A solar inverter or photovoltaic (PV) inverter is a type of power inverter which converts the variable direct current (DC) output of a photovoltaic solar panel into a utility frequency alternating current (AC) that can be fed into a commercial electrical grid or used by a local, off-grid electrical network. It is a critical balance of system (BOS)–component in a photovoltaic system, allowing the use of ordinary AC-powered equipment. Solar power inverters have special functions adapted for use with photovoltaic arrays, including maximum power point tracking and anti-islanding protection. Classification Solar inverters may be classified into four broad types:

Stand-alone inverters, used in stand-alone power systems where the inverter draws its DC energy from batteries charged by photovoltaic arrays. Many stand-alone inverters also incorporate integral battery chargers to replenish the battery from an AC source when available. Normally these do not interface in any way w

Harvesting the ﬂexibility of energy communities from a DSO perspective

Antoine Zürcher

As non-controllable power sources, photovoltaics can create overvoltage and overloading in low voltage (LV) distribution feeders during periods of high generation and low demand. This is usually prevented passively by limiting the penetration level of PV to very conservative values, even if the critical periods rarely occur. Alternatively, one can use active power curtailment techniques, reducing the amount of active power injected by the PV inverters. In this way, it is possible to prevent overvoltage of the network buses and overloading of the network lines. This study investigates an approach for controlling the PV power generated in the town of Rolle, Switzerland, equipped with a large number of rooftop PV systems. Simulations of a one year period with typical solar irradiance and load proﬁles are conducted to assess the quantity of PV generation that needs to be curtailed to avoid violated constraints. A comparison between the economical loss of the curtailed power and the economical cost of the reinforcement of the grid to reach a safe operation of the network is proposed. This allows to give the distribution system operator an overview of which method is economically proﬁtable. The study shows that the curtailment of the PV systems is less proﬁtable than reinforcing the network.

2020

Modélisation et réglage d'un entraînement à haute performance par un moteur réluctant

Michel Girardin

Usually, each phase of the direct reluctance motor is fed separately by its own inverter producing a squarewave phase current depending on the rotor position. In the present work, a star-connection of the three stator phases is used and the direct reluctance motor is fed by a three-phase switched inverter. The space phasor theory shows that three-phase sinewave currents can produce a constant electromagnetic torque. In this case, the rotating reference frame rotates at half of the rotor speed and in the opposite direction. This command strategy allows to reduce the stator deformation due to the electromagnetic radial force which is very high in this type of motor and which is mainly responsible for the acoustic noise. The electromagnetic torque control is realised by a sliding mode control of the three phase currents. In the rotating reference frame, it is possible to show that the eight commutation states of the switched inverter are placed around an ellipse in the complex plane of the derivatives of the space phasor of the phase current. A study of this ellipse has allowed to determine the maximal torque as a function of the speed for a given continuous voltage. It is important to insure that the torque reference will never exceed this limitation in order to avoid a pullout phenomenon, highly unwanted in the speed control. Despite the fact that the resolver inside the casing of the direct reluctance motor produces a small periodic error, it is accurate enough for the position measurement and to produce the three current references. However, the derivative of the position measurement provides a speed evaluation with such a ripple that the speed control cannot be outstanding. So, for the speed measurement, an additional laser rotary encoder is used. The experimental study in the steady-state mode of the speed control shows the presence of an electromagnetic torque ripple. This is a residual ripple caused by the dissimilarity between the stator poles teeth-shapes and the magnetic saturation effect. Although this torque ripple is rather low compared with the usual command strategy, two methods are proposed in order to compensate it. The first method is based on the use of a correction factor depending on the tooth angle. First, in steady-state conditions, the correction factor is stored off-line in a table. Then it is used in-line as a feedforward disturbance compensation. The second method of reducing the residual torque ripple consists in implementing an observer of variable disturbance. This is a disturbance observer able to determine the frequency content of the torque ripple. For instance, in order to observe the continuous component, the fundamental wave as well as the harmonics 2, 3, and 6, the observer must have ten poles. The main difficulty to deal with such an observer is the fact that each pole moves quickly as a function of the motor speed. So, in order to guarantee the observer stability over a large range of speed, the poles are located dynamically regarding to the motor speed by the way of a discontinuous adaptation of the feedforward coefficients. The theoretical study and the numerical simulation have allowed to formulate some criteria about the way of locating the poles. Experimental results confirm the efficiency of the observer of variable disturbance in order to reduce the electromagnetic torque ripple.

EPFL2000

Investigation and control of a hybrid asymmetric multi-level inverter for medium-voltage applications

Martin Veenstra

Power-electronic inverters are becoming popular for various industrial drives applications. In recent years also high-power and medium-voltage drive applications have been installed. However, the existing solutions suffer from some important drawbacks. Hybrid asymmetric multi-level inverters promise significant improvements for medium-voltage applications. This dissertation investigates such a hybrid inverter. To simplify the topology, some inverter parts are deprived of their feeding from the net and can only supply reactive power. The non-supplied intermediate-circuit capacitor voltages are inherently unstable and require a suitable control method for converter operation, preferably without influence on the load. Apart from normal operation, also converter start-up is an issue to consider, for which it is desirable to limit additional equipment. In this dissertation, we investigate the behaviour of this new inverter, and develop methods to obtain its reliable operation for the considered applications. These methods include modulation, voltage stabilization and start-up. We establish suitable models for their foundation. The principle achievement of this work is the development of a control method to stabilize a multitude of capacitor voltages which have no equilibrium state. Power balancing is performed by varying the common-mode output voltage, using a non-linear model-predictive controller. This method, which is new to power electronics, is applied to our hybrid asymmetric nine-level inverter driving an asynchronous motor. Computer simulations and measurements on an experimental drive system demonstrate stable behaviour in steady-state and during transients over the whole operating range. The obtained results prove the possible implementation of such a complex control algorithm for fast real-time operation. As second important accomplishment, this thesis proposes a start-up method that charges the non-supplied intermediate-circuit capacitors in parallel with the supplied ones, without additional equipment. Measurements show its successful application in the investigated drive system.