High efficiency wide load range buck/boost/bridge photovoltaic micro-converter

• Main Authors: HESTER RICHARD KNIGHT, DHOPLE SAIRAJ VIJAYKUMAR, SRIDHAR NAGARAJAN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 28.04.2015
• Subjects: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC,OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWERSUPPLY SYSTEMS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTINGELECTRIC POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF; CONTROLLING; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUTPOWER; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; ELECTRICITY; GENERATION; PHYSICS; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY

Series strings of photovoltaic (PV) modules with integrated dc-dc microconverters that can function in buck, boost, or an intermediate bridge mode based on the load can harvest more energy than conventional central-inverter architectures, especially when the arrays are partially shaded or when the modules are mismatched. The integrated multi-mode dc-dc converter includes a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm that can track the true MPP, even when a PV module becomes partially-shaded, without scanning the entire output voltage range. The algorithm compares power levels only at a voltage that occurs when a bypass diode bypasses a portion of an associated PV module, and multiples thereof.