IET Research Journals

A novel approach of nonlinear control for ISSN 1751-8644

doi: 0000000000
www.ietdl.org
Z-source inverters in grid-tied PV system
applications
Phuong Vu1 , Quan Nguyen2 , Minh Tran1 , Grazia Todeschini3 , Surya Santoso2
1
School of Electrical Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
2
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, U.S.A
3
College of Engineering, Swansea University, UK
* E-mail: phuong.vuhoang@hust.edu.vn, quan.nguyenhuy@utexas.edu, minh.trantrong@hust.edu.vn, grazia.todeschini@swansea.ac.uk,
ssantoso@mail.utexas.edu

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel, multi-loop control scheme for the robust operation of the Z-source inverters applied in
grid-tied PV systems. At the dc side, a shoot-through duty ratio is created by an MPPT algorithm and an adaptive backstepping
controller. The PV array can operate under varying conditions, while the design of the backstepping controller does not require
exact values of the capacitors and inductors in the impedance network. The ac-side controllers guarantee the system to work with
unity power factor and stable capacitor voltage in spite of grid voltage fluctuations. This strategy overcomes disadvantages such
as non-minimum phase in the dc side of the Z-source inverter model. It also eliminates the need to linearise the voltage/current
characteristic of PV arrays. The efficacy of the proposed control is validated by both off-line and hardware-in-the-loop real-time
simulations. The latter is carried out by loading the switched model of the system on commercially available controller boards,
digital signal processors, and real-time simulation software tools.

1 Introduction
Z-source inverter (ZSI) is a topology of single-stage power con-
verters with both voltage buck and boost capabilities. This special
characteristic results from the application of a unique impedance
network with splitting inductors and capacitors connected in an X-
shape. With the impedance network, ZSI can use the shoot-through
states to boost the output ac voltage to a higher value than the
input dc voltage, which cannot be achieved in conventional invert-
ers [1, 2]. Furthermore, with the ability to handle the shoot-through
state, which eliminates dead-time and reduces the harmonic content
in the output waveforms, ZSI becomes more reliable. The induc-
tors and capacitors in the impedance network can also be optimally
designed to ensure small size and low cost [3]. (a) The conventional control scheme.
The multi-loop controller for ZSI consisting of dc-side and ac-
side controllers is suitable for grid-tied PV systems. At the dc side of
ZSI, the input dc voltage û of the inverter H-bridge can be regulated
directly through its peak value ûp or indirectly by controlling the
voltage across the capacitors C1 and C2 in the impedance network
[4–6]. The former approach allows the voltage stress to be limited
on switching devices; however, it requires complicated sensing and
scaling circuits. This disadvantage limits the implementation of dc
voltage direct control in practical ZSI applications. On the other
hand, the indirect control does not require complex measurement
circuits. However, the voltage stress on switching components is
likely to increase. In order to minimize this voltage stress, the voltage
across the capacitors in the impedance network needs to be adjusted
such that the corresponding modulation index approximates its min-
imum boundary [7]. In this paper, the indirect approach is chosen to (b) The proposed control scheme.
control the voltage across C1 and C2 .
The dc side of ZSI shows a non-minimum phase characteristic, Fig. 1: Control schemes for ZSI in grid-tied PV systems.
resulting in significant overshoot and undershoot in the waveform
of the voltage across the capacitors in the impedance network when
the input changes [4, 5]. This behavior increases harmonic distortion
of the output voltage and current. Many studies have been focusing model of ZSI [8–11]. However, the parameters of the designed com-
on resolving the negative effects of the non-minimum phase char- pensators rely heavily on the selected operating point of the dc
acteristic, and several closed-loop control methods such as current side of ZSI; consequently, the voltage across capacitors C1 and C2
and voltage modes have been proposed based on the small-signal may experience instability as the system operating point changes.
Another approach to minimize the effects of the non-minimum phase

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consists in implementing sliding-mode controllers at the dc side
as shown in [12–14]. These publications employ a similar con-
trol scheme, which is shown in Fig. 1a. At the ac side, maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) block and its associated PI controllers
regulate the output voltage Upv of the PV array and generate the
reference current i∗ for the current loops. At the dc side, voltage-
mode and current-mode controllers generate the shoot-through duty
ratio d to regulate the voltage UC across the capacitors in the
impedance network. However, with this control scheme, it is difficult
to identify the value of the equivalent load current of the Z-source
impedance network in the shoot-through state due to harmonic dis-
tortion. In addition, the ac-side controller has only one current loop (a) Equivalent dc-side circuit of ZSI connected to PV
implemented in the synchronously rotating frame with the reference
current generated from the direct or indirect MPPT algorithm [8–
11]. As a result, the voltage across capacitors C1 and C2 may be
unstable in transient states of ac grids, such as voltage sag or swell.
To overcome the above limitations, this paper proposes a multi-
loop control scheme employing the adaptive backstepping method
at the dc side of ZSI in grid-tied PV systems. The proposed control
scheme is shown in Fig. 1b. Compared to the conventional con-
trol scheme shown in Fig. 1a, the MPPT block is connected to the
dc controllers, while ac controllers are responsible for regulating (b) Shoot-through state
the voltages across the capacitors in the impedance network. With
this configuration, the control at the dc side regulates the output
impedance of the PV system to obtain maximum output power of PV
arrays. This control strategy overcomes the disadvantages of the pre-
vious methods by reducing dc voltage overshoot and undershoot and
inherits the existing ac control scheme of conventional grid-tied VSI.
In addition, due to the tolerance of the manufacturing process and the
variation of inductor value caused by a high current flowing through
it during operation, the mathematical model used in the backstepping
method takes into account the uncertainty of the parameters in the
impendance network. Therefore, the proposed control scheme oper- (c) Non shoot-through state
ates effectively even when the parameters of Z-source impedance are
unknown or when the PV arrays work under variable temperature Fig. 2: The model at the dc side of ZSI.
and irradiance conditions.
In the remainder of this paper, Section II shows a dynamic model
of the-phase ZSI in grid-tied PV systems at both dc and ac sides. average method is obtained as follows [11]:
Section III presents the proposed control scheme for ZSI at both dc
and ac sides. This section also describes how the Lyapunov method
can be used as proof for the global stabilization of the adaptive con- diL
L = (2dsh − 1)uC + (1 − dsh )upv ,
troller at the dc side. Off-line simulations and hardware-in-the-loop dt
(HIL) real-time simulations are discussed in Section IV to validate du
the proposed control configuration. C C = (1 − 2dsh )iL + (dsh − 1)iinv ,
dt
dupv
Cpv = ipv − iL , (1)
dt

2 Dynamic Modeling
The three-phase ZSI in grid-tied PV systems can be considered as
a combination of a Z-network connected to a PV system and a con-
ventional H-bridge VSI connected to an ac grid. In order to obtain
the mathematical model of the system, the following assumptions
are made:
• The three-phase ac grid is a symmetrical, positive sequence.
• The parasitic resistances of the Z-source inductors and the equiv-
alent series resistances of the capacitors are ignored.
• The Z-source impedance network is symmetrical. This assump-
tion will be removed later on.
• The IGBTs are treated as ideal switches.
• In the non-shoot-through state, the dc bus voltage is constant over
each switching cycle.
Fig. 2 shows the equivalent circuit of the ZSI at the dc side as well
as the simplified models during the shoot-through and non-shoot-
through states [1]. From Fig. 2, the low-frequency mathematical
model of the Z-network connected to a PV using the space-state
where dsh = Tsh /Ts is the shoot-through duty ratio and Tsh is the
shoot-through interval over a switching cycle Ts ; uC and iL are the
capacitor voltage and the inductor current in the impedance network,
respectively; upv is the output voltage of the PV system; and iinv is
the equivalent current flowing into the H-bridge VSI. In steady state,
the following relationship is obtained from (1):
ipv = iL ,
1 − Dsh
UC = Upv . (2)
1 − 2Dsh
Theoretically, the steady-state shoot-through duty ratio Dsh in (2)
can vary from 0 to 0.5. In practice, it is limited by the zero-state
interval T0 of the ZSI.
At the ac side of ZSI, an LCL filter is employed to reduce high-
frequency current ripple, and the current control only affects the
low-order harmonics [15, 16]. Therefore, with a sufficiently small
capacitator value, the LCL filter can be replaced by an L filter in
series with its internal resistance in the mathematical model to sim-
plify the current controller design. Unlike in the traditional VSI,
the input voltage ûp of the H-bridge is zero during the shoot-
through state, while the value during the non-shoot-through state is

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 Fig. 3: The proposed control of the Z-source inverter in grid-tied PV systems.

determined as follows [6]:

diL
ûp = 2uC − upv (3) L = (2s − 1)uC + (1 − s)upv ,
dt
duC
C = (1 − 2s)iL + (s − 1)iinv ,
dt
The three-phase low-frequency average model of the ZSI at the ac
dupv
side is as follows [17]: Cpv = ipv − iL ,
dt
 
disk 1 X
  L = ûp sk − sk − enk − rL isk . (6)
disk 1 X dt 3
L = ûp dk − dk − enk − rL isk , (4) k=a,b,c
dt 3
k=a,b,c

3 The proposed control

where the subscript k = a, b, c and dk is the corresponding PWM
duty ratio. To facilitate the design of controllers for ZSI in grid-tied The proposed control of ZSI applied in the grid-tied PV is illustrated
PV systems, (4) is transferred into the synchronously rotating frame in Fig. 3, where the Z-source capacitor voltage is kept constant by
to decouple the real and reactive power in the system, as shown in a controller at the ac side. At the dc-side, the integrated MPPT and
(5): the proposed adaptive backstepping controller compute the shoot-
through duty ratio to extract maximum power from the PV panel for
a given irradiance. The Incremental Conductance MPPT method is
disd used since it is easily implemented in digital control systems and
L = ûp dd − end − rL isd + ωLisd , exhibits fast convergence speed [18].
dt
disq
L = ûp dq − enq − rL isq − ωLisq , (5)
dt 3.1 The dc-side controller

During the operation of ZSI in grid-tied PV systems, the values

where ω is the grid angular frequency; dd , dq are the d- and q-axis
components of the PWM duty ratio, end and enq are the d- and
q-axis components of the grid voltage; and isd , isq are the d- and q-
axis components of the grid current vector; usd = ûp dd and usq =
ûp dq are the d- and q-axis components of the output voltage vector
of ZSI, respectively.
To conduct HIL real-time simulations, the switching functions
of the impedance network s and of the IGBTs sk (k = a, b, c) are
defined as follows [17]. s is 1 when ZSI is in the shoot-through state
and is 0 when ZSI is in the non-shoot-through state. sk is 1 when
the top switch of the phase leg is turned on and the bottom switch of
the phase leg is turned off. sk is 0 when the top switch of the phase
leg is turned off and the bottom switch of the phase leg is turned on.
Using the average model in (1) and (4), the switched model of the
ZSI is obtained as follows:
of inductors and capacitors in the impedance network deviate from
their nominal values. This may impair the performance of the con-
trollers that are designed based on the nominal component values.
To solve this problem, the proposed adaptive backstepping controller
employs a certainty-equivalence form in which unknown parameters
are replaced by estimated parameters [19]. Since the ac-side con-
troller ensures that the Z-source capacitor voltage uC is stable, upv
and iL are the two parameters controlled by the adaptive backstep-
ping method. Therefore, the state variable xT = [x1 x2 ]T is chosen
to be [iL upv ]T . The model shown in (1) is rewritten as follows:
(
ẋ1 = θL [(2dsh − 1)uC + (1 − dsh )x2 ],
(7)
ẋ2 = θC (ipv − x1 ),

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where function that x1 should mimic is defined as follows:

1 1 k1 z1 − u̇∗pv
θL = ,θ = . α1 = + ipv . (15)
L C Cpv θ̂C

Step 2: Define the second error variable z2 as the error between

The purpose of the backstepping method is to design an adaptive
x1 and the aforementioned stabilizing function:
controller with the control input d to globally stabilize a desired
equilibrium given by the MPPT algorithm of the parametric strict
z2 = x1 − α1 . (16)
feedback system (7). The detailed adaptive backstepping design is
described as follows.
Step 1: Consider x1 as a virtual control input of the system (7). Substituting the expressions (15) and (16) into (9) yields:
Define the error between x2 and its reference value u∗pv , which is
the output of the MPPT algorithm, as follows: ż1 = −θ̂C z2 − k1 z1 + θ̃C (ipv − x1 ). (17)

The behavior of the error variable z2 is now investigated. From (7),

z1 = x2 − u∗pv . (8) (15), and (16), the derivative of z2 with respect to time is given by:

Differentiating z1 with respect to time gives: ż2 = θL [(2dsh − 1)uC + (1 − dsh )x2 ]
(k1 ż1 − ü∗pv )θ̂C − γC z1 (ipv − x1 )(k1 z1 − u̇∗pv )
ż1 = θC (ipv − x1 ) − u̇∗pv − − i̇pv .
2
θ̂C
= (θ̂C + θ̃C )(ipv − x1 ) − u̇∗pv , (9) (18)

The new model of the system shown in (17) and (18) is expressed in
where θ̂C is the estimated value of θ and θ̃C is the estimated error. the coordinate (z1 , z2 ), and a state-feedback control law is designed
Based on the definition of Lyapunov functions in [19], the first to globally and asymptotically stabilize (GAS) the system at the
candidate Lypunov function is chosen as follows: equilibrium point (z1 , z2 ) = (0, 0). The second candidate Lyapunov
function is chosen as follows:
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
V1 = z + θ̃ , (10) V2 = z + z + θ̃ + θ̃ , (19)
2 1 2γC C 2 1 2 2 2γC C 2γL L

where γC is a positive adaptation gain. It is clear that V1 is positive where the parameter error θ̃L = θL − θ̂L and γL is another positive
definite. The derivative of V1 with respect to time is: adaptation gain. From (19), it is clear that V2 is positive definite. The
derivative of V2 with respect to time is obtained as follows:
1 ˙
V̇1 = z1 ż1 + θ̃ θ̃ 1 ˙ 1 ˙
γC C C V̇2 = z1 ż1 + z2 ż2 + θ̃ θ̃ + θ̃ θ̃
γC C C γL L L
1 ˙
= −k1 z12 + z1 (k1 z1 + ż1 ) + θ̃ θ̃

γC C C = −k1 z12 − k2 z22 + z2 θ̂L [(2dsh − 1)uC + (1 − dsh )x2 ]
= −k1 z12 + z1 k1 z1 + [θ̂C (ipv − x1 ) − u̇∗pv ] +

˙
(k1 ż1 − ü∗pv )θ̂C − θ̂C (k1 z1 − u̇∗pv )

˙
θ̃
 − − i∗pv + k2 z2 − θ̂C z1
+ θ̃C C + z1 (ipv − x1 ) , (11) 2
θ̂C
γC
˙ 
θ̃C
+θ̃C + z1 (ipv − x1 )
where k1 is a positive design parameter providing necessary damp- γC
ing for system stabilization (7). In order to achieve global stability, ˙ 
V̇1 must be negative definite. Therefore, x1 can be chosen as follows: θ̃L
+θ̃L + z2 [(2dsh − 1)uC + (1 − dsh )x2 ] ,
γL
(20)
k1 z1 − u̇∗pv
x1 = + ipv . (12)
θ̂C where k2 is another positive design parameter. θ̃C and θ̃L are
eliminated from V̇2 with the update law (21):
The last term of V̇1 in (11) is eliminated by using the updated rule
˙
(
(13) and observing that θC is constant: θ̃C = γC z1 (ipv − x1 ),
˙ (21)
θ̃L = γL z2 [(2dsh − 1)uC + (1 − dsh )x2 ],
˙
θ̂C = γC z1 (ipv − x1 ), (13)
where the shoot-through duty ratio, which is the actual control input
of the system (7), is calculated as:
where k1 is a positive design parameter. Substituting the expression
in (13) and (12) into (11) yields: 1
dsh = ×
θ̂L (2uC − x2 )
V̇1 = −k1 z12 < 0 (14) 
(k1 z˙1 − ü∗pv )θ̂C − γC z1 (ipv − x1 )(k1 z1 − u̇∗pv )
× +
2
θ̂C
Equation (14) shows that V1 chosen from (10) is a Lyapunov func- 
tion. As mentioned above, x1 is considered a virtual control input +i̇pv − k2 z2 + θ̂c z1 − θ̂L (x2 − uC ) .
even though it is a state variable of the system (7). Equation (12)
shows the desired value for the variable x1 . Therefore, the stabilizing (22)

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Substituting (21) and (22) into (17) and (18) yields:
(
ż1 = −θ̂C z2 − k1 z1 + θ̃C (ipv − x1 ),
ż2 = θ̂C z1 − k2 z2 + θ̃L [(2dsh − 1)uC + (1 − dsh )x2 ].
(23)

Substituting (21) and (22) into (20) yields :

V̇2 = −k1 z12 − k2 z22 ≤ 0. (24)

(a) Dead-beat current controller.
Therefore, the function V2 chosen from (19) is a Lyapunov function.
Equation (23) implies that (z1 , z2 ) = (0, 0) and (θ̃C , θ̃L ) = (0, 0)
are two equilibrium points of the closed-loop adaptive system, and
(24) shows that (z1 , z2 ) = (0, 0) is GAS. In other words, x2 (t) →
u∗pv as t → ∞. The values of k1 , k2 , γL , and γC of the dc-side
controller using the backstepping method will be chosen based on
simulation result. (b) Capacitor-voltage control loop.

3.2 The ac-side controllers

The ac-side controllers consist of an inner current controller and

an outer voltage controller. They are responsible for controlling the
capacitor voltage uC in the impedance network as well as regulat-
ing the power factor of the system. The output of the inner current
controller is sent to the space vector modulation (SVM) to gen-
erate switching signals for the IGBTs. To minimize the voltage (c) SRF-PLL method.
stress across the inverter switches, the shoot-through time is evenly
assigned to each phase with Tsh /6, while the active state times are Fig. 4: Block diagrams of controllers at the ac side.
not changed. With this strategy, the shoot-through time is limited to
3/4 of the zero-state interval T0 [7, 20]. The isq component in this
study is set to zero so that the system operates with unity power Therefore, the closed-loop transfer function of the current controller
factor. shown in Fig. 4a is determined as:
To improve the dynamic response of the system, especially during
typical transient conditions such as voltage sag or generated power
variation, the inner current regulator is chosen as a deadbeat con- i∗s (z)
Gcl (z) =
troller instead of a PI controller. The dead-beat control scheme is is (z)
shown in Fig. 4a [21]. In the discrete domain, the last two equations −1
in (5) are rewritten as follows: = z −1 [zI − Φn + z −1 GDB (z)] GDB (z), (30)

is (k + 1) = Φn is (k) + H n us (k) − H n en (k), (25) where I is the 2×2 identity matrix. Since the dead-beat controller
aims to match the actual current value with the reference value after
where: two sampling periods, the desired closed-loop transfer function is
thus given by [15]:
 rL 
1 − Ts ωTs
Φn =  L rL  ,
−ωTs 1 − Ts Gcl (z) = z −2 (31)
L
 
Ts
L 0  By equating (30) and (31), the following deadbeat controller is
Hn =  Ts  , (26) obtained:
0
L
I − z −1 ΦN
and Ts is the sampling time. With y n as the output of the dead-beat GDB = . (32)
controller with the transfer function GDB as shown in Fig. 4a, the 1 − z −2
following equation is obtained considering a one-step delay of the
control output: The outer voltage controller at the ac side of the ZSI regulates the
voltage of the capacitors in the impedance network. Assuming the
us (k + 1) = H −1
n [y n (k) + en (k + 1)]. (27) inverter is lossless and the power flows from the PV system to the ac
grid, the energy equation for C1 and C2 is given by:
By substituting (27) into (25), the following equation results in:
1 du2C 3
is (k + 1) = Φn is (k) + y n (k − 1). (28) C = Ppv − end isd , (33)
2 dt 2

The equivalent equation of (28) after applying z-transformation is:
zis (z) = Φn is (z) + z −1 y n (z)
= Φn is (z) + z −1 GDB (z)(i∗s (z) − is (z)).
where Ppv is the output real power of the PV system, while end
and isd are the d-axis components of the grid voltage and current,
respectively, as shown in Fig. 3. To obtain the open-loop trans-
fer function, it is necessary to linearise (33) using the small-signal
(29) approach. The variables in (33) are expressed around their operating

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points as follows: 4 Off-line and real time simulation results

uC = UC + ũC 4.1 Case studies

isd = Isd + ĩsd To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme, a
ZSI in a grid-tied PV system is simulated using Simpower Systems
end = End + ẽnd (34) Toolbox in Matlab/Simulink software. Real-time simulations imple-
mented in a digital signal processor (DSP) are also carried out. The
Substituting (34) into (33) and eliminating the constants and high- system parameters are shown in Table 1.
order terms results in the following equation:
Table 1 System parameters.
dũ 3
CuC C = − (ẽnd Isd + ĩsd End ). (35) Quantities Values
dt 2
Grid voltage 380 V / 50 Hz
The open-loop transfer function of the capacitor control loop is thus
determined as follows: Set point of uC 570 Vdc
Parameters of C1 = C2 = 235 µF ± 10 %

ũC  3End the Z-source network L1 = L2 = 1.4 mH ± 20 %
=− . (36)
ĩsd ẽnd =0 2uC Cs PV capacitor Cpv = 470 µF ± 10 %
Grid inductor Ls = 2 mH
Assuming the value of the closed-loop transfer function of the Parameters of k1 = 5000
inner dead-beat current controller is one, Fig. 4b shows the closed-
loop configuration of the capacitor voltage control. The closed-loop the backstepping method k2 = 2000
transfer function of this system is given by: Adaptation gain γL = 0.1
γC = 0.5
 
3KP End KI End Parameters of ζ = 1.1
 s+
ũC  2 u C uC C the capacitor-voltage controller ωn = 60 Hz
GUc = ∗  = C  (37)
ũ C ẽnd =0 2 3 K E
P nd KI End Switching frequency 5 kHz
s − s+
2 uC C uC C
Sample time of the Ts = 200 µs
ac-current controller
The closed-loop transfer function (37) has the following standard
second-order form: Sample time of the MPPT algorithm 1 ms
and capacitor-voltage controller
2
2ωn ζs + ωn
G= 2
, (38)
s2 + 2ωn ζs + ωn The PV module type is SQ160/Shell [22]. The PV array is com-
posed of 8 modules connected in series and 10 modules connected
where ζ is the damping coefficient and ωn is the natural frequency. in parallel. All modules are considered to be identical and work
Because the response of the outer capacitor-voltage control loop is in similar conditions of temperature T and irradiance G. Based on
slower than that of the inner current control loop, ζ is chosen to be the datasheet from the manufacture [22], voltage and current of PV
larger than 1 (overdamped) to achieve low overshoot. By equating arrays at the maximum power points (MPP) under different working
(37) and (38), the coefficients of the PI controllers for the capacitor conditions are obtained and shown in Table 2. The working temper-
control loop are determined as follows: ature is either 25 o C or 50 o C, while the working irradiance is either
500 W/m2 or 1000 W/m2 .
(4ζωn )(uC C)
KP = − ,
3End Table 2 MPP of the PV array under different working conditions.
2 2uC C Working condition Voltage and current at the MPP
KI = −ωn . (39)
3End
o 2
T = 25 C, G = 500 W/m V = 280 V, I = 23 A
The performance of the controllers at the ac side relies heavily T = 25o C, G = 1000 W/m2 V = 280 V, I = 45.8 A
on the measurement of the phase angle of the grid voltage en . This T = 50o C, G = 1000 W/m2 V = 248 V, I = 45.8 A
angular measurement requires accurate and robust acquisition when
the grid voltage waveform is distorted and unbalanced. This tar-
get is achieved by implementing the synchronous reference frame 4.2 The off-line simulation results
phase locked loop (SRF-PLL) method, shown in Fig. 4c [15]. This
method is widely used because of its simple design. SRF-PLL trans- Fig. 5 shows the simulation results when the solar irradiance drops
lates the three-phase voltage vector from the abc reference frame suddenly from 1000 W/m2 to 500 W/m2 at 0.3 seconds, while the
to the dq synchronously rotating frame by using Park’s transforma- temperature and the voltage across the Z-source impedance capacitor
tions. A feedback loop regulates the q component of the grid voltage are kept constant at 25 o C and 570 V, respectively. The PV voltage
enq to zero, which results in the angular position of the dq refer- and current in Fig. 5a closely match the theoretical values at the max-
ence frame being locked into the phase angle of the grid voltage. imum power points (280 V, 45.8 A) and (280 V, 23 A), as shown in
Another output of the SRF-PLL method is the magnitude of the Table 2. The voltage across the capacitors in the impedance network
positive-sequence grid voltage. Under balanced conditions without is close to the desired value of 570 V from Table 1. In steady state,
any harmonic distortion, SRF-PLL can quickly and precisely detect the values of the shoot-through ratio in the two working condition
the magnitude and phase angle of the three-phase grid voltage. When are calculated as follows:
the grid voltage contains high-order harmonics, the bandwidth of the
SRF PLL method needs to be reduced to eliminate the effect of these UC − Upv 570 − 280
Dsh = = = 0.3372. (40)
high-order harmonics on the output. 2UC − Upv 2 × 570 − 280

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(a) PV output voltage and current and voltage across the Z-source
impedance capacitor.
(b) Shoot-through duty cycle.
(c) Phase A grid voltage and current.
Fig. 5: The simulation results of the system when T = 25o C, G
decreases from 1000 W/m2 to 500 W/m2 .
This calculated value is consistent with the shoot-through duty cycle
shown in Fig. 5b. Fig. 5c shows that the current and voltage at the
ac side of the VSI are distortion-free. The reduction of ac current
magnitude at t = 0.3 s is a consequence of the change in irradiance.
In spite of this, voltage and current remain sinusoidal and in-phase
throughout the simulation.
Fig. 6 shows the simulation results when the temperature drops
from 50o C to 25o C at t = 0.3 s, while irradiance is constant at 1000
W/m2 . PV voltage and current in Fig. 6a are close to the theoreti-
cal values at the maximum power points (280 V, 45.8 A) and (248
V, 45.8 A), as shown in Table 2. The voltage across capacitors C1
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(a) PV output voltage and current and voltage across the Z-source
impedance capacitor.
(b) Shoot-through duty cycle.
Fig. 6: The simulation results of the system when T changes from
50o C to 25o C, G = 1000 W/m2 .
and C2 also approximates the desired value of 570 V. Similarly to
(40), the values of the shoot-through ratio Dsh in steady state at the
two maximum power points are calculated to be Dsh1 = 0.3372 and
Dsh2 = 0.3610. These values are consistent with the results in Fig.
6b. From (2), since the output voltage of the PV array decreases,
Dsh increases to keep the Z-source voltage across the capacitors in
the impedance network constant.
Fig. 7 shows the simulation results when the grid voltage is
stepped up and down between 1 p.u and 0.7 p.u (220 Vrms and 154
Vrms, respectively). The solar temperature and irradiance are con-
stant at 25o C and 1000 W/m2 , respectively. As shown in Fig. 7a,
the output voltage and current of the PV array are not affected by
the grid voltage variation, and they are close to the theoretical values
at the maximum power points (280 V, 45.8 A), as shown in Table
2. With the implementation of the voltage controller at the ac side,
the voltage across the capacitors in the impedance network of ZSI is
kept close to the desired value in spite of the grid voltage fluctuation.
No significant overshoot in the waveform of the capacitor voltage is
observed. Since the power transferred from the PV array does not
change, the current injected into the ac grid increases when the grid
voltage decreases, as shown in Fig. 7b.
4.3 HIL real-time simulation results
In this section, the efficiency of the proposed control scheme is ver-
ified by using HIL simulation to emulate the operation of a ZSI
in a grid-tied PV system under real-time varying conditions. The
switched model of ZSI is loaded on the dSPACE DS1103 PPC
controller board and Matlab’s Real-Time Workshop (now Simulink
Coder) toolbox. Higher operating frequency of the switched model
7
 to 1000 W/m2 , while temperature of the PV array is kept at 25o C.
Fig. 8 shows the experimental results recorded by the virtual scopes.
The voltage across the Z-source impedance capacitor and the ouput
voltage of the PV array are stably held at 570 V and 280 V, respec-
tively, without any significant fluctuations, as shown in Fig. 8a and
8b. The steady-state values of the inductor current and the PV array
output current are the same and equal to 45.8 A and 23 A, as shown
in Fig. 8c and 8d. Comparing these results with the theoretical data
in Table 2 proves that ZSI in the grid-tied PV system transfers the
maximum power generated from the PV array to the ac grid.

(a) PV output voltage and current and voltage across the Z-source
impedance capacitor.

(a) Voltage across the Z-source impedance capacitors.

(b) Phase A grid voltage and current.

Fig. 7: The simulation results of the system when the grid voltage
varies.

results in a better representation of the real system. In this study, this

frequency is limited by the clock frequency of the DS1103 board,
which is 100 kHz. On the other hand, the controllers are imple-
mented in the fixed-point 32-bit type TMS320F2812 DSP by Texas
Instruments [23]. The pulses are generated from the PWM channel
of the DSP to digital input-output interface with the DS1103 board. (b) PV array output voltage.
The measuring signals of the grid-tied PV system is sent to the DAC
channels of the DS1103 board and re-read in ADC channels of the
DSP. The execution time of the simulation model should be at least
10-20 times lower than that of the switching period to achieve real-
time operation for the ZSI in the grid-tied PV system. In this paper,
the execution time is set at 10 µs and the switching frequency of
PWM is 5 kHz. The ControlDesk package allows the user to access
all the variables used by the Simulink model of ZSI in grid-tied
PV systems. The temperature and irradiance of the PV array can
be changed on-line to test the robustness of the control algorithm. In
addition, virtual scopes can be inserted in the layout, and online data
acquisition can be easily performed.
For the digital implementation, the derivative components in (22)
can be discretized as follows:

dy y(k) − y(k − 1)
= ,


dt Ts

2 (41)
d y y(k) − 2y(k − 1) + y(k − 2)
 2 =


dt Ts2
(c) PV array output current.
The first case study is related to the working condition corre-
sponding to Fig. 5. ControlDesk allows users to change the irradi-
ance of the PV array from 1000 W/m2 to 500 W/m2 and to rise again

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 (d) Z-source network inductor current.
o
Fig. 8: Real-time simulation results when T = 25 C and G changes
from 1000 W/m2 to 500 W/m2 .
In the second case study related to Fig. 6, ControlDesk also allows
users to change the temperature of the PV array from 25o C to 50o C
and to return to 50o C, while the irradiance of PV array is kept at
1000 W/m2 . The results are shown in Fig. 9. Similar to the results
shown in Fig. 6, the voltage across the Z-source impedance capacitor
and the output voltage of the PV array are stable at 570 V and 280
V, respectively. The inductor current and the PV array output current
approximate 45.8 A, which is the theoretical value at the maximum
power point under these working conditions, as shown in Table 2.
Therefore, the proposed control for ZSI also allows delivering the
maximum power generated from the PV array to the ac grid in this
second case study.
(a) Voltage across Z-source impedance capacitors.
(b) PV array output voltage.
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c The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
(c) PV array output current.
(d) Z-source network inductor current.
Fig. 9: Real-time simulation results when T changes from 50o C to
25o C, G = 1000 W/m2 .
5 Conclusion
This paper proposes an adaptive backstepping control at the dc
side of a multi-loop control scheme for applications of ZSI in
grid-tied PV systems. The proposed method eliminates the need
to linearise the inverter model, and it takes into account the toler-
ances of inductor and capacitor values in the impedance network.
The stabilization of the adaptive backstepping controller is proven
by applying the Lyapunov method. The voltage across the capaci-
tors in the impedance network is regulated by the ac side controllers.
The performance of the proposed control is verified by both off-line
simulation and HIL real-time simulations under varying conditions
of irradiance, temperature, and ac side voltage amplitude. Simulation
results show that the proposed control overcomes the disadvantages
of conventional approaches and results in a reduced overshoot and
undershoot in the waveform of capacitor voltage at the dc side. In
addition, in spite of the clock-frequency limitation when emulat-
ing the real system, the HIL real-time simulation demonstrates an
effective design approach in terms of cost and safety.
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