A New Dual-Source Boost Inverter with Reduced Leakage Current for Solar PV Applications

Multilevel inverters (MI) with switched capacitors are a good choice for voltage boosting and integration of renewable energy sources like solar photovoltaic (PV) systems with the power grid. These converters can substantially boost the voltage from low-voltage sources without the need for front front-end boost converter. The work presented here proposes a thirteen-level (13L) MLI. The inverter has a common ground (CG) structure with one of the sources, which is suitable for mitigating the leakage current. The common ground connection shorts the parasitic capacitance between the source negative and the ground making the leakage current almost negligible. The inverter’s working and operation are discussed in detail along with the design of passive components. The converter also has self-balanced capacitors and no H-bridge is used. The converter can also work with a reduced number of levels where one or multiple switches fail. The converter comparison is done in detail with other recently proposed topologies. The converter’s working performance with a change in load and its ability to operate with inductive load and different modulation indices are verified experimentally and through simulations.