EAI International Conference for Research, Innovation and Development for Africa

Research Article

Multilevel power converter for grid-connected residential solar PV system

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.20-6-2017.2270892,
        author={Atanda Raji},
        title={Multilevel power converter for grid-connected residential solar PV system},
        proceedings={EAI International Conference for Research, Innovation and Development for Africa},
        publisher={EAI},
        proceedings_a={ACRID},
        year={2018},
        month={4},
        keywords={grid-connected residential solar photovoltaic system; multilevel power converter; phase lock loop; solar photovoltaic system},
        doi={10.4108/eai.20-6-2017.2270892}
    }
    
  • Atanda Raji
    Year: 2018
    Multilevel power converter for grid-connected residential solar PV system
    ACRID
    EAI
    DOI: 10.4108/eai.20-6-2017.2270892
Atanda Raji1,*
  • 1: Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town
*Contact email: rajia@cput.ac.za

Abstract

This paper presents a multilevel power converter for non-standalone residential solar panel system. A single-phase three level photovoltaic inverter diode clamped multilevel inverter topology is designed and built to demonstrate the benefits and advantages of multilevel inverter in terms of output power quality. Pulse width modulations signal is generated using the microcontroller ATmega328 which generates pulse signals to control all the four switching devices of the inverter. To enable the photovoltaic inverter to be synchronized with the utility grid, a phase locked-loop is used. In addition, a closed loop feedback voltage control is designed to ensure the stability of the inverter input voltage so that the current and the voltage injected into the grid are sinusoidal and remain constant with rapid changes in the prevailing atmospheric conditions.