RT20 | Performance Validation of A Novel Single-Phase Micro-inverter for PV Systems Using Real-Time Simulation

​This work introduces a novel single-phase micro-inverter fit to process the power of two photovoltaic (PV) modules; in a modular way. The proposed topology combines a full bridge inverter integrated with two DC-DC boost converters, in addition to a DC link consists of switched capacitor (SC) networks. A new factor, called quality factor, is introduced to evaluate the proposed topology in comparison to previous solutions. The proposed topology achieves quality factor of about twice of previous solutions. This proves the advantage of the proposed topology in comparison previous solutions. Compared to other transformer-less micro-inverters, the proposed one can be operated with single or dual inputs and offers an adjustable higher voltage gain to be used worldwide. Moreover, multilevel shaping of the output voltage reduces the harmonic contents of the output voltage and, in turns, reduces the THD, conformant to IEEE 519. Real-time simulation using RT-LAB of Opal-RT (OP4510) is used to verify the performance of the 7-level version of the proposed topology under grid-tie conditions at different operating conditions; single PV input, two PV inputs and during partial shading conditions. The results confirm the superiority of the proposed topology. The results reported a boosting voltage gain of 14 with an efficiency of 91% and fully distributed MPPT.