Optimization and Design of a Cascaded DC/DC Converter Devoted to Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems

The integration of photovoltaic (PV) modules in buildings causes problems with shadows that can strongly reduce the energy produced by these systems. Moreover, most PV modules are designed for stand-alone applications that have output voltage adapted to lead batteries. Indeed, this historical sizing of PV modules can be discussed in the case of grid-connected systems. In this paper, a cascaded dc/dc converter based on boost chopper is proposed. First, the advantages and the limits of this topology will be shown. Second, this topology will be optimized to maximize the efficiency or minimize the volume. The originality of this optimization is that the converters' parameters and the arrangement of the PV cells are variable parameters. Indeed, the optimization is done on the entire system. To realize these optimizations, semiempiric models of losses and volumes of different components of a boost chopper were developed. The optimization uses a successive quadratic programming algorithm. Considering the optimization results over the whole range of the specifications, a flexible solution is developed and experimental results are presented. Finally, optimized topologies connected to several PV are evaluated at different situations of typical shadows.