Motor efficiency reduces when running
with this inverter. Pure sine wave inverters produce a sinusoidal waveform with
smooth rise and fall in the voltage and phase angle. It is suitable for nearly all type
of loads. AC motors can run efficiently with pure sine wave inverter. This design is
bulky as it requires LC filters and is also costly.
To obtain the maximum power from the PV array, MPPT technique is used. A
brief summary of different MPPT methods obtained through the literature review is
provided here. In constant voltage method, initially reference voltage (V ref ) is set, and
the PV panel voltage is determined. The panel operates at the Maximum Power Point
(MPP) when the panel voltage is equal to V ref . In case, panel voltage is greater or
lesser than V ref , then the error signal is used to change the duty cycle. Implementation
of this method is simple but not accurate. In constant current method, initially the
short circuit current (I sc ) is measured and is multiplied with current factor (M c ) to
obtain MPP current (I mp ). At fixed I mp value, the power is measured for different
values of voltages. The difference between the computed power and the peak power

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468 A. Vishwitha and A. K. Bhat

is compared with the tolerance value. If it is larger, then depending on the obtained
power, the value of voltage is either decremented or incremented. Until the difference
is equal to the tolerance value, the process is repeated. This is one of the fastest
methods, but it is difficult to choose the optimum value for current factor. In Perturb
and Observe method, initially the voltage and current values are set and then the
power from the array is calculated. Then, the power corresponding to the perturbed
voltage value is measured and is compared with the previous value of the power. If
the resultant power is greater than the previous value, then the system is perturbed in
the same direction by changing the duty cycle. Otherwise, the system is perturbed in
the opposite direction. This method is simple and accurate. Incremental conductance
method of MPPT uses source incremental conductance to track MPP. Initially, the
operating current and voltage are measured from the PV array. By comparing the
most recent voltage and current values with the previous values, the incremental
changes in the voltage and current are measured. Then, the conductance and the
differential conductance values are compared. If both the values are equal, then
the system operates at MPP, and there is no need to change the operating voltage.
Otherwise, increase or decrease the duty cycle. If the incremental voltage is zero, then
information about the possible changes are found from the measurement of current.
If differential current is zero, then adjustment of the system voltage is bypassed.
Otherwise, duty cycle is increased or decreased by step size. Then, the process
repeats until MPP is obtained. This method is accurate with high speed of operation
but is complex.

4 Conclusion

Many different approaches of the inverter design are reviewed in the paper. From
the literature reviewed, it can be concluded that the pure sine wave inverters are best
suited for agricultural use. IGBTs can be chosen as the preferred switching devices as
they are easy to drive and are better suited for high-frequency applications. The inclu-
sion of isolation circuit provides high-current gate drive for switches by receiving
low power input from the microcontroller. For ensuring maximum power efficiency
from solar PV module, implementation of MPPT technique is necessary. One of
the simplest methods of MPPT is Perturb and Observe, and it is also cost effective
and gives a good control. For the generation of PWM signal, FPGA/microcontroller
is better suited than discrete components, and they provide reprogrammability and
better control. For the three-phase inverter design, SHE technique with LC filter
provides less THD.

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 Solar Based Inverter Design: A Brief Review 469

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