A single‐stage step‐up inverter with reduced devices count

Abstract

This study presents a single-phase single-stage step-up inverter (SSSI), which can be used as an interface converter in micro-source generation systems such as photovoltaic (PV) and fuel cells. The proposed inverter has several appealing features. (1) It can provide an AC output voltage higher than its DC input because of the built-in boost circuit. (2) It has characteristics of a simple structure and reduces the component counts and cost. (3) The shoot-through problem for the power devices can be avoided in the proposed SSSI. (4) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) can be used without reverse recovery issues of body diodes. Therefore, high system reliability and efficiency can be obtained. This study describes the operating principles in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), pulse-width modulation strategy, and parameter design guidelines. In order to verify the feasibility and performance of the converter, experimental results are obtained from a lab prototype.