A switching pattern for single-phase single-stage current source boost inverter

The dc voltage of sustainable energy (SE) sources, such as photovoltaic panels and fuel-cells, are typically boosted and then converted to an ac voltage in a two-stage process. This common topology requires a large electrolytic capacitor, which might reduce the lifetime of the overall system. From the system reliability and efficiency point of view, it is desired to eliminate the use of large electrolytic capacitors, and integrate the boosting and inverting processes into a single-stage converter. In this paper, a switching pattern for a single-phase single-stage dc-ac converter, here called current source boost inverter (CSBI), is formulated for grid-tied applications. The aforementioned desirable features are all integrated into the presented CSBI to enhance the overall system reliability and efficiency. Moreover, in the proposed switching pattern, only one switch is modulated at any period of time to improve the efficiency of CSBI. The developed switching pattern for the grid-tied CSBI is experimentally verified through a single-phase micro-CSBI and the results are presented in this paper.