International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 1, February 2012)

Simulation and design of low cost single phase solar

inverter
Nishit Kapadia1, Amit Patel2, Dinesh Kapadia3
1

M.Tech student, Electrical engineering department, Institute of Technology, Nirma university, Ahmedabad
Assistant professor, Electrical engineering department, Institue of Technology,Nirma university, Ahmedabad
3
Manager, R&D Department, Hitachi Hi-Rel Powerelectronics Pvt. Ltd., Gandhinagar
1

niskap@yahoo.co.in
amit.patel@nirmauni.ac.in
3
dineshkapadia1@yahoo.co.in
2

This electrical energy is in DC form. This dc voltage is

boosted using dc to dc boost converter. This boosted dc
voltage is fed to inverter. Inverter converts dc voltage into
ac voltage. Here sine coded PWM push-pull inverter is
used. The output of inverter is given to step-up transformer
and low-pass filter which will give 220V 50Hz sine wave
output. This output is given to the load.

Abstract How solar energy is converted into electrical

energy in cost effective manner. The main components of this
solar system are solar cell, dc to dc boost converters, inverter.
Sine wave push pull inverter topology is used for inverter. In
this topology only two MOSFETs are used and isolation
requirement between control circuit and power circuit is also
less which helps to decrease the cost of solar inverter. In this
paper design of components for booster and inverter are done.
Simulation of solar inverter is done and simulation results for
different conditions are taken.
KeywordsLow cost solar inverter, Solar inverter, Single
phase solar inverter.

Inverter topology is sine wave push pull inverter is

selected. This topology is used to decrease the cost of solar
inverter. In this topology only two MOSFETs are used.
And the isolation requirement between control and power
circuit is less.

I. INTRODUCTION

II. BLOCK DIAGRAM

There are two types of sources for electrical power

generation. One is conventional and other is nonconventional. Today to generate most of electrical power
conventional sources like coal, gas, nuclear power
generators are used. Some of conventional source are
polluted the environment to generate the electricity. And
nuclear energy is not much preferable because of its
harmful radiation effect on the mankind. After some of ten
years conventional sources will not sufficient enough to
fulfill the requirements of the mankind. So some of the
electrical power should be generated by non-conventional
energy sources like solar, wind .With the continuously
reducing the cost of PV power generation and the further
intensification of energy crisis, PV power generation
technology obtains more and more application.

Block diagram of single phase solar inverter is

shown in Fig 1.1. Solar panel output is 24volt. Dc to dc
boost converter converts 24 volt dc voltage to 36 volt dc.
This dc voltage is converted to ac voltage using inverter.
Inverter output is sine coded PWM pulses. This sine coded
pulses are stepped up using step up transformer. These sine
coded PWM pulses are converted into sine wave using lowpass filter. This sine wave ac voltage is fed to the load. The
ac output is 220volt 50Hz. For design the output power of
solar inverter is taken 250VA.
III. DESIGN OF DC TO DC BOOST CONVERTER AND INVERTER
Inverter is designed for output power of 250 VA. Power
factor is taken 0.8. Therefore output power of inverter is
200 watt. Overall inverter efficiency of inverter is taken
97%. From this output power of booster is taken 206.18
watt. Overall booster efficiency is taken 97.5%. From this
input power of booster is 211.47 watt.

In this paper cost effective method is used to

implement single phase solar inverter. Solar cell/ PV cells
convert solar energy into electrical energy.

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Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 1, February 2012)

230V AC
50Hz

36 V DC

LOAD
Solar Panel
Transformer

24V DC

DC to DC Boost

Inverter

Figure 1.1 Block diagram of single phase solar

inverter

Converter

Minimum input voltage to the booster is 21V. Maximum

input voltage of the booster is 27V. Output voltage of
booster is 36V. Relation between input voltage and output
voltage is given by equation 3.1.
Vo =

From this formula inductance L is calculated 1357.67 H.

Maximum input current of booster with 150% overloading
is 16.61A. So inductor for booster should be designed for
value L = 1357.67 H and current I = 16.61A. Ripple
voltage is taken as 1%Filter
of output voltage which is
0.36V.Output current of booster is calculated from output
power and output voltage which is 5.7274A.Capacitance of
booster is given by equation 3.3. From equation 3.3 value
of capacitance C for dc to dc boost converter is 1357.67
H.

x Vin ..(3.1)
where Vo = output voltage,
Vin = input voltage,
= duty cycle

Duty cycle for minimum and maximum input voltage is

0.4167 and 0.25 respectively. Switching frequency of
MOSFET is taken 3.2 kHz. Switching period is 312.5 us.
From this on time of MOSFET for minimum and maximum
input voltage are 130.2 s and 78.125 s respectively.
From minimum input voltage and input power input current
is calculated 10.07A. Current ripple Iin is taken 20% of
input current. So current ripple Iin is 2.014A. In steady
state condition in on state of MOSFET the voltage equation
of booster is given by equation 3.2.
Vin = L x

Low-pass
filter

C=

.(3.3)

where Io = Output current of MOSFET, Vo = Output

voltage ripple
Booster component values inductance L = 1357.67 H and
Capacitance C = 2071.53 H are found.
Booster output voltage Vob = 36V
Modulation index for inverter m = 0.97
Inverter transformer regulation r = 5%

..(3.2)

Transformer primary voltage Vp = Vob *

=

23.419 V
Transformer efficiency t = 0.97
Safety factor SF = 1.1
Inverter MOSFET current or Transformer primary current

where L = inductance,
I = current ripple,
Ton = On time of MOSFET

Ip =

159

= 25.679A

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 1, February 2012)
MOSFETs of inverter have this current rating.

Output of PI controller = (Kp * e) +

IV. SCHEMATIC AND CONTROL STRATEGIES OF DC TO DC

BOOST CONVERTER AND INVERTER

Where Kp = Proportional gain, e = error and

Ti = Integration time

(4.1)

Schematic and close loop control for dc to dc boost

converter is shown in the figure4.1(a). As the solar panel
voltage varies according to weather so to make the output
of dc to dc boost converter constant close loop control is
required. In the figure for close loop control PI
(Proportional and Integral) controller is used.

Figure 4.2(a)

Figure 4.1(a)

Figure 4.2(b)
Fig 4.2 (a) Schematic of booster and inverter (b) Sine PWM generation
using sine triangular comparison

Output of dc to dc boost converter is given to inverter. The

schematic which contains inverter and booster is shown in
Fig 4.2 (a) and Fig 4.2 (b) shows the generation of PWM
pulses for inverter. To generate PWM pulses simple sine
triangular comparison is used. As shown in Fig 4.2(a) sine
wave push pull inverter topology is used. Main Advantages
of this topology are: (I) Only two switches/MOSFETs are
used (ii) Isolation requirement between control and power
circuit is less. These advantages help to decrease the cost.
A step up transformer is used in the output of inverter to
step up the ac voltage. A low pass filter is used to get the
sine wave at the output.

Figure 4.1(b)
Figure 4.1(a) Close loop schematic of booster (b)Close loop control
system for booster

To control the output voltage of booster PI controller is

used which is shown in Fig 4.1(b). As shown in Fig 1.2 (b)
reference voltage is compared with actual output voltage
and error in output voltage e is calculated. Error e is passed
through PI controller. The output of PI controller is given
by equation (4.1). The output of PI controller is compared
with triangular wave which will generate pulses which is
given to the MOSFET of the dc to dc boost converter. So
close loop control makes the output voltage of dc to dc
boost converter constant.

160

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V. SIMULATION AND SIMULATION RESULTS
Simulation is carried out in PSIM software. Simulation
results for dc to dc boost converter are shown in Fig 5.1.
Fig 5.1(a) and (b) shows the results for input voltage 21V
and output voltage 36V at no load and full load
respectively.
Fig 5.1(c) shows the result for input voltage transition
from 27V to 21V. And it is shown in the figure though the
input voltage changes from 27 V to 21V output voltage
remains constant at 36V. PI controller is used to make
output voltage constant at 36 V volt level.
Fig 5.1(d) shows the simulation result for step load applied
and step load removed .It is shown in the figure though
step load is applied or removed the output voltage is
remains constant at 36 V voltage level. PI controller is used
to make output voltage constant at 36V volt level.

Figure 5.1(c)

Figure 5.1(d)
FIG.5.1 (A) Booster output at no load (B) Booster output at full load
(C) Booster output for input voltage transition from 37 volt to 21 volt
(D)Booster output for step load applied and removed

Figure5.1(a)

In FIG.5.2 (A) sine triangle comparison and generation of

sine PWM is shown. Here 50Hz sine wave is compared
with 3.2 kHz triangular wave which will generate sine
PWM. In figure 5.2 (B) inverter output without low pass
filter is shown.
In FIG.5.2 (C) the inverter output for full load condition for
simulation time 1.3 s to 1.5 s. FIG.5.2 (C) shows that RMS
value of output voltage and current of inverter are 220.09 V
and 0.905 A.
In FIG.5.2 (D) the inverter output for no load condition for
simulation time 1.3s to 1.5s. FIG.5.2 (D) shows that RMS
value of output voltage and current of inverter are 220 V
and 11 mA .

Figure 5.1(b)

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Figure 5.2(d)
FIG.5.2 (a) Sine Triangle comparison and PWM generation (b) Inverter
output without low pass filter (c) Inverter output for full load condition (d)
Inverter output for no load condition

Figure 5.2(a)

VI. CONCLUSION
Use of sine wave push pull inverter reduces the cost of
single phase solar inverter considerably. In this topology
only two switches are used and the isolation requirement
between control and power is less. Advantages of this
topology help to decrease the cost. Value of the
components for dc to dc boost converter and inverter is
calculated. This calculated value of components is used to
simulate dc to dc boost converter and inverter. Simulation
for different conditions viz. no load, full load, load
transition and input voltage transitions are carried out and
found satisfactory.

Figure5.2(b)

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Figure 5.2(c)

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 1, February 2012)
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