Grid-connected low-power efficient solar inverters

• Grant number: 11/03638-0
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: October 01, 2011 - September 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Industrial Electronics, Electronic Systems and Controls
• Principal researcher: Carlos Alberto Canesin
• Grantee: Carlos Alberto Canesin
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research is based on the necessity and current worldwide trend in the search for alternative energy sources that are cleaner, renewable and with low environmental impact, developing for this purpose a grid-connected electrical energy generation system based on photovoltaic solar panels. In order to increase the efficiency and power density of the system, novel single-phase and three-phase integrated inverters are proposed for analysis and implementation as distributed generation network. Considering the issues for high-efficiency, algorithms and devices for extracting the maximum possible power from the photovoltaic panels will be developed, increasing the rational use of energy coming from these panels. Furthermore, because of the necessity of secure connection of this system to the public distribution network of electric power in AC, will be analyzed and implemented methods for synchronization with the AC low voltage public network. Moreover, this work proposes analysis and synthesis of hybrid methods for detection and management of the island effect to ensure system security. The control of the converters and the MPPT techniques, management and detection of islanding, as well as synchronization with the AC distributed network will be incorporated to the new single-phase and three-phase converters through digital signal processing techniques, with the objective to facilitate the achievement of high flexibility in the control logic design for the proposed applications, considering microcontrollers, DSPs or FPGAs devices.Besides the complete theoretical analysis of the proposed systems, including the details of digital control systems, the work will be composed by the presentation of experimental results for the prototypes, allowing the establishment of analysis for the validation of the developed structures, considering the related standards for the application. (AU)