A DSP-based differential boost inverter with maximum power point tracking

This paper presents a DSP-based differential boost inverter (DBI) with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for photovoltaic (PV) applications. In a conventional DC/AC MPPT system, power of photovoltaic is delivered into two stages, they are DC/DC boost converter and buck type DC/AC inverter. A DC link capacitor appears between these two stages. Furthermore the system has higher complexity and costly than that of DC/AC MPPT system with a single stage boost inverter. Here, a single stage differential boost inverter is implemented. Since it can produce a sinusoidal output voltage higher than its DC voltage input, it is not only able to reduce the stage number of DC/AC MPPT system but also able to eliminate the DC link capacitor. The MPPT method employed in this study is P&O method. This technique is widely used due to its easy implementation, and unimportant extreme weather change consideration. To implement this technique, a digital signal processor (DSP) was used. In this paper, a review of DBI and MPPT implementation are presented. Finally a 400 W laboratory prototype has been built. The result shows that the P&O MPPT method has been successfully implemented for various PV power and it can reach 95% maximum MPPT accuracy. In addition, the DBI is able to produce a sinusoidal output voltage at the various PV power conditions.