APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING DIRECT CURRENT TO ALTERNATING CURRENT

• US 20110026282A1
• Filed: 09/21/2009
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Enphase Energy Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Solarbridge Technologies Incorporated (Totalenergies Se)
• Inventors: Gray, Alexander, Kimball, Jonathan W., Balog, Robert S., Kuhn, Brian T., Chapman, Patrick L., Krein, Philip T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,279,642 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 363/65
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/38 Arrangements for parallely feeding a single network by two or more generators, converters or transformers
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/007 Plural converter units in cascade push-pull DC/DC converters with pre-regulator H02M3/3374; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC stage including a high frequency transformer H02M7/4807; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC conversion stage generating periodically varying voltages H02M7/4826
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/12 Arrangements for reducing harmonics from ac input or output
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/15 using active elements
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 5/458 using semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/48 using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode

Abstract

An inverter for converting an input direct current (DC) waveform from a DC source to an output alternating current (AC) waveform for delivery to an AC grid includes an input converter, an output converter, and an active filter, each of which is electrically coupled to a bus. The bus may be a DC bus or an AC bus. The input converter is configured to convert the input DC waveform to a DC or AC bus waveform. The output converter is configured to convert the bus waveform to the output AC waveform at a grid frequency. The active filter is configured to reduce a double-frequency ripple power of the bus waveform by supplying power to and absorbing power from the power bus.

Claims

1. An inverter for converting an input direct current (DC) waveform from a DC source to an output alternating current (AC) waveform for delivery to an AC grid, the inverter comprising:

an input converter electrically coupled to a power bus and including a transformer, the input converter being configured to convert the input DC waveform to a bus waveform supplied to the power bus;

an output converter electrically coupled to the power bus and configured to convert the bus waveform to the output AC waveform at a grid frequency; and

an active filter electrically coupled to the power bus and configured to reduce a double-frequency ripple power of the bus waveform by supplying power to and absorbing power from the power bus.

2. The inverter of claim 1, wherein the power bus is a DC bus and the bus waveform is a first DC waveform.

3. The inverter of claim 2, wherein the input converter comprises a first inverter circuit electrically coupled to the DC source and a primary winding of the transformer, the first inverter circuit being configured to convert the input DC waveform to a first AC waveform at a first frequency and the transformer configured to converter the first AC waveform to a second AC waveform at the first frequency.

4. The inverter of claim 3, wherein the input converter further comprises a rectifier circuit electrically coupled to a secondary winding of the transformer and the power bus, the rectifier circuit configured to rectify the second AC waveform to produce the first DC waveform.

5. The inverter of claim 4, wherein the input converter comprises an isolated boost converter electrically connected to the DC source and the first inverter circuit.

6. The inverter of claim 4, wherein the output converter comprises a second inverter circuit electrically coupled to the power bus and configured to convert the first DC waveform to the output AC waveform.

7. The inverter of claim 6, wherein the output converter further comprises a filter circuit electrically coupled to the second inverter circuit and configured to filter the output AC waveform.

8. The inverter of claim 5, wherein the active filter comprises a bridge circuit electrically coupled to an inductor-capacitor (LC) circuit.

9. The inverter of claim 6, wherein the active filter is configured to maintain a substantially constant voltage across the second inverter circuit.

10. The inverter of claim 6, wherein the output AC waveform comprises an average component and a time-varying component, the active filter configured to supply substantially all of the time-varying component of the output AC waveform.

11. The inverter of claim 10, wherein the time-varying component comprises a component having a frequency substantially equal to twice the grid frequency.

12. The inverter of claim 10, wherein the active filter comprises a third inverter circuit and an energy storage device.

13. The inverter of claim 12, wherein the third inverter circuit configured to control the time-varying component of the output AC waveform by controlling a time-varying current of the energy storage device.

14. The inverter of claim 12, the third inverter circuit configured to generate a third AC waveform at the energy storage device, the third AC waveform having a frequency substantially equal to a harmonic frequency of the grid frequency.

15. The inverter of claim 14, wherein the third AC waveform is shifted by π

/4 radians relative to a phase of the output AC waveform.

16. The inverter of claim 12, wherein the third inverter circuit is a full bridge circuit.

17. The inverter of claim 1, wherein transformer includes a tertiary winding, the active filter being connected to the tertiary winding.

18. The inverter of claim 17, wherein the active filter includes a rectifier circuit connected to the tertiary winding, an inverter circuit connected to the rectifier circuit, and an energy storage device.

19. The inverter of claim 1, wherein the transformer includes a tertiary winding and the power bus is a first DC bus, the inverter further comprising a second DC bus electrically coupled to the tertiary winding.

20. The inverter of claim 1, wherein the transformer includes a tertiary winding and the power bus is a first AC bus, the inverter further comprising a second AC bus electrically coupled to the tertiary winding.

21. The inverter of claim 20, wherein the active filter is connected to the second AC bus, the active filter comprising an energy storage device connected to a center tap of the tertiary winding.

22. The inverter of claim 1, wherein the power bus is an AC bus and the input converter is a one of a voltage-sourced full bridge converter and a voltage-sourced push-pull converter.

23. The inverter of claim 1, wherein the power bus is an AC bus and the input converter is one of a current-sourced full bridge converter and a current-sourced push-pull converter.

24. The inverter of claim 1, wherein:

the power bus is an AC bus and the bus waveform is a first AC waveform having a first frequency, and

the output converter comprises a frequency converter circuit configured to convert the second AC waveform to a third AC waveform at the grid frequency.

25. The inverter of claim 1, further comprising a controller circuit electrically coupled to the input converter, the controller circuit configured to control the input converter to generate the bus waveform based on a maximum power point tracking of the DC source.

26. The inverter of claim 1, further comprising a controller circuit electrically coupled to the output converter, the controller circuit configured to control the output converter to generate the output AC waveform using pulse width modulation.

27. The inverter of claim 1, further comprising a controller circuit electrically coupled to the active filter, the controller circuit configured to control the active filter to supply a time-varying waveform to the power bus to reduce the double-frequency ripple power.

28. The inverter of claim 1, wherein the DC source is a photovoltaic cell.

29. The inverter of claim 1, wherein the DC source is a fuel cell.

30. An apparatus comprising:

a solar panel comprising a solar cell configured to generate a first direct current (DC) waveform in response to receiving an amount of sunlight;

an inverter coupled to the solar cell panel and configured to receive the first DC waveform and convert the first DC waveform to an output alternating current (AC) waveform, the inverter comprising;

an input converter electrically coupled the solar cell and a DC bus, the input converter configured to convert the first DC waveform to a second DC waveform supplied to the DC bus;

an output converter electrically coupled to the DC bus and configured to convert the second DC waveform to the output AC waveform at a first frequency; and

an active filter electrically coupled to the DC bus and configured to reduce a double-frequency ripple power of the second DC waveform by supplying power to and absorbing power from DC power bus.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the input converter comprises a first inverter circuit and a transformer,

the first inverter circuit (i) being electrically coupled to the solar cell and a primary winding of the transformer and (ii) configured to convert the first DC waveform to a first AC waveform at a first frequency, and

the transformer being configured to convert the first AC waveform to a second AC waveform at the first frequency.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the input converter further comprises a rectifier circuit electrically coupled to a secondary winding of the transformer and the DC bus, the rectifier circuit configured to rectify the second AC waveform to produce the second DC waveform.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the output converter comprises a second inverter circuit electrically coupled to the DC bus and configured to convert the second DC waveform to the output AC waveform.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the active filter comprises an energy storage device and a third inverter circuit configured to generate a third AC waveform at the energy storage device, the third AC waveform having a frequency substantially equal to a harmonic frequency of the grid frequency.

35. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the inverter further comprises a controller circuit electrically coupled to the input converter, the controller circuit configured to control the input converter to generate the second DC waveform based on a maximum power point tracking of the solar cell.

36. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the inverter further comprises a controller circuit electrically coupled to the output converter, the controller circuit configured to control the output converter to generate the output AC waveform using pulse width modulation.

37. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the inverter further comprises a controller circuit electrically coupled to the active filter, the controller circuit configured to control the active filter to supply a time-varying waveform to the DC bus to reduce the double-frequency ripple power.

38. An inverter comprising:

a direct current (DC) bus,

an input converter electrically coupled to the DC bus, the input converter comprising (i) a transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding, (ii) a first inverter circuit electrically coupled to the primary winding and configured to convert an input DC waveform to a first alternating current (AC) waveform at the primary winding, the transform being configured to convert the first AC waveform to a second AC waveform, and (iii) a rectifier circuit electrically coupled to the secondary winding and the DC bus, the rectifier circuit being configured to rectify the second AC waveform to produce a second DC waveform on the DC bus;

an output converter electrically coupled to the DC bus, the output converter comprising a second inverter circuit electrically coupled to the DC bus and configured to convert the second DC waveform to an output AC waveform suitable for delivery to an AC grid; and

an active filter electrically coupled to the DC bus to reduce a double-frequency ripple power of the second DC waveform by supplying power to and absorbing power from DC power bus.

39. The inverter of claim 38, wherein the active filter comprises an energy storage device and a third inverter circuit configured to generate a third AC waveform at the energy storage device, the third AC waveform having a frequency substantially equal to a harmonic frequency of the grid frequency.

40. The inverter of claim 38, further comprising a controller circuit electrically coupled to the input converter, the controller circuit configured to control the input converter to generate the second DC waveform based on a maximum power point tracking of the solar cell.

41. The inverter of claim 38, further comprising a controller circuit electrically coupled to the output converter, the controller circuit configured to control the output converter to generate the output AC waveform using pulse width modulation.