Optimal Design of a Flyback Microinverter Operating under Discontinuous-Boundary Conduction Mode (DBCM)

Abstract

The flyback converter has been widely used in Photovoltaic microinverters, operating either in Discontinuous, Boundary, or Continuous Conduction Mode (DCM, BCM, CCM). The recently proposed hybrid DBCM operation inherits the merits of both DCM and BCM. In this work, the necessary analytical equations describing the converter operation for any given condition under DBCM are derived, and are needed due to the hybrid nature of the modulation strategy during each sinusoidal wave. Based on this analysis, a design optimization sequence used to maximize the weighted efficiency of the inverter under DBCM is then applied. The design procedure is based on a power loss analysis for each converter component and focuses on the appropriate selection of the converter parameters. To achieve this, accurate, fully parameterized loss models of the converter components are implemented. The power loss analysis is then validated by applying the optimization methodology to build an experimental prototype operating in DBCM.

Keywords

• power electronics
• renewable energy sources
• DC-AC converters
• energy efficiency
• design methodology
• photovoltaic power systems