Analysis of tapped inductor converters in three operating modes for photovoltaic systems with grounded source

In the last decade, the development of the photovoltaic systems connected to the electric system, for residential use, has been increased; in order to contribute with a part of the power during the day. One of the applied concepts is the plug & play (AC module). These systems use an integrated modular converter, formed by the combination, dc-dc converter plus inverter, to adapt the voltage generated by photovoltaic systems to the voltage of the grid. A commonly used version, is the traditional converter, without isolation, it is cheap, light and of high efficiency. A disadvantage is its low voltage conversion ratio. As a solution, a topology tapped inductor buck-boost converter, not-grounded output, in three operating modes, is proposed. The performance is evaluated by an electronic simulator PSpice and it is verified with a prototype. The collected data show the advantages of the presented converter.