Design and Implementation of a Single Phase Grid

Tie Photo Voltaic Inverter

Fatima Binte Zia, Khosru M. Salim, Nafisa Binte Yousuf, Rafid Haider, Md. Rajin Alam
School of Engineering and Computer Science, Independent University Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
fatimabintezia@live.com
khosrumdsalim@yahoo.com
nafisa.binte.yousuf@gmail.com
rafid-haider@hotmail.com
rajinpavel@yahoo.com

Abstract— This paper is aimed to present the design of a single-

phase grid tie photovoltaic inverter with practical II. REQUIREMENT OF THE EXPERIMENT
implementation. Special consideration given to the fact that, Before designing a grid tie inverter two major facts must be
unlike conventional standalone inverters, grid tie inverters are kept into consideration. One is, operate solar panels at
required to fulfill some demands to be connected with the single- maximum power point (MPP) and another one is inverter
phase grid. The demands of the single-phase grid and must be able of pushing sinusoidal wave to the grid.
photovoltaic module are fulfilled and tested through the practical
implementation of the inverter. In addition, in this document the A. PV Module Setup
reference voltage fixation method for DC-AC inversion,
switching techniques by PIC microcontroller, IGBT gate drive
To validate the simulation results along with the test
circuit operation with proper filtering and finally power delivery results, an experimental set-up has been designed and
to the grid with proper isolation has been shown with both developed. Experiments are carried out scaled system with
simulation and practical test outputs. The achievements of the 40W PV. Eight solar cells of 40 W were connected in series.
practical testing of grid tie inverter lies in successful DC-AC This series cells gave 110-130V DC energy which was used to
conversion. Along with the capability of matching inverter test designed grid tie inverter.
output voltage and frequency with continuous fluctuating grid
voltage and frequency. Another fact is, inverter must stop B. Requirement of the Grid
inversion process if there is no power supply in grid line. The difference between the traditional stand alone inverter
Therefore, instantaneous shut down of DC-AC inversion process
or inverter using in variable speed controller and the grid tie
occurs in case of sudden black out is also tested. Finally, the
efficient energy delivery of PV cells to the single-phase grid inverter or GTI is the conditions of the output sine wave of the
validates experimental results. inverter. Because GTI fulfills these conditions so that inverter
can successfully deliver power to the grid. These conditions
Keywords— Grid tie inverter, Pulse width modulation, Single are mentioned bellow:
phase grid line, PIC microcontroller, Solar panel 1. The inverter output sine wave magnitude and phase must
exactly match with single phase grid line
I. INTRODUCTION 2. The frequency of the output sine wave from the inverter
With rapid growth of population on the earth, the growth of must match with the grid line
energy requirement is raising so high that, it made engineers 3. Inverters should be capable of detecting black out situation
bound to think alternative to fossils and other natural and shut down system for human and component safety [2].
resources. Our present world is demanding the use of green C. Block Diagram for Grid Connection
energy. Photovoltaic (PV) energy has great potential to supply
energy with minimum impact on the environment, since it is Main idea of the single-phase grid tie inverter is shown in
clean and pollution free [1]. The thought of using the PV or Fig. 1. DC energy from the solar panel will be diverted to the
solar energy for producing electricity has already become grid tie inverter. Output of the inverter will be connected with
acceptable throughout the world. Grid tie Photovoltaic the primary side of a transformer isolation to avoid direct
inverter is now the possible solution to the energy crisis of the electrical contact with the grid. And the secondary side of
world. Grid tie inverters or GTI are capable of feeding large
power to the grid. Another fact is photovoltaic GTI has to be
compatible with existing grid. Major function is to convert DC
energy of the photo voltaic cells to AC energy, which will
allow the system to connect with the grid. This attempt will
take the use of green energy to a level must for near future.
These inverters are capable of producing energy from solar
energy without any environmental pollution. Fig. 1 Block Diagram For Grid Tie inverter
isolation transformer will be connected directly with the grid.
This connection will allow the inverter to pass power to the
grid.
III. DESIGN CONSIDERATION
A. Switching Technique
For designing the inverter sinusoidal pulse width modulation
technique has been used for operating gate drive circuit.
PIC18F4431 microcontroller produced PWM signals. A
simple LC filter removes harmonics from the output of
inverter. In sinusoidal pulse width modulation the width of
each pulse is varied in proportion to the amplitude of a sine
wave. PIC18F4431 is a very reliable microcontroller for
generating PWM [3]. Main job of Microcontroller is to
produce the gating signals by comparing a sinusoidal
reference signal with a triangular carrier wave. This triangular
carrier wave is generated by the microcontroller of frequency
20KHz.The frequency of reference sine signal is the reference
for the inverter output frequency and its peak amplitude .The
number of pulses per half cycle depends on carrier frequency
which we kept 20KHz .
14VAC
220V
Grid
AC
PIC18F4431
Microcontroller for
PWM generation
PWM output
Phase
PWM1 PWM2 PWM3 PWM4
Detecting
Circuit
Fig. 2 Grid reference and phase detection circuit for PWM signal Generation
B. Reference Wave Selection
For connecting inverter output with grid it has to be the
same frequency and voltage like the grid. So, the grid itself
was taken as reference signal for generating PWM waves. But
Grid voltage is very high to push into microcontroller.
PIC18F4431 can handle up to 5 volt positive voltage. So,
some calibrations has been done. As, shown in Fig. 2, for
reference voltage a 220V-14V transformer was used to step
down the grid voltage. Then using rectifier diodes negative
cycles are converted into positive cycle. As it is still more than
5VDC, which is the maximum operation voltage of the
microcontroller. A voltage divider circuit has been used to
reduce voltage. We calibrated such a way that 220 V ac is
represented by 2.5V peak rectified AC. This signal has been
served to the microcontroller as reference voltage. But for
PWM generation it is also mandatory to know the polarity of
the half cycles of reference wave. So, using a op-amp we
provided the microcontroller a square wave. 0 volt of square
wave represents the negative cycle and 5 volt represents the
positive cycle.
C. Switching Frequency Consideration
20 KHz switching frequency allows the microcontroller to
take 200 samples per half cycle. So, more accurate and similar
to grid sine wave has become possible to produce. It means
frequency from the output voltage of grid tie inverter is the
same as grid voltage. So, one of the most required demands
fulfilled.
D. Gate Drive Circuit and Dead Time fixation
As shown in Fig. 3 PWM signals generated by
microcontroller are served to our gate drive circuit As
switching device Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
has been used [4]. It has the capability to cope with 20KHz
switching frequency. Another reason is as we are interested to
fed power to grid. It has to have deal with high DC solar
voltage. Our IGBT can handle 600V and 30 Amp current
which works fine for our experiment Since the switching
device has a finite switching time, we have inserted a blank
time (or normally called dead-time) by the microcontroller
into the PWM gating signals in order to avoid the conduction
overlap of two switching devices in the same legs. During
gate drive operation, gate signals were given is a particular
manner. PWM1 and PWM4 gate pulses are given together.
When these two gates are ON PWM2 and PWM3 gate pulses
are given. So, PWM1 and PWM3 gate pulses are given
alternately. Similarly PWM2 and PWM4 gate pulses are given
alternately. Dead time rescues these pair of gates from turning
ON at a time.
PWM2
PWM1
Input of Filtering
Circuit
DC from
Solar Panel
PWM4
PWM3
Fig. 3 Single phase full bridge IGBT power inverter
E. Filtering Circuit
A low-pass power LC filter is inserted between our grid tie
inverter and the grid to limit the excessive current harmonics,
which is caused by the pulse width modulation (PWM) [5].
Output of filter circuit is fed to the grid via an isolation
transformer.LC filtering circuit with isolation is shown in
Fig. 4.
 Inverter
Current

Grid
Isolation Current

Output of
gate drive GRID
circuit

Fig 4. Filtering & Isolation

IV. FUNCTION OF MICROCONTROLLER

PIC18F4431 microcontroller used for PWM generation. So,
turning the PWM module on is mandatory. As grid sine is
taken reference signal and it is rectified shifted down ac wave
of 2.5 volt . Moreover, polarity of half cycles are detected by
the square wave. Both are analog. Therefore, ADC module is
required. At very beginning microcontroller takes, ADC of
reference signal then after positive or negative half cycle is
detected by square wave. Microcontroller is programmed to
generate a 20KHz triangular wave. Then the ADC of the
reference signal and the triangular wave is passed through
internal comparator of the microcontroller. In addition,
produces PWM for switching. The output of the comparator is
PWM which changes between 0 to +5 volt. When negative
cycle is detected microcontroller is programmed to generate
PWM 1800 shifted wave from the original square waves.
Depending on the polarity of the cycle PWM duty cycle
registers are updated. The frequency of this update depends on
Fig 5. Flow chart for sine wave pwm generation
the switching frequency. Depending on the duty cycle turn on-
off time IGBT switches are operated. In switching process
PWM0 and PWM3 are grouped in one and PWM1 and PWM2
are grouped in another. When microcontroller sends high to
PWM1 and PWM3, it send low to PWM1 and PWM2. Fig. 5 Phase Detection
shows the flow chart of the program written for Square Wave
PIC18F4431microcontroller to generate PWM signals.

V. SIMULATION RESULT PWM

t t
Before experimenting our grid tie inverter in hardware it
has been tested in a simulation software name PROTEUS. In
Fig. 6 we can see, the upper one is the reference grid voltage. Reference voltage
Reference voltage is rectified and shifted down before pushing from Grid
into Microcontroller. The upper wave is the square wave for
detecting polarity of the reference sine wave. Middle wave is
the output of the grid tie inverter before passing it through a
low pass filter. Microcontroller ensures the square wave
generated is in phase with sampled sine wave. Fig 6. Waveforms in Proteus Simulation
 VI. IMPLEMENTATION RESULT
A. Experimental Setup
a b Grid Sine

c d

Sine wave
from Inverter

Fig 9. Oscilloscope Output of Grid Tie Inverter and Grid Sine Wave
TABLE I
INVERTER AND GRID CURRENT
Fig 7. a) Inverter circuit b) IGBT circuit c)filtering circuit d)isolation
transformer Solar Panel Voltage Grid Current Inverter Current
66VDC 0.4 Amp 2 Amp
B. Inverter Output at Oscilloscope 67VDC 0.6 Amp 3 Amp
Fig 8. Shows the output of grid tie inverter before pushing 68VDC 0.8 Amp 4 Amp
it to the filtering circuit. 69VDC 0.9 Amp 4.2 Amp
70VDC 1.0 Amp 4.5 Amp

Fig 8. Oscilloscope Output of IGBT Gate Drive Circuit
In Fig 9 we can see two sine waves. Upper one is the grid
sine wave. And the lower one is the sine wave that we have
generated from our inverter after proper filtering. It is visible
from the two waves, which are almost identical that, the
voltage and frequency of the inverter output exactly matched
with the grid voltage and frequency.
C. Power Delivery to the Grid
Using an isolation transformer keeps the grid and the
inverter electrically isolated. As shown in Fig. 4 we have
attached two ammeter at inverter side and grid side. By the
isolation transformer the grid and inverter voltage is matched
at 31V. From solar panel we got DC voltage from 66-70 V.
measurements were taken on each instant. Also we measured
the current on both ammeter. We have pushed maximum
1 Amp current to the grid. So, 31 Watt apparent power has
been delivered to the grid.
VII. CONCLUSION
From our above simulation results and the hardware tested
results it is clear that it is possible to manufacture single phase
grid tie photovoltaic inverters with locally available
components of Bangladesh. Power crisis at Bangladesh can be
reduced to a great extant if we can produce this single phase
grid tie inverters. Also the dependence on the foreign energy
and technology can be removed. So, the practical
demonstration presented in this paper can be great to carry on
our research on grid tie inverters. And this locally developed
Grid tie inverter can reduce the necessity of imported highly
expensive inverters.
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[3] MICROCHIP[2003] PIC18F4431 Data Sheet. Microchip Technology
Inc
[4] Ned Mohan, Tore M. Undeland and William P. Robbins, Power
Electronics. John Wiley & Sons,INC
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