A compact SiC photovoltaic inverter with maximum power point tracking function

作者：Ando Yuji; Oku Takeo^*; Yasuda Masashi; Shirahata Yasuhiro; Ushijima Kazufumi; Murozono Mikio

来源：Solar Energy, 2017, 141: 228-235.

DOI：10.1016/j.solener.2016.11.041

• Silicon carbide
• Solar cell
• Inverter
• Photovoltaic device
• Maximum power point tracking
• Lithium-ion battery

A compact 150W photovoltaic inverter was developed using SiC devices, which integrated a maximum power point tracking charge controller and a direct current (DC) - alternating current (AC) converter into a single module. The DC-AC converter circuit was built with four SiC metal-oxidesemiconductor field-effect transistors, while the DC-DC converter circuit built with four SiC Schottky barrier diodes. An increase of the switching frequency led to the module of a reduced size (250 x 180 x 28 mm(3)), which is just one third volume of a commercial Si-based inverter available today. Besides being compact, the conversion efficiency of the DC-AC converter was approximately 3% higher than that of the commercial Si-based inverter. In addition, the MPPT controller showed a conversion efficiency exceeding 96%, which raised the total efficiency under practical operation conditions up to 86%.

• 出版日期2017-1-1