DC-Link voltage control of a multifunctional PV-GCVSI to reduce VSI switching losses

The reference input dc voltage of grid connected voltage source inverter (GCVSI) is altered in this article based on power (both active and reactive) injection from GCVSI for minimising inverter switching losses, and total harmonic distortion (THD) of grid current. If the GCVSI is exclusively used for actual power injection from the photo-voltaic (PV) system to the utility grid, the needed input dc voltage of GCVSI is twice the utility grid phase peak voltage. According to the literature, GCVSI is also used to compensate for power quality issues, and in these circumstances, the dc-link voltage value is determined by the maximum power injection of GCVSI. Under reduced load, and reduced power generation from the PV system, keeping maximum GCVSI input dc voltage reference causes extra voltage stress at GCVSI switches, and the grid current THD is worse due to high ripple current in filter inductance. Therefore, to reduce the inverter switching losses and to improve the grid current THD, the relationship between the GCVSI input dc voltage reference and the power flow from GCVSI has been formulated. The proposed work is verified using simulation studies, as well as hardware studies, and the results are compared with existing methods for validation.