A Study on PV AC-Module with Active Power Decoupling and Energy Storage System

Abstract

In general, electrolytic capacitors are used to reduce power pulsations on PV-panels. However, this can reduce the reliability of the PV AC-module system, because electrolytic capacitors have a shorter lifetime than PV-panels. In addition, PV-panels generate irregular power and inject it into the grid because the output power of a PV-panel depends on the surrounding conditions such as irradiation and temperature. To solve these problems, a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) AC-module with active power decoupling and energy storage is proposed. A parallel bi-directional converter is connected to the AC module to reduce the output power pulsations of PV-panels. Thus, the electrolytic capacitor can be replaced with a film capacitor. In addition, the irregular output power due to the surrounding conditions can be regulated by using a parallel energy storage circuit. To maintain the discontinuous conduction mode at low irradiation, the frequency control method is adopted. The design method of the proposed converter and the operation principles are introduced. An experimental prototype rated at 125W was built to verify the performance of the proposed converter.