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Energy Reports 6 (2020) 70–75

www.elsevier.com/locate/egyr

4th Annual Conference in Energy Storage and Its Applications, 4th CDT-ESA-AC, 09–10 July
2019, Southampton, United Kingdom

A transformerless single-phase multilevel converter for grid-tie

renewable energy systems
Izgun Gunsal ∗ , David A. Stone, Martin P. Foster
Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield, 3 Solly Street, Sheffield S1 4DE, United Kingdom

Received 12 February 2020; accepted 25 February 2020

Abstract

A multilevel converter produces a high quality output voltage waveform therefore requires less filtering in grid-tie systems.
Cascaded H-bridge converter is a favourable topology for a hybrid renewable and storage system due to isolated DC source
requirement. This converter is designed to interface a hybrid photovoltaic and battery system to the utility grid, making DC sources
more accessible. In this study, a nine-level cascaded H-bridge converter is presented. A closed loop controller implemented in
synchronous rotating frame is used to control active and reactive power independently. The control strategy is implemented in a
simulation environment and then validated with experimental results. The generated output current waveforms are analysed when
operated with various sinusoidal pulse width modulation techniques such as phase disposition pulse width m

⃝ 2020Published
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license to IEEE 1547 standard. c
( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).

Peer-reviewunder responsibility of the scientific committee of the 4thAnnual Conference in Energy Storage and Its Applications, 4thCDT-ESA-AC,
2019.

Keywords: Cascaded H-bridge; Multilevel converter; Pulse width modulation; Closed loop control

1. Introduction

Renewable energy systems (RES) started seeing an increased attention worldwide due to environmental concerns,
energy sustainability and increased energy demand [ 1 ]. Photovoltaics have increasing share in current renewable energy
mix due to the diminishing cost and increasing availability for vast deployment [ 2 ]. Implementing renewables into
conventional fossil fuel system creates difficulties due to the intermittent nature of RES. Unbalance in energy supply and
demand disrupts frequency and voltage regulation of grid therefore fast acting energy storage elements need to be
implemented for a better coordination [ 3 ].
Batteries are well established technology that are used in a variety of energy storage applications. The idea of
decarbonizing transport sector is plummeting battery prices, making this technology available for large scale energy storage
[ 4 ]. Batteries in electric vehicles tend to age faster due to harsh working conditions and therefore automotive

∗ Corresponding author.

E-mail address: izgungunsal@gmail.com (I. Gunsal).

https://doi.o ⃝rg/10.1016/j.egyr.2020.02.029
2352-4847/ c 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 4th Annual Conference in Energy Storage and Its Applications, 4th CDT-ESA-AC, 2019.
 I. Gunsal, D.A. Stone and M.P. Foster / Energy Reports 6 (2020) 70–75 71

manufacturers generally replace them around 70%–80% state of health (SOH) [ 5 ]. These batteries may be used for
grid support in their second life applications [ 6 ].
Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) converter can utilize batteries and PV at the same time as these technologies may be
connected to different DC buses. Conventionally CHB converters integrate same type of sources and use single stage
power conversion. The control algorithm for single stage power conversion utilizing both technologies is complicated
due to mismatches between maximum power point tracker (MPPT) and the state of charge (SOC) control [ 7 ]. On top
of this, high voltage variations at separate DC buses of CHB deteriorates system performance due to parasitic
capacitance of PV panels [ 8 ]. In order to overcome this limitation, a two stage power conversion CHB converter may
be used. In this system, batteries and PV panels can both be connected to the same DC bus via a DC–DC converter,
which adjusts the voltage. A CHB provides high quality output waveform due to increased voltage levels, therefore
reducing output grid filtering requirement and voltage stress at the switching devices. This makes CHB favourable
topology for hybrid renewable and energy storage integrated systems at medium to high power applications [ 9 ].

2. Proposed cascaded H-bridge

The proposed multilevel CHB converter is illustrated in Fig. 1 . The converter is connected to single-phase grid
and can control active (P) and reactive (Q) power components independently. Each module of the converter has a
battery (B) and a PV array that are connected to the same DC link (V dc). The voltage of the DC link is adjusted
by a half bridge DC–DC converter (S n5 and S n6 where n = 1, 2, 3, 4). This section ensures that the DC link voltage is set
to the maximum power point of the PV generation. The DC link capacitor is then connected to an
individual H-bridge, creating a power module. This CHB consists of four power modules connected in series, which can
produce nine voltage levels. In order to reduce potential leakage current due to parasitic capacitance of PVs, a symmetrical
grid filter configuration is used, where inductances are equal.

2.1. Control structure

The DC–DC converter control can be achieved by a cascaded operation of an MPPT and a PI controller. MPPT is
implemented using perturb and observe algorithm where the power output is continuously measured and compared
with the previous data. As a result of this, a voltage reference point (Vdc ∗) can be supplied to the PI controller.
A standard PI controller is used to adjust the DC link voltage (V dc) by trying to minimize the error between the values.

This converter is controlled in synchronous rotating frame (dq frame) in order to adjust active and reactive
components independently. In a grid-tie system, the converter must be synchronized to the grid voltage (V g). In this
study, a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) is used as synchronization method. In order to achieve this, grid components
need to be transferred into synchronous rotating frame. Park and Clarke transformations cannot be directly applied to a
single-phase system therefore an imaginary orthogonal phase is created with a 90 ◦ phase delay [ 10 ]. In order to achieve a
decoupled control in dq frame the continuous-time state equations are given below in Eqs. (1) and (2) .

di d + Ri
ud=L d− ω Li q+vd (1)
dt

di q + Ri
uq=L q+ω Li d+vq (2)
dt
Using Eq. (1) ensures that active (i d) and reactive (i q) current components can be controlled individually by
decoupling the coupled terms. In order to achieve power control, a slow response outer PI controller must be that
adopted. Outer power control loop can be designed by using Eqs. (3) and (4) . Fig. 2 illustrates two stage control
includes a slow outer power control loop and a fast reacting inner current control loop.

P = vdid+vqiq (3)

Q = vqid− vdiq (4)

72 I. Gunsal, DA Stone y MP Foster / Energy Reports 6 (2020) 70–75

Figura 1. Diagrama de circuito CHB que incluye PV y baterías.

Figura 2. Lazo de control de potencia activa y reactiva.

3. Estudio de simulación

Se selecciona el software MATLAB / Simulink para el entorno de simulación. Este estudio de simulación se centra en la segunda etapa de
conversión (CC-CA), que es solo parte de CHB. La parte de CC incluye una batería de 85 V y un conjunto fotovoltaico conectado
al mismo enlace de CC. Los parámetros de voltaje de la red son 230V rms y 50 Hz. La frecuencia de conmutación de CHB se establece
en 4 kHz, por lo que se utiliza un filtro LCL simétrico con una frecuencia de corte de 1,65 kHz. El filtro LCL tiene un convertidor y
 I. Gunsal, DA Stone y MP Foster / Energy Reports 6 (2020) 70–75 73

grid side inductances of 2.34 mH and 1.17 mH respectively. Aforementioned control structure is applied for closed
loop operation. Phase disposition pulse width modulation (PDPWM) and leakage reduction pulse width modulation
(LRPWM) are used in this simulation study. It is found that both modulation methods produce similar results as both
are based on level shifting the carrier waves. LRPWM is presented in [ 8 ], which helps reducing the leakage current in
a CHB.
Fig. 3 illustrates the simulation study results, showing the output voltage and current waveforms. In Fig. 3 a,
unfiltered nine level voltage waveform is represented. The converter operates at ∼ 0.8 modulation index. Fig. 3 b
shows the grid side voltage and current waveforms. Simulation started with both active and reactive power (P ref and
Q ref) references at 0. At 0.1th second of simulation, P ref is set to 2.3 kW. The closed loop controller reacts to the given
demand in less than 4 cycles. The total harmonic distortion (THD) values of output current when PDPWM
and LRPWM is applied, are 0.97% and 0.92% respectively.

Fig. 3. Simulation waveforms (a) unfiltered output voltage; (b) grid side voltage and current.

4. Experimental results

El algoritmo de control está implementado en cRIO-9063 de National Instruments. La frecuencia de conmutación y la disposición de los
filtros se mantuvieron igual que en el estudio de simulación para validar los resultados. El estudio experimental también se centra en la
conversión de la segunda etapa, por lo que se utilizan transformadores reductores, rectificadores de puente y condensadores de suavizado
para crear cuatro fuentes de CC aisladas. TNB34060T de ON Semiconductor se utilizan para cada puente en H. Este módulo de potencia
consta de una configuración de 3 medios puentes con un riel positivo común. Uno de los medios puentes se mantuvo inactivo para crear una
configuración de puente H.
Figura 4 ilustra los resultados experimentales en laboratorio. Figura 4 a muestra el voltaje de salida sin filtrar del convertidor, con
nueve niveles de voltaje y modulado con 4 kHz. Se puede ver que el componente fundamental se establece en 50 Hz.
Figura 4 b shows the filtered current waveform. Again a step response is set for active power reference from 0 to 2.3
kW. The controller reaches to its steady state in two fundamental cycles, which is 40 ms. The current waveform
consists switching and measurement noise. The harmonic spectra for both PDPWM and LRPWM methods are shown
in Fig. 5 .
Fig. 5 shows the harmonic spectra of current waveforms in frequency domain, where y- axis is magnitude with respect to
the percentage of fundamental component in order to better visualize higher frequencies. LRPWM and PDPWM has
dominant frequencies below the resonant frequency of LCL filter and at switching frequency as expected. 3rd harmonic and
switching frequency are the most dominant in PDPWM that can be seen in Fig. 5 B. Por otro lado, el armónico de la
frecuencia de conmutación se suprime pero las bandas laterales son más altas en LRPWM ( Figura 5 a). Los valores de THD
son 1,46% y 1,88% en LRPWM y PDPWM respectivamente. Estos valores cumplen con el estándar IEEE 1547 que limita la THD
de la forma de onda actual de cualquier sistema de conexión a la red por debajo del 5%.

5. Conclusiones

Este artículo presenta una topología CHB de conversión de dos etapas en la que la energía fotovoltaica y las baterías están conectadas a un mismo
bus de CC. La arquitectura de control en cascada propuesta responde a cualquier demanda de potencia activa o reactiva en menos de dos
74 I. Gunsal, DA Stone y MP Foster / Energy Reports 6 (2020) 70–75

Figura 4. Formas de onda experimentales (a) voltaje de salida sin filtrar; (b) corriente del lado de la red.

Figura 5. Espectros armónicos de los métodos de modulación (a) Reducción de fugas PWM; (b) Disposición de fase PWM.

fundamental frequency cycles. The simulation values are validated with the experimental data both showing similar results
in current and voltage waveforms. The harmonic spectra of both modulation methods shows expected results. The THD
values found in experimental results are slightly higher compared in simulation study. LRPWM performs slightly better than
PDPWM in experimental results despite having similar values in the simulation study.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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