Browsing by Author "Costa, J. M. Dores"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Modular buck-boost transformerless grid-tied inverter for low voltage solar panelsPublication . Nunes, Hugo; Pimenta, Nelson; Fernandes, Luís; Chaves, Paulo; Costa, J. M. DoresThis paper deals with a transformerless AC module for low DC voltage output photovoltaic solar panels. The DC to AC converter was designed to be a single-phase grid-tied inverter, and is based on a buck-boost topology with current mode control to shape the current and to adjust delivered power. The common ground node prevents voltage fluctuations and increases people´s safety. Low power inverters tend to be less efficient than larger ones and are prone to higher harmonic distortion. To overcome these drawbacks, special care was taken in designing the power stage, and harmonic compensation was included in the control stage. The inverter has MPPT capability and operates with unity power factor. Inverter´s operation is analysed, and some simulation results are presented. A 220Wp two-stage single-phase AC module prototype, with 240V and 50Hz sine-wave output, was build and connected to a low voltage photovoltaic solar panel. Experimental results for this plug-and-play converter are here presented.
- Voltage Spikes in Integrated CMOS Buck DC-DC Converters: Analysis for Resonant and Hard Switching TopologiesPublication . Rocha, José F. da; Santos, Marcelino B. dos; Costa, J. M. DoresIn an integrated DC-DC converter, voltage spikes are generated during the commutation of the power switches and they may cause the device malfunction if its magnitude is excessive. That occurs when, targeting high efficiency, very fast switching is implemented in a low voltage CMOS process, with higher impact when the converter output current is high. These conditions that cause spikes of significant magnitude, in the order of Volts, are common in modern DC-DC converters for portable equipment powered by batteries. Magnitude limitation of voltage spikes in hard switching converters is a hot research topic and the known solutions are surveyed here. Resonant switches topologies are frequently mentioned as an alternative to overcome voltage spikes in a DC-DC converter, but generally this solution is dismissed in integrated implementations. This paper investigates if the resonant topologies are an effective solution to overcome voltage spikes during the switches commutation in a buck converter. Two buck DC-DC converters using resonant switches are analyzed, namely a QR-ZCS topology and a QSW- ZVS topology. The analysis proceeds in two steps that can be easily applied to other resonant converters. Results show that resonant DC-DC converters also generate voltage spikes which magnitude is sometimes higher than that generated in a hard switching converter, and is superimposed to the overvoltage occurring in the resonant phase. This is an important result since resonant, or soft switching, converters are occasionally mistakenly mentioned as free of voltage spikes.