A Hybrid Converter Based Topology For Solar Powered Shipboard Power Systems

International trading mainly depends upon shipping industry which uses fossil fuels as the major source of fuel for transportation. Excessive use of fossil fuels often leads to environmental pollution. It also has adverse effect on the marine eco system. Hence the fossil fuels can be replaced with renewable sources of energy such as solar energy, wind energy etc. In the conventional methods of connecting a solar panel to a grid or an isolated system, a boost converter and a voltage source inverter are generally used to power simultaneous AC and DC loads. Since the power conversion stages are more for this topology, it has reduced power processing capability. A hybrid converter topology consists of a single converter which is capable of powering both AC as well as DC loads concurrently. A hybrid converter is derived from a boost converter with a voltage source inverter bridge network. This paper presents simulation analysis of hybrid converter for shipboard systems. Simulation is done in MATLAB platform. From the analysis it is found that instead of using two separate power converters in a shipboard power system, a hybrid converter can be used which has higher AC gain, reduced losses, and reduced number of switches. Compactness of the system and higher reliability makes them best suited for shipboard power system.