High Performance Inverter For Renewable Energy Systems

Sérgio Daher; Jürgen Schmid; Fernando Antunes

doi:10.18618/REP.2007.3.253260

Authors

Sérgio Daher University of Kassel - Germany and Federal University of Ceará - Brazil
Jürgen Schmid University of Kassel - Germany
Fernando Antunes Federal University of Ceará - Brazil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18618/REP.2007.3.253260

Keywords:

multilevel inverter, renewable energy, Stand-alone system

Abstract

This paper makes an analysis of the current demand on inverters for stand-alone renewable energy applications, and shows that reliability, surge power capability and efficiency are the most important aspects to be considered. It is shown that multilevel topologies can be very suitable for these applications due to their inherent high efficiency and robustness. In addition, it is shown that an optimized design must be in agreement with the typical load profile for stand-alone applications. A prototype of 3 kVA was implemented and it has proved itself to be robust. Peak efficiency of 96.0% was achieved: value that is higher than similar high performance inverters currently available in the market.

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Author Biographies

Sérgio Daher, University of Kassel - Germany and Federal University of Ceará - Brazil

was born in Fortaleza, Brazil, in 1971. Received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Universidade Federal da Paraíba - Brazil, M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Universidade Federal do Ceará - UFC- Brazil, and Dr. -Ing. in Electrical Engineering from Universität Kassel - Germany (2006). Currently, he is a researcher (CNPq / CT-Energ) at UFC.

Jürgen Schmid, University of Kassel - Germany

was born in Isingen, Germany, in 1944. From 1966 until 1972 he studied Aerospace Technology at Stuttgart University and graduated (PhD) in 1976 at the Dep. of Engineering at Karlsruhe University. From 1972 until 1979 he worked as a scientist at the Institute for Nuclear Process Engineering in Karlsruhe before becoming Project Manager until 1980 at Dornier System Ltd. Prof. Schmid was Head of Dep. of System Engineering at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg from 1981 to 1993. From May 1992 until Dec. 1995 he was Professor at Karlsruhe University. Since 1995, he is Professor/Head of the Dep. for Efficient Energy Conversion at the University of Kassel and simultaneously since 1998 Chairman of the Executive Board at the Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik (ISET).

Fernando Antunes, Federal University of Ceará - Brazil

was born in Cascavel, CE Brazil, in 1956. Received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Federal University of Ceará-Brazil, B.Sc. degree in Business and Administration from the State University of Ceara-Brazil, MSc degree from the University of São Paulo (Brazil), and PhD degree from Loughborough University of Technology – United Kingdom (UK). He is a lecturer at Federal University of Ceará (Brazil). He coordinates the Energy Processing and Control Group of the DEE of the UFC, where research projects are carried out with financial support of public and private partners. He is member of The SOBRAEP, SBA and IEEE.

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