A Comparison of Soft and Hard-switching Losses in
Three Phase Micro-inverters
Dehua Zhang, Qian Zhang, Anna Grishina, Ahmadreza Amirahmadi, Haibing Hu, John Shen and Issa Batarseh
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida 32816, USA
Abstract—The efficiency of a PV grid-tie micro-inverter is of
critical concern to its application. Three representative three-
phase voltage source micro-inverter topologies have been
selected to make loss comparisons: A Hard Switching Inverter
(HSI), an Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Inverter
(ARCPI), and an Actively Clamped Resonant DC-link Inverter
(ACRDCLI). Loss composition and estimation are given in
detail for 350W micro-inverters. It is pointed out that the HSI
has outstanding advantages in both efficiency and cost. The
ARCPI losses are lower than the other two topologies. But the
auxiliary circuits are costly and the controlling and driving
circuits are complicated. The ACRDCLI has a simple structure
but high DC-link losses. If an improved control scheme is used,
the DC-link losses of the ACRDCLI can be reduced. This
paper compares these advantages and limitations for assessing
the selection of soft-switching topologies for micro-inverters.
I. INTRODUCTION
Micro-inverters are small grid-tie inverters of 150-300W
that convert the output of a single PV panel to AC [1]. It is
advantageous to extend the micro-inverter concept to large
size PV installations such as MW-class solar farms where
three phase AC connections are used [2]. By adopting the
three-phase distributed AC micro-inverter architecture, the
following advantages can be gained: (1) maximum power
harvesting from each panel; (2) elimination of mismatch
losses between panels; (3) easy and flexible installations; (4)
less DC distribution losses. The three-phase micro-inverters
have many trade offs and challenges in the areas of cost,
efficiency, and life expectancy [3].
Soft-switching inverters are usually applied in the high-
power region [4]. Small magnetic components are required
to increase the power density of micro-inverters. A high
switching frequency is required for compatibility with the
small magnetic parts. Soft switching techniques help to
increase the switching frequency to more than 100 kHz. The
Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Inverter (ARCPI) is a
representative topology of three-phase high-efficiency
inverters [5]. The Actively Clamped Resonant DC-link
Inverter (ACRDCLI) has remarkable features of simple
structure with only one auxiliary switch [6]. In addition, the
Hard Switching Inverter (HSI) is able to gain both high
efficiency and superior control performance if it operates
near ten kilohertz. This paper focuses on exploring the
U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright
possibility of applying the above mentioned topologies to the
micro-inverters.
Based on 350W micro-inverter systems, a loss
comparison of the foregoing three topologies are given in
this paper. The main contributors to dissipation are
discussed. Assessments of the three topologies that apply to
three-phase micro-inverters are also given.
II. TOPOLOGIES
A. Hard Switching Inverter
Figure 1 illustrates the topology of a three-phase Hard
Switching Inverter. The CoolMOS is chosen to be the main
switch because it combines extremely high on-state
conductivity with ultrafast switching speed at full pulse
current capability. However, in Hard Switching Inverter
applications, the outstanding switching performance of the
CoolMOS cannot be utilized due to the dynamic behavior of
the body diode. Therefore the body diode should be blocked
with a schottky diode and replaced with a SiC-schottky diode
[7], as shown in Fig.1 (b).
(a) Topology (b) Combined MOSFET
Fig. 1 Three-phase micro-inverter
B. Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Inverter
Figure 2 illustrates the topology and key waveforms of
ARCPI. The commutation idea was addressed first by Mc.
Murray and De. Donker [5,8]. Compared with Fig. 1, each
phase has two auxiliary MOSFETs and a pair of resonant
components to help the commutation. For phase a, the
auxiliary circuits consist of Sa1, Sa1, Lra and C1, C4.
According to the Fig. 2(b), suppose the load current is
positive. Once S1 is going to turn on, Sa2 turns on shortly
prior to the turning off of S4 and gives the resonant inductor
an initial current IB1. When S4 turns off, a resonant happens
between Lra and C1, C4. S1 could turn on as soon as its
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parallel capacitor C1 voltage reaches zero. The Sa1, Sb1, Sc1 the resonant inductor. IB1 and IB2 in Fig. 2 (b) can set to be
help lower switches to turn on, while the Sa2, Sb2, Sc2 help equal and represents uniformly with IB in equations (1) and
upper switches to turn on. Reference [9] gives out the detail (2). It is reasonable since the load current is small when
analysis of the auxiliary commutated process. The resonant compared to the resonant current. This assumption will not
inductor current iLr(t) can be expressed as: cause much extra loss on the auxiliary components.
Most researches of ARCPI were focused on the high
power region. The reported efficiency is over 99% [10]. But
the complexity of this circuit is significant. Furthermore, the
body diode of the series auxiliary switch has a reverse
recovery issue even though the auxiliary switch naturally
turns off when its current reaches zero. This contributes to
unexpected oscillation and much loss on the auxiliary
branches. Therefore the combined MOSFETs should be
(a) Topology used for the auxiliary switches. Otherwise, a more
complicated auxiliary circuit should take the place of the
current one [11].
In ARCPI the auxiliary circuits work for a short time,
about one tenth of one switching period, only when a
commutation is required. So ARCPI has little influence on
the inverter control scheme. It is able to achieve output
performance as high as hard switching inverters.
C. Actively Clamped Resonant DC-link Inverter
The ACRDCLI commutation idea was first addressed by
Dr. Divan [6]. Fig. 3 illustrates its topology and key
waveforms. In ACRDCLI, DC-link voltage periodically
resonates down to zero. The inverter commutates at dc-link
zero crossing intervals. A clamp switch is imported to clamp
the dc-link voltage to a reasonable value KUd, usually K is
1.1-1.3. The outstanding feature of this topology is that only
three auxiliary components, a clamp switch Sc and a pair of
resonant components Lr and Cr, are needed to realize soft
switching conditions for all the main switches. Because the
(b) Commutation waveforms of ARCPI (phase a)
dc-link voltage is always oscillating, there are predictable
Fig. 2 Three phase grid-tie ARCPI topologies and key waveforms high conduction losses on the auxiliary switch and the ESR
losses of the inductor. A two-amplitude resonant scheme
t0 − t1 should be used to control the DC-link for reducing the
auxiliary losses [12]. As shown in Fig.3 (b), The two-
Ud (1) amplitude control scheme is described as follows: The
iLr ( t ) = ⋅t clamping capacitor Cc is pre-charged to (K-1)Ud. When a
2 Lr
commutation is required, clamping switch Sc is turned on
first. Thus, the clamping capacitor releases energy into the
t1 − t 2 resonant inductor Lr. The Sc current ic begins to increase
linearly. As soon as ic reaches the given big-amplitude turn-
Ud
− I B R Lr off current Ibc, Sc turns off under a ZVS condition. A
2 + αI B resonant oscillation takes place between Lr and Cr. All
Lr (2)
i Lr (t ) = I B e −αt cos(ω d t ) + e −αt sin(ω d t ) bridge switches can be operated under ZVS when ucr, the
ωd
voltage of the Cr, decreases to zero. After commutation, a
t 2 − t3 new resonant oscillation between Cr and Lr occurs. When
the dc-link resonates up to KUd again, the anti-paralleled
Ud diode of Sc turns on, thus Sc can be turned on under ZVS. If
iLr ( t ) = I Lr (t 2 ) − ⋅t (3)
the inverter bridge does not require commutation, Sc turns
2 Lr
off at a small current Isc, and the dc-link resonates at the
R base voltage of (K-1)Ud. In order to compensate the power
Where α = 2 L , RLr is Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR)
Lr
losses of the resonant circuit and maintain the ZVS
r
condition for the clamping switch, the small-amplitude
1
of Lr. ωd = ω0 − α , ω 0 = C L . IB is the initial current of
2 2 resonant is kept by the periodic switching of Sc. When the
r r next commutation signal comes, the resonant circuit starts a

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new big-amplitude resonance process. Reference [13] gave U d − 2Q
ω0t
π (6)
out a detailed analysis of the two-amplitude control scheme. iLr (t ) = I x' + e cos[ω 0t − ]
Z0 2
Since the inverter only commutates at those zero voltage
intervals, a Discrete Pulse Modulation (DPM) scheme is
applied to the inverter control. According to the waveforms where I’x represents the dc link current after commutation.
of ucr and iLr shown in Fig.3 (b), the dc-link inductor current
can be expressed in the following equations. t3 − t 4

(K −1)Ud (7)
iLr (t) = ILr (t4 ) − ω0t
Z0

2) Small amplitude resonant:

t 4 − t5

(K − 1)U d (8)
iLr (t) = I x − ω0t
Z0
(a) Topology
t5 − t 6
ω t
− 0
2Q π (9)
iLr (t ) = I x − A' e cos[ω 0 t − ( − α ' )]
2
( K − 1)U d 2 2 −1 I Z
where A' = [ ] + I sc ， α ' = tg ( ( K − 1)U )
sc 0
Z0 d

t6 − t7

(K −1)Ud (10)
iLr (t) = I Lr (t6 ) − ω0t
Z0

III. LOSS COMPOSOTION

The two main parts of power electronic devices
dissipation are power losses and control losses. Power
losses include power switch losses and reactive component
losses. Power switch losses are made up of conduction
losses and switching losses. Reactive component losses are
(b) DC-link operation waveforms
mainly caused by magnetic components such as inductors
Fig. 3 Three phase grid-tie ACRDCLI topologies and key waveforms and transformers. The control losses are mainly driver loses.
1) Big amplitude resonant: A. Hard switching inverter
t0 − t1 Hard switching inverter losses include main switches
conduction losses and switching losses.
iLr (t) = I x − (K −1)ω0t (4)
1) Conduction losses: The MOSFET conduction losses
t1 − t 2 can be expressed by
Lon = Ron I o2 (11)
ω t
− 0
2Q π (5) where Io is the RMS value of the load current io(t). If a
iLr (t ) = I x − Ae cos[ ω 0 t − ( − α )]
2 combined MOSFET is used as the main switch, conduction
U Ud losses can be expressed by:
d 2
where A = [( K − 1) Z ] + I bc
2
α = tg −1[ I bc ] Z0
0
, ( K − 1)Z 0 , Q= R
, π /ω π /ω

∫i ∫i
2
Lr Lon = f o {Ron o (t ) ⋅ d (t )dt + Von1 o (t ) ⋅ d (t )dt
Lr Ix represents the dc link current. 0 0
(12)
Z0 = π /ω
Cr , + Von 2 ∫ io (t ) ⋅ [1 − d (t )]dt}
0
t 2 − t3

1078
where output frequency is fo, on resistance of MOSFETs are
Ron, forward voltage drop of series diodes are Von1, and anti-
parallel diodes are Von2.
2) Switching losses: The hard switching waveforms of a
MOSFET are shown in Fig. 4. The switching losses of a
MOSFET can be estimated by using a datasheet [14]. Turn
on losses can be expressed by
Fig. 4 switching transients of the power MOSFET
π
t ri + t fu (t )
Lswon = f sw ⋅ 2U d f o ∫ ω io (t )
0 2
where tfu can be expressed by
t fu (t ) = [U d − Ron io (t )]
Igon can be expressed by
U dr − U plateau
I gon =
Rg
Turn on losses include a reverse recovery process, which
accounts for many of the switching losses. Reverse recovery
losses can be expressed by
π
I rrm π
Lswrr = f sw ⋅ 2U d f o {∫ ω [io (t ) + ]t rra dt + ∫ ω [ o + rrm ]t rrb dt} (16)
0 2 0 2
usually trra is 1.2 times trrb
Turn off losses can be expressed by
π
t fi + t ru (t )
Lswoff = f sw ⋅ 2U d f o ∫ ω io (t )
0 2
where tfu can be expressed by
t ru (t ) = [U d − Ron io (t )]
where
U plateau
I goff = − (19)
Rg
tri,tfi, Cgd , trr, Qrr, Uplateau can read from MOSFET data sheet.
B. Soft switching inverter
Soft switching inverter losses include main circuit losses
and auxiliary circuit losses. Since ARCPI and ACRDCLI do
not inject resonant current to the main switches, their main
conduction losses are the same as hard switching. Usually
main switching losses are omitted because of the soft
switching condition. Auxiliary circuit losses include
auxiliary switch conduction losses, switching losses, and
ESR losses of resonant inductors. Due to the non-linear
feature of the magnetic materials, accurate estimation of the
core loss is very difficult. An RLr proportional to Lr is
defined to estimate the ESR losses.
n ti + 1
Lesr = f ∑ ∫ i Lr (t )R Lr dt
2
ti (20)
i =0
where f is the operating frequency of the resonant inductor.
The ESR losses could be estimated by inserting the deduced
inductor current expression into equation (20) by using the
fundamental loss estimation equation.
For ARCPI, the auxiliary switches have the reverse
recovery issue. Therefore a combined MOSFET can be used
as an auxiliary switch. The resonant inductor and auxiliary
switches carry resonant current. However, since the
auxiliary circuits only work for a short interval and the
auxiliary resonant commutation pole operates at the same
frequency as the inverter, the conduction losses and the ESR
losses are not high. Therefore, the auxiliary losses are
mainly caused by the switching losses of the auxiliary
dt (13) switches.
In ACRDCLI, as waveforms of iLr and iC shown in Fig.3
C gd (b), It can be seen that a two amplitude control scheme
(14) reduces the big-amplitude frequency from a dc-link resonant
I gon
frequency to an inverter commutated frequency. The RMS
current of the clamping stage is thus reduced. Both the
conduction losses on the auxiliary switch and the ESR
(15)
losses on the inductor are reduced. However, in the micro-
power region, the dc-link current is much higher than the
load current. These two losses are still the main contributors
to total system losses.
i (t ) I IV. RESULTS OF LOSS CALCULATIONS
3 400V input, 350W output single phase full bridge
topologies are taken as analysis objects. The main circuit
parameters are shown in Table 1. The main and auxiliary
switches are Infineon CoolMOS transistor SPA11N60C3
and CREE SiC diode C3D06060A [7]. The comparisons of
dt (17) losses are shown in Fig.5. From Fig. 5, we learn that the
main losses on the hard switching circuit are switching on
losses, which are mainly made up from the reverse recovery
C gd losses. If combined MOSFETs are taken as the main
(18)
I goff switches, the HSI could operate at high frequency with quite
low losses. In ARCPI, the saved main switching losses are
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moved to the auxiliary switches. A high efficiency is saved main switching losses. Otherwise the benefits of the
available only if combined MOSFETs are taken as the soft-switching topologies do not yield an adequate
auxiliary switches. But the number of switches in three- advantage in cost and power density which are essential
phase topology will be 12 MOSFETs and 12 diodes. It is measurements in the performance of micro-inverters.
impractical for the micro-inverters. The ACRDCLI does not
have the reverse recovery issue. But the conduction losses V. RESULTS OF SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENT
on the auxiliary switch and the ESR losses on the resonant To facilitate the experiment, we curtailed using a three-
inductor are quite high. It should be pointed out that if the phase inverter by using a single 150W phase inverter for
resonant frequency of the DC-link increases to 500 kHz experimental verification and efficiency measurements. The
while the switching frequency remains unchanged, a greatly efficiency measured does not include the auxiliary power.
reduced dc-link loss is achieved. The magnetic core losses are not included in the simulation
calculations, but are included in the experimental efficiency
TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF THE MAIN CIRCUITS measurements. Table 2 shows the efficiency comparison
Topo Po Ud L C fsw fr control results. The calculated efficiencies are from LTspice
logies (W) (V) (mH) (uF) (kHz) (kHz) simulation, which are marked with [1]. The measured
HSI 350 400 2m 10u 20, -- SPWM efficiencies are from experiments, which are marked with
50
ARCPI 350 400 2m 10u 20, 900 SPWM
[2]. The main and auxiliary switches for LTspice are the
50 Infineon CoolMOS transistor SPA11N60C3. The switches
ACRDCLI 350 400 5m 2.2u 15.4k 200 DPM for the experiment are FCP20N60 for HSI and ARCPI, and
av. 500 STP11NM80 for ACRDCLI. The clamping switch for
ACRDCLI is ST42NM65M5. The DSP control chip is
Hard Switching
dsPIC30F2023 for HSI and ARCPI, DSP28335 for
ACRDCLI.
9
8
CoolMOS 20k
7 CoolMOS&SiC 20k TABLE II. EFFICIENCY COMPARISON
6 CoolMOS&SiC 50k
5
4 Topologies Ud(V) Po(W) fsw(kHz) η(%)[1] η (%)[2]
3
2
1 HSI 400 150 20 97.8 97.1
0 ARCPI 400 150 20 97.7 97.6
conduction switching on switching off total
mains ACRDCLI 400/100 150 15.4 96.3 95.8

ARCPI
Fig.6 and Fig. 7 give out the experimental waveforms of
9
8 ARCPI and ACRDCLI, respectively. In Fig.6 (a), uga1 and
7
6
CoolMOS 20k
uga2 conduct only 1μs to assist the main switches
5
4
CoolMOS&SiC 20k commutation. Fig. 6 (b) shows the inductor current
CoolMOS&SiC 50k
3
2
waveforms and the switching waveform of the main switch.
1 The inductor current has the oscillation caused by the body
0
conduction conduction switching switching ESR total diode. The main switch is soft switched. In Fig. 7, the two-
mains aux main aux
amplitude resonant is realized with predictive control. The
commutation time (middle waveform of Fig. 7 (b)) and the
ACRDCLI
pulse width (middle waveform of Fig. 7 (a)) are predicted
9
8
accurately.
7
6 The measured efficiencies show that ARCPI has the
5 fr=200kHz highest value among the three topologies. But as it has been
4 fr=500kHz
3 mentioned, the complicated control and topology of ARCPI
2 preclude its use in micro-power applications. The resonant
1
0 dc-link creates a ZVS condition to the inverter, but the dc-
conduction
mains
conduction
clamp
switching
clamping
esr inductor total link itself brings losses to the inverter, which make it
impractical for the micro-inverters. The hard switching
Fig.5 Loss composition and comparison topology can compete with ARCPI at a 20kHz switching
frequency. But it is hard to increase the switching frequency
From the loss composition analysis, we learn that the with PWM control and it can not match the high power
soft-switching topologies save the switching losses of the
density requirement of the micro-inverters. Thus developing
main switches, but generate extra losses on the auxiliary
circuit. Moreover, the control and drive for the auxiliary a simpler control scheme for the hard switching topology,
circuit is complex and requires many isolated DC/DC which can increase the switching frequency higher than 100
modules. The auxiliary circuit losses should not exceed the kHz, could be a promising solution for the micro-inverters.

1080
ug1 ug4
uga2
uga1
(a) Drive waveforms (2V/div, 4μs/div)
uds4 (100V/div)
iLr (2A/div)
(b) Commutation pole waveforms (1μs/div)
Fig. 6 experimental waveforms of ARCPI
(a) DC-link resonant waveforms (10μs/div)
up: voltage on clamping switch (50V/div);
middle: driver signal of clamping switch (10V/div);
down: clamping switch current ic (5A/div)
(b) DC-link resonant waveforms (4μs/div)
up: DC-link voltage ucr (50V/div);
middle: driver signal of main switch (10V/div);
down: clamping switch current ic (5A/div)
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(c) DC-link resonant waveforms (4μs/div)
up: voltage on clamping switch (50V/div);
middle: inductor current iLr (10A/div);
down: clamping switch current ic (5A/div)
Fig. 7 experimental waveforms of ACRDCLI
VI. CONCLUTIONS
This paper makes a loss comparison of three
representative three-phase voltage source micro-inverter
topologies: HSI, ARCPI and ACRDCLI. The loss analysis
and calculation results show that considering both efficiency
and cost, the HSI is superior to the other two topologies.
The losses of the ARCPI are lower than the other two
topologies. But the auxiliary resonant circuits are costly and
the controlling and driving circuits are complicated. It is
impractical for micro power applications. The two-
amplitude ACRDCLI has a simple auxiliary circuit but
brings considerable losses to the system and contributes to
reduced efficiency of micro-inverter systems. Therefore,
application of the soft-switching topologies to micro-
inverters should be assessed with these limitations in mind.
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