GaN-Based mostly Single-Section String Inverter Reference Design

The design encompasses a two-channel string inverter with full bidirectional energy. It combines PV inputs and battery storage and helps as much as 10kW output.

As demand for photovoltaic techniques rises, inverters have gotten more and more essential in making photo voltaic vitality extra accessible for residential use and advancing the transition to renewable vitality. String inverters, recognized for his or her modularity, low cost-per-watt, and straightforward scalability to attain increased energy ranges, are significantly well-suited for the single-phase market. Hybrid string inverters improve this setup by including vitality storage capabilities, maximizing energy utilization from photovoltaic inputs, and offering an alternate means to produce the grid throughout nighttime or durations of low daylight. These inverters combine photovoltaic panel energy level monitoring with an inverter stage and bidirectional performance to include a battery stage, necessitating increased energy density and effectivity. Gallium Nitrate (GaN) Discipline-Impact Transistors (FETs) considerably improve these techniques by supporting excessive switching frequencies that enable for smaller electromagnetic interference (EMI) filters and warmth sinks, thus making the techniques extra compact and light-weight whereas bettering the design’s kind issue. 

The reference design from Texas Devices (TI) demonstrates the implementation of a two-channel single-phase string inverter with absolutely bidirectional energy circulate, combining photovoltaic enter performance with a Battery Vitality Storage System (BESS) that helps a variety of battery voltages. It contains two string inputs, every able to supporting as much as 10 photovoltaic (PV) panels in collection, and one port for an vitality storage system that accommodates battery stacks from 50V to 500V. The system can ship as much as 10kW from the string inputs to the BESS. The configurable DC-AC converter is designed to produce as much as 4.6kW to a single-phase grid at 230V. Management over the three energy levels is managed by a single C2000 MCU.

Functions of this expertise embrace string inverters and energy conversion techniques (PCS). These are vital parts in remodeling and regulating electrical energy for numerous makes use of. String inverters effectively convert the direct present (DC) produced by photovoltaic (PV) panels into alternating present (AC) appropriate for residential and industrial grids. On the similar time, energy conversion techniques handle the circulate and high quality of electrical energy, making certain compatibility and stability in vitality techniques.

The options of this technique embody a bidirectional DC/DC stage that may be configured for a variety of battery voltages and a configurable DC/AC stage that helps numerous modulation schemes, together with HERIC, H-Bridge Unipolar, and Bipolar. The system achieves a 2× enchancment in energy density, enhancing the portability of photo voltaic inverters with a density of two.5kW/L, making them lighter and simpler to put in. It additionally boasts low complete losses of lower than 2%, which maximizes photo voltaic vitality seize and improves the effectivity of battery vitality storage. The management of the whole board is managed by a novel MCU, optimizing prices because the MCU floor. This configuration permits non-isolated drives on all GaN units to streamline the design and scale back complexity.

TI has examined this reference design. It comes with a invoice of supplies (BOM), schematics, meeting drawing, printed circuit board (PCB) format, and extra. The corporate’s web site has further knowledge concerning the reference design. To learn extra about this reference design, click on right here.