Design and Investigation of a DC to DC Converter for a Residential Grid Connected Solar Energy System

Abstract

This article illustrates the investigation of the photovoltaic generation system. The topology of the system is to design a number of PV modules based on control models of DC-DC boost converter and voltage source converter are associated to provide a certain rate of power for a household power demand. The testbed of the system was approached individually. simulation results show a significant improvement in the system in terms of reliability and capability under different irradiances and temperatures.

The topology of the system was designed separately on MATLAB Simulink software. The sizing and modeling rate power of PV panels are achieved under two different irradiances and temperature was assumed constant. A boost converter is designed to be interfaced between PV panels and voltage source converter (VSC) to convert low DC voltage to much higher output DC voltage which represents the input voltage of the voltage source converter (VSC). This conversion of power is achieved by a number of control techniques such as a pulse width modulation (PWM) applied to the semiconductor switch and also the reference signal controlled by PID controller to maintain the output voltage constant. The purpose of the voltage source converter is to convert DC voltage to AC output voltage to be the last conversion stage to achieve the required power for householder demand. The work that has been achieved so far is as follows:

• A study has been carried out in order to understand the application and the technical state of PV modules, dc-dc boost converter, and voltage source converter.
• Calculating the power rate of PV module and size based on load demand assumed at 5 KW.
• Rating power of PV panel has been calculated based on datasheet provided from the manufacturer at 120Vdc, 60A, and 7.2KW.
• DC-DC boost converter has been Designed and evaluated to convert the output of the PV which is 120Vdc to 311Vdc output voltage as a peak value of the output of voltage source converter which would be 220Vac.
• Voltage source converter (VSC) has been designed and investigated based on the output of the boost converter.
• Simulate each stage individually (test check) by using MATLAB/Simulink software.