CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 RESEARCH MOTIVATION

The power electronics literature focuses the level and characteristics of the source
voltage have been changed using different converter topologies. Each converter
topology has its own restrictions regarding different aspects like number of components
used, stress on semiconductor switches and converter efficiency [2, 3, 32, 33, 58]. Some
of these converters have found places in industry for a variety of applications. Today,
efficient power conversion is more important than before because of the alternative
energy sources like fuel cells, solar energy, wind energy and ocean wave energy that
require proper power conditioning to adapt to different loads. Also hybrid vehicles are
very promising new applications of power converters. Moreover, the area of electrical
drives is still demanding for new topologies in order to find more efficient and cheaper
ways of converting the form of energy from electrical to mechanical or vice versa. Since
clean, reliable and high quality energy is one of the main concerns in today’s world,
power electronics will definitely play an important role in filling this gap.

Power electronics has been widely used in various applications since it was born.
The single phase inverter, which converts dc voltage / current into single phase ac
voltage / current is one of its most important and popular converters. It has been widely
used in uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) [1, 57, 44], used in ac motor control [15,
16, 21, 28, 29], grid connected PV system [30, 36, 51, 55, 56], etc. There are two types
of traditional inverters, namely voltage source inverter and current source inverter.
However, both inverters have some conceptual barriers, which will be discussed in
detail later. The newly presented Z-source inverter [10-13, 26-29] has some unique
features and it can overcome some of the limitation of the traditional voltage source and
current source inverters. The purpose of this work is to investigate Modeling and
Simulation of a single phase Z-source inverter and its control strategy for
implementation dc-to-ac power conversion.

The research motivation for this thesis also comes from the necessity of maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) for the solar PV panels [4, 6, 7, 9, 22, 24, 35 and 36]. The
Z-source inverter and its control system should be capable of tracking individual

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maximum power point of the solar panels and ensures the maximum capture of energy
on DC side.

Because of its interdisciplinary nature, power electronics combines semiconductor

devices, digital systems, control theory and power systems. This fact implies that any
innovation in one of these fields affects power electronics and opens for new research
opportunities. Among these fields, control theory is in a very close relationship with
power electronics. This is because power converters are “variable structure periodic
systems” whose state is determined by control signals. In most applications, converter
voltages and currents are to be limited by maximum values specified by component
vendors and to be strictly controlled around a steady state value defined by the design
specifications. This can be achieved by designing controllers based on true
mathematical models. As discussed in the literature many times, power converters can
be modeled based on averaging state variables over a switching cycle; hence they are
suitably conformed for the application of existing control theories.

1.2 BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW

The brief review of the research that has been done so far in the literature about
design and control strategies of the Z-source Inverter is presented in this section. The
modeling and simulation of the single phase and three phase Z-source Inverter [10, 11,
12, 13] is carried out from different perspectives including different criterion are
considered for source, load and controlling and filtering conditions are given in [25],
[38], [40] and [41]. The comparison of traditional inverters and Z-Source Inverter for
fuel cell vehicles is introduced in [26]. Similarly, the operating modes and
characteristics of the Z-Source inverter with small inductance are discussed in [27]. In
[39] modeling of Z-source network with inductive loading is given. In [38] and [39],
modeling with an assumption of a constant load current including Z-source network
parasitic resistances is given.

A Comprehensive Simulation Analysis of a Three-Phase Z-Source DC-AC

Converter is given in [14]. Z-Source Inverter for power conditioning and utility interface
of renewable energy sources is given in [13] similarly Z-source Inverter control for
traction drive of fuel cell – battery hybrid vehicles is given in [16]. A Pulse Width
Modulation- a survey is introduced in 90’s [18], then the modified carrier – based PWM
modulation technique is given in [37] and the hysteresis band current control for a single

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phase Z-source Inverter with symmetrical and asymmetrical Z network is given in [17].
An indirect dc-link voltage controller with a modified modulation method is given in
[53]. A PID controller design by direct measurement of the peak dc-link voltage is given
in [54]. Finally, controllers designed for specific applications, namely fuel cell and
voltage sag compensation are given in [40] and [23].

1.3 PROBLEM DEFINITION

There are two parameters to be changed in order get the desired output AC voltage in a
Z-source inverter. The first one is the modulation index, which also exists in traditional
voltage source inverters. The second one is the boosting factor, which depends on the
shoot-through time. Theoretically, the modulation index can take values from zero to
one, while the boosting factor can take values from one to infinity.So their multiplication
gives all levels of desired voltages at the output. These two parameters are considered
while designing of single phase Z-source inverter and their control strategies.

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

In this thesis, the modeling and simulation of a single phase Z-source inverter
and its control methods for implementation dc-to-ac power conversion is
presented. The design of Z-source inverter modulation and simulation is carried
in MATLAB-Simulink environment along with two different pulse width
modulation (PWM) control methods are discussed: Sinusoidal carrier-based
PWM and Simple Boost Control. These methods are described in detail and
compared on the basis of simulation in MATLAB/ Simulink. The ripple of Z-
source element, output voltage, current and their harmonics profile are varied
with modulation index and switching frequency. Also it focuses the effect of
shoot through state on the traditional and Z source inverter. Similarly two
different applications, first is based on performance and simulation analysis of
photo voltaic (PV) system based on Z-Source inverter and second is development
of single phase Z-source inverter using ARM-7 for speed control of induction
motor are tested for verification of the designed system.

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1.5 THESIS ORGANIZATION

A brief overview of the subsequent seven chapters is given in this section.

Chapter 1 provides a general introduction and the purpose of this thesis.

Chapter 2 is based on classification of converter, different power converter

topologies of inverter configurations like voltage source and current
source converter.

Chapter 3 presents the Z-network and full wave bridge inverter design and
operation strategy, comparison between VSI, CSI and ZSI. Design procedure of
filter.

Chapter 4 discusses the different control strategies, Sinusoidal carrier-based

PWM and Simple Boost Control are adopted for Z-source inverter and its design,
model, simulation and analysis procedure.

Chapter 5 is based on design verification of Z-source inverter system in chapter

3 with the Modeling and Simulation of Z-Source Inverter carried in MATLAB
simulink environment.

Chapter 6 is dealing with first application of Z-source inverter. The performance

and simulation analysis of photo voltaic (PV) array is studied by using
MATLAB-simulink modeling and simulation, similarly the active and reactive
power of inverter variation is studied with solar radiation. Maximum power point
tracking algorithms and their necessity in solar PV systems with the proposed
topology are discussed.

Chapter 7 is dealing with second application of Z-source inverter. The single

phase induction motor is interfaced and controlled by the Z-source inverter and
its control methods. The experimental results are compared with the above design
model.

Finally, conclusions and future work are presented in Chapter 8.

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