2012

International Symposium on Power Electronics,

Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion

A Buck-Boost based DC/AC Converter

for Residential PV Applications
A. Testa, S. De Caro, T. Scimone, S. Panarello
DCIIM, University of Messina, Italy,
VialeFerdinandoStagnoD'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina

Non isolated single stage power conditioners are in

theory more efficient than their two stages counterparts.
In fact, sincestrings of PV modules are directly connected
to the grid inverter, the amount of power processing steps
is basically halved, and a greater efficiency is reached.
However, some additional problems in practice arise
when such a configuration is used in PV plants for
residential applications. In fact, due to the small power
size, generally less than 3 kW, only a limited amount of
PV modules can be series connected to form astring
feeding the power conditioner. As a consequence, the
inverter input DC voltage may result insufficient for a
direct DC/AC inversion, especially when the temperature
of the PV modules exceeds 40-45C.In order to expand
the input voltage range a step-up DC/DC converter is
often introduced between the PV array and the inverter,
obtaining a two stage configuration.The introduction of a
further DC/DC converter also enables the implementation
of an MPPT procedurefully independent from the
delivery of the electrical power to the grid.
Further alternatives are represented by single stage
configurations with an inner voltage boosting capability
[3], [4] as the flying inductor converter, or by some
topologies mixing single and two stages operational
modes. An example of the last type is the time-sharing
dual mode single-phase quasi-sinewave PWM inverter
[5]. It is composed by the cascade connection of a boost
converter and a full bridge inverter, but featuring a
quasisingle stage operationalmode. In fact, when the
input DC voltage is insufficient to produce the required
grid AC voltage, the power optimizer activates only one
of the two stages at a time to control the actual output AC
voltage.
A further viable solution is proposed in this paper
based the series compensation approach [6], [7].
Specifically, a buck-boostDC/DC converter, is connected
in series to the PV string,rather than cascaded as in the
traditional two stages configuration. Such a converter is
tasked to provide only the difference between the
available PV string output DC voltage and the required
inverter input voltage. Therefore, it processes only a
fraction of the total electric power transferred from the
PV modules to the grid inverter. As a result, on one side
the converter can be rated for a power lower than that of
the Photo-Voltaic generator, and, on the other hand, a
better efficiency is obtained as a large part of the
generated electrical power is directly delivered to the grid
inverter with no losses.Moreover, the power processed by
the buck-boost converter becomes smaller as the PV
string output voltage increases, becoming nullwhen the

Abstract-- The single stage architecture is often preferred

to realize grid connected Photo-Voltaic generators for
residential applications. In fact,by halving the power
processing steps, the power losses can be considerably
reduced if compared with those of a two stage configuration.
However, single stage power conditioners are generally
unable to boost the voltage of the PV modules, therefore,
they feature a narrower input voltage range. A new
approachto design a power conditioner for grid connected
PV plants for residential applications is presented in this
paper. It isbased onthe series connection between a buckboost converter,and the PV array. According to such an
approach, the buck-boost converter processes only a
fraction of the inverter input power, while always operating
in conditions of high efficiency. Experimental tests show
that the proposed solution features an efficiency level very
close to that of a single stage power conditioner, but owns a
voltage boostingcapability, similar to that of a two stage
configuration.
Index Terms--Photovoltaic systems, Power conversion,
DC-AC power converters

I. INTRODUCTION
Residential applications, of the solar Photo-Voltaic
(PV) technology are rapidly proliferating, as a
consequence of heavy climate concerns and specific
governmental policies. Moreover, residential grid
connected PV plants are today considered the most
suitable solution to implement in the next years the
Distributed Generation (DG) concept in an environmental
friendly way. These reasonsarestrongly powering the
development of even more efficient Photo-Voltaic
devices and specific power converters.
Power conditioners for residential grid connected PV
plants may feature a single stage or a two stage
configuration [1], [2]. The single stage configuration is
generally tailored around a single phase,PWM operated,
full bridge inverter. No electrical isolation is provided
between the PV modules and the grid, moreover, the grid
inverter is tasked either to invert the PV string DC output
voltage, either to accomplish the MPPT(Maximum Power
Point Tracking).
Two stage configurations are based on the cascade
connection of a DC/DC step-up converter and a bridge
inverter. The DC/DC converter topology may be either of
the transformerless non isolated type, either of the high
frequency transformer isolated type. The firsttype is
generally advantaged by a lower cost, a higher power
density and a better efficiency.

978-1-4673-1301-8/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

114

voltage is sufficient for a direct DC/AC inversion. Finally

the buck boost converter always operates at a duty cycle
lower than .5 featuring a high efficiency.
In the following, first the series compensation
approach is introduced and compared with previous
configurations in terms of efficiency and power ratings.
Experimental results are then shown in order to
demonstrate the advantages of the proposed approaches.

basic scheme. When the boost chopper is operated, the

full bridge inverter only acts as unfolder, giving the
correct polarity to the output voltage. Therefore, it
switches at the line frequency. Where the boost chopper
is not activated the inverter is supplied directly by the DC
output voltage of the PV string and is PWM modulated to
obtain a sinusoidal output voltage waveform.

II. BOOST CHOPPER CASCADED INVERTER SCHEME

The basic scheme of atwo stagespower processor for
single-phase grid connected PV power generators
isshown in Fig. l. Such a system is composed of a boost
chopper type DC-DC converter, cascaded to a full-bridge
single-phase inverter. The last is connected to the utility
network through a LC, or an LCL,low-pass filter.

Fig. 2 - Dual mode time-sharing approach.

Fig. 1 Basic two stages configuration.

Exploiting the dual mode time-sharing approach,

conversion power losses can be remarkably reduced. In
fact, when the boost chopper is activated no switching
power losses occur in the full bridge inverter, while, no
power losses at all are generated in the boost chopper
when it is deactivated, excepting the additional diode
conduction loss. As a result the total efficiency of the
power processor is close to that of a single stage
configuration.

The boost chopper is exploited to amplify the DC

voltage provided from the PV module string (200600V)
up to a voltage level (350400) suitable to generate the
grid AC voltage (210240V) through the grid inverter. If
the input DC voltage is suitable for a direct inversion the
boost chopper is deactivated and the inductor is bypassed
by an additional diode.
The boost chopper power switchis operated at high
switching frequency to control the converter output
power. Therefore, the boost chopper processes the whole
generated electrical power, causing a power dissipation
due to both switching and conduction losses.
The boost output power is then reprocessed by the fullbridge inverter to control the DC bus capacitor voltage,
while delivering power to the utility grid. In order to
generate the required AC grid voltage with a suitable
THD, the inverter is PWM operated at high switching
frequency. Therefore, additional power losses are
generated, further lowering the total system efficiency.
In Fig. 2 the dual mode time-sharing approach is
shown. The basic two stage converter topology of Fig. 1
is retained, however, in this case, the boost chopper is
periodically activated in correspondence of those
segments of the output AC waveform, where the actual
AC voltage exceeds the available input DC voltage.
Moreover, the boost chopper is operated in such a way to
produce a segment of the absolute sinusoidal voltage
waveform, rather than a constant output voltage as in the

III.

THE SERIES COMPENSATION APPROACH

Even the dual mode time-sharing approach is effective

in reducing conversion power losses, the boost chopper
power rating must be equal to that of the entire power
processor. Moreover, when it is activated it processes the
whole power that is supplied to the inverter.
A different and more favorable situation arises if the
series compensation approach is exploited to design the
power processor. According to Fig. 3,where the
conventional cascaded scheme and a configuration based
on the series compensation approach are depicted, the
inverter inputvoltage is obtained by adding the DC input
voltage to the DC/DC converter output voltage. Therefore,
the DC/DC converter provides only the difference between
the available PV string output DC voltage and the required
inverter input voltage, and not the full inverter input
voltage as in the conventional scheme. Moreover, as
shown in Fig. 4, all the output power is supplied through

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the DC/DC converter in the conventional configuration,

while according to the series compensation approach, the
DC/DC converter processes only a fraction of the total
electric power transferred from the PV modules to the
grid inverter.

Fig. 4. Power flows: conventional scheme (up), series compensation

approach (down).

Fig. 3. - The conventional cascade scheme (up) and the series

compensation approach (down).

The inverter input power Poutis obtained in the

conventional systemby:
Pout= cPin

Fig. 5 Effectiveness of the proposed approach.

(1)

The voltage rating of power switches equipping

DC/DC converters depends from topology, input and
output voltages. Moreover, for given topology and input
and output voltages, the switch current rating depends
from the output power. Therefore, assuming that the
same topology can be used in the two cases considered in
Fig. 3, power switches voltage and current ratings are
made more favorable by exploiting the proposed
approach. Finally, being operated at reduced power and
output voltage, a series compensation power converter
showslower conduction and switching power losses if
compared with a conventional power converter. In fact,
the switchoff-state voltage and on-state current can be
remarkably reduced.

where: cis the efficiency of the DC/DC converter and Pin

the power generated by the PV modules.
Differently, in the series compensation configuration, the
inverter input power is given by:
Pout= Pin +c (Pin - Pin)

(2)

where: Pin is the fraction of the power generated by the

PV modules that is directly delivered to the inverter.
By comparison of eqs. 1 and 2 it is clear that holding
constant c and Pin the output power is higher in the
second case. Moreover, as shown in Fig. 5, the
effectiveness of the series compensation approach
increases when the fraction of power processed by the
DC/DC converter decreases.
Assuming no losses in directly delivering power to the
full bridge inverter, the total efficiency according to the
conventional scheme and the proposed approach, are
respectively given by:
(3)
= c= Pout /Pin
= [Pin +c (Pin - Pin)] /Pin

IV. SERIES CONNECTED CONVERTER TOPOLOGY SELECTION

Only DC/DC converter topologies that permit a series
connection of input and output sections can be exploited
to design a series compensation converter. While all high
frequency transformer isolated converter topologies can
be used, thanks to the isolation between input and output
sections, among single switch basic non isolated
topologies only the buck-boost is eligible to realize a
series compensated power processor, as it features an
output voltage with aninverted polarity if compared with
the input voltage. Ashigh frequency transformers
introduces extra costs and power losses, the buck-boost
topology has been selected. Moreover, a transformer
voltage amplification is not required, since in PV
residential applications the DC/DC converter for aseries
compensatedpower processor must provide avoltage

(4)

The efficiency in the second case is always better if the

converter efficiency is assumed constant in the two
expressions. Moreover, the efficiency of the system
based on the series compensation approach may still
results better even if a slightly lower converter efficiency
is assumed.

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reaches a noticeably higher efficiency if compared with a

cascade connected buck-boost converter, which should be
operated in step up mode to generate the same output
voltage.
Different is also the input/output voltage ratio, of the
series connected buck-boost power processor if compared
with a cascaded buck boost converter. In fact, inthe first
case the voltage gain is given by:

attenuation rather than a voltage amplification. In fact,

the input section of the DC/DC converter is connected to
the PV string, while the output section is connected in
series with the input section, as shown in Figs 3 and 6.
Assuming a 400V inverter input voltage Voutand a
200600V PV string output voltageVin, the series
connected converter is activated when Vin<400V and is
tasked to generate an output voltage VoutCthat is given by:
VoutC=Vout-Vin

Vout/Vin= 1/(1-)

(5)

(10)

while in a standard buck boost converter is:

The output voltage VoutCthus ranges from 0 to 200 V andis

always lower than the input voltage Vin.

Vout/Vin= /(1-)

(11)

As a result, the series compensated power processor from

the input/output voltage gain point of view acts as a boost
converter, rather than a buck boost one. The obtained
power processor is then fully equivalent to the cascaded
boost chopper structure of Fig.1, even the converter
processes only a part of the input power.

Fig. 6. - The proposed power processor topology

V. SERIES CONNECTED BUCK-BOOST CONVERTER OPERATION

a)

As it is possible to observe in Fig. 7, where some

simulation results are given, at steady state and in
continuous conduction mode, if the switch S is turned on
the inductor is charged and the inductor voltage is:
VLson=Vin

(6)

VDson= Vout

(7)

b)

The diode voltage is:

When the switch is turned off the inductor voltage

becomes:
c)

VLsoff=VoutC=Vout -Vin

(8)

Fig. 7 Simulation results a) inductor current, inductor voltage,

b) switch current, switch voltage, c) diode current, diode voltage

Being VoutC the voltage across the buck boost output

capacitor . The off-state switch voltage is:
VSoff= Vout

VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

A buck boost based series compensation power processor
has been designed and realized according to the
specifications summarized in Table I and the scheme of
Fig. 6. Technical specifications of the buck boost
converter are shown in Table II.A cascaded boost
chopper power processor, featuring the scheme of Fig. 1,
has also been realized for comparison. It is equipped
with the same switch, diode and inductor of the series
compensation prototype.
Buck boost efficiency evaluation was first accomplished
by mean of a programmable DC power supply managing
the input voltage Vinand a controllable electronic load

(9)

The series connected buck-boost topology features some

key differences if compared with a conventional buckboost converter. In fact, the off-state voltage of the
switch and the diode is always Vout, rather than Vin+|Vout|,
leading for a remarkable reduction of the switch voltage
rating and of the switching power losses as well.
Moreover, being operated as a step-down converter,
independently from the fact that the output voltage of the
power processor Voutis higher than the input
voltageVin,the series connected buck boost converter

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setting the output voltage to 400V. The inductor current

and voltage are shown in Fig. 8, while the efficiency over
the whole operating range is shown in Fig. 9.

the cascaded boost chopper power processor and of the

sole DC/DC stage are shown in Figs. 15 and 16.
As it is possible to observe the efficiency of the series
compensated DC/DC stage is more than 1% higher than
the Boost efficiency. The same efficiency improvement
can be also observed by comparing the results obtained
on the two power processors, moreover the efficiency of
the proposed power processor is quite close to that of the
full bridge inverter.

TABLE I Power processor ratings

Input voltage
200 600V DC
Output voltage
240V AC
Max output power
1600W
Switching frequency
20kHz
TABLE II Buck-boost technical data
Input voltage
200 400V
Output voltage
0 200 V
Max output power
800W
Switching frequency
20kHz
Power switch
2 x ST55NM60ND
Diode
STTH30R06W
Inductor
1.8 mH

Fig. 10 Inverter input voltage (ch3 500V/div) and buck boost

inductor current (ch2).

Fig. 8 Buck-boost inductor current (ch4) and inductor voltage (ch3

500V/div))

0.98

Efficiency

0.96

0.94

0.92

Fig. 11 Inverter output voltage (ch3 500V/div) andoutput current (ch4).

0.9
1

0.88
350

0.98

800
300

700
600
500 Pout [W]

Vin [V]
250

0.96

400
300
200

200
Efficiency

Fig 9Series connected buck-boost converter efficiency

The series compensated power processor has been then

tested. Fig. 10 show inverter input voltage and buck
boost inductor current, while output voltage and current
of the grid inverterare shown in Fig. 11, whose efficiency
figure is shown in Fig. 12. The efficiency of the single
DC/DC stage and of the whole system are reported
respectively in Figs. 13 and 14. Finally the efficiency of

0.94

0.92

0.9

0.88

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Pout [W]

Fig. 12 - Inverter efficiency

118

1400

1600

VII. CONCLUSION
A series compensated power processor for PV
residential applications has been presentedin this paper.
It is based on a buck-boost converter whose output is
series connected to the PV string to form the inverter
input voltage. As a result of the series connection, the
buck boost converter is tasked to generate only the
difference between the voltage delivered by PV modules,
and the inverter input voltage, processing only a part of
the power delivered to the grid. This has positive effects
either on the ratings of the buck boost converter, either on
the efficiency of the power processor. Experimental test
performed on a 1.6kW prototype have confirmed the
consistence of the proposed approach.

0.98

Efficiency

0.96

0.94

0.92

0.9

0.88
350
1600
300

1400
1200
Vin [V]

1000
250

800

Pout [W]

600
400
200

200

ig. 13 - Series compensation buck boost converter efficiency

REFERENCES
1

[1] Xue, Y., Chang, L., Baekhj, Kjaer, S., Bordonau, J.

and Shimizu, T., Topologies of single-phase
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0.98

Efficiency

0.96

0.94

0.92

0.9

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Inverters for single-phase grid connected
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0.88
350
1600
300

1400
1200
Vin [V]
250

1000
Pout [W]

800
600
400
200

200

Fig. 14 - Series compensation power processor efficiency.

[3] S. B. Kjaer, J. K. Pedersen, F. Blaabjerg, A Review

of Single-Phase Grid-Connected Inverters for
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0.98

[4] R. O. Caceres, I. Barbi A boost DC-AC converter,

analysis, design and experimentation IEEE Trans. on
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0.96

0.94

0.92

[5] K. Ogura, T. Nishida, E. Hiraki and M. Nakaoka,

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0.9

0.88
350
1600
300

1400
1200
1000
250

800
600
400
200

Vin [V]

200
Put [W]

Fig. 15 - Cascaded boost chopper efficiency

[6] Jun-ichiItoh, Takashi Fujii A New Approach for

High Efficiency Buck-Boost DC/DC Converters
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0.98

Efficiency

0.96

[7] Giuseppe Guidi, Tore M. Undeland and Yoichi Hori

: "An Interface Converter with Reduced VA Ratings
for Battery-Supercapacitor Mixed Systems", IEEE
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0.94

0.92

0.9

0.88
350
1600
300

1400
1200
Vin[V]
250

800

1000
Pout [W]

600
400
200

200

Fig.16 - Cascaded boost chopper power processor efficiency.

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