electronics

Article
Extending the Input Voltage Range of Solar PV Inverters with
Supercapacitor Energy Circulation
Kosala Gunawardane 1 , Nalin Bandara 1 , Kasun Subasinghage 1, * and Nihal Kularatna 2

1 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Auckland University of Technology,

Auckland 1010, New Zealand; [email protected] (K.G.); [email protected] (N.B.)
2 Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Waikato,
Hamilton 3216, New Zealand; [email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract: Cleaner and greener energy sources have proliferated on a worldwide basis, creating
distributed energy systems. Given the unreliable nature of the renewable sources such as solar
and wind, they are traditionally based on inverters interfaced with legacy AC grid systems. While
efficiency, output waveform quality and other technical specifications of inverters keep improving
gradually, only limited attention is given to widening the input range of inverters. This paper
presents a new supercapacitor assisted (SCA) technique to widen the input range of an inverter
without modifying the inverter itself. Developing a prototype version of a 24 V DC input capable
supercapacitor-assisted wide input (SCASWI) inverter using a supercapacitor circulation front end
and a commercial 12 V DC line frequency inverter is detailed in the article, explaining how the
SCASWI inverter technique doubles the input voltage while maintaining the useful characteristics of
the commercial inverter. The new technique has the added advantage of DC-UPS capability based on
a long-life supercapacitor module.






Keywords: solar energy; inverter; supercapacitor; DC-UPS
Citation: Gunawardane, K.;
Bandara, N.; Subasinghage, K.;
Kularatna, N. Extending the Input
Voltage Range of Solar PV Inverters
1. Introduction
with Supercapacitor Energy
Circulation. Electronics 2021, 10, 88.
Minimizing emissions, moving away from fossil fuels, and developing more environment-
https://doi.org/10.3390/ friendly alternative energy resources have become the modern trend of energy-related research
electronics10010088 on a worldwide basis. Along with this trend, the distributed generation of clean renewable
energy technologies has emerged widely, helping to address geographical and socio-economic
Received: 17 November 2020 challenges in developing countries, considering that around 20% of the world’s population
Accepted: 28 December 2020 have no access to electricity [1,2]. One of the renewable sources that receives much attention
Published: 4 January 2021 in this context of solving both environmental and accessibility concerns is solar photovoltaic
(PV) power. With the steadily increasing penetration of residential and small commercial PV
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu- generation, interest has grown in utilizing this renewable generation source to support clean
tral with regard to jurisdictional clai- power generation. The output of a solar photovoltaic generator is DC and hence it requires an
ms in published maps and institutio- inverter to interface with the normal AC utility supply in a building or a complex of buildings.
nal affiliations. The inverter is an essential piece of equipment that converts the direct current (DC) power from
the PV array to alternating current (AC) both in grid-connected generation and stand-alone
applications [3].
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Li-
An inverter is a critical component in PV generation and there are different energy
censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
extraction characteristics for different inverter configurations. At present, typical inverter
This article is an open access article configurations used in a solar PV system include central, string and micro inverter-based
distributed under the terms and con- PV systems. Figure 1 shows the conceptual block diagrams of these three inverter configu-
ditions of the Creative Commons At- rations [4].
tribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).

Electronics 2021, 10, 88. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10010088 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics

Electronics 2021, 10, 88 2 of 17

Figure 1. Configurations of PV system: (a) Centralised system; (b) Detached microinverter system; (c) String system [4].

A central inverter is a high-capacity inverter designed for use with large commercial
or utility (power station) sized solar systems as shown in Figure 1a. A string inverter is
connected to a series of solar panels and converts the power from DC into AC, for the
entire solar system as shown in Figure 1c.
A string inverter will usually be located a short distance away from the PV array in a
sheltered location between the solar array and the switchboard. This is the most common
type of inverter used in residential and small /medium commercial systems. Micro-
inverters are attached to each panel in the solar panel system and DC to AC conversion is
done individually as shown in Figure 1b. Micro-inverters best suit partially shaded roofs
so that shade affecting one panel will not affect other unshaded panels and is useful on
roofs that are too small to enable a string of panels to be installed. Over the past few years,
the solar energy has become a feasible solution wherever solar radiation is accessible and
the number of residential-scale photovoltaic (PV) generators is rapidly increasing [5,6]. As
investment in solar energy rapidly increases worldwide, so does the market share of the
various inverter configurations [7].
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 3 of 17

In the context of current inverter research, improving the efficiency of inverters has re-
ceived much attention for utilizing all possible extracted solar power generation. Google’s
little box challenge in 2014 [8] was a classic example that showed how the interest among
power electronics research communities led to thinking outside the box about developing
high power density inverters while reducing power losses to increase the efficiency. Nev-
ertheless, only limited attention for such research is reported in the published literature
investigating and improving other important characteristics of PV inverters. Currently, in-
dividual Micro PV inverter designs are available in specific input ranges such as 12 V, 24 V,
and 48 V for various application purposes [9]. There are practical and economic limitations
which motivate having a limited input voltage range so as to standardize inverter designs
as far as possible.
However, according to the literature, only a limited number of inverter configurations
are available having wider input ranges and providing the feasibility of using a single
inverter for a wider range of applications [10]. ABSOPULSE Electronics [11] has developed
a microprocessor-controlled inverter delivering up to 100 VA sine wave output power
which offers a wide operating input range of 20–60 VDC (24 VDC, 36 VDC, and 48 VDC
input sources in a single unit). Since such an inverter works on all three input voltages,
this also simplifies its use in numerous applications in electrical utilities, power plants,
telecomms, and for industrial automation and control. The downside of these inverters is
the typical efficiency being in the moderate range around 80% at full load and also, they are
comparatively expensive. These research gaps motivated us to extend the supercapacitor
assisted loss management (SCALoM) theory [12–14], developed by our wider research
group in New Zealand to develop this SCAWI-PV inverter technique.
SCALoM theory is an extension of the traditional R-C circuit by (i) adding a power
electronics building block (PEBB) into RC the loop, and (ii) replacing the capacitor with
a device several orders of magnitude larger. Based on this concept, numerous superca-
pacitor assisted (SCA) power converter circuit topologies have already been successfully
developed over the last 10 years by our two research groups jointly in New Zealand
with multiple patents and publications. A few examples are SCA low dropout regula-
tor (SCALDO) [14,15], SCA surge absorber (SCASA) [16], SCA wide input PV inverter
(SCAWI-PV Inverter), and SCA light-emitting diodes (SCALED) [17].
In this research, the SCALoM operating principle is applied to the development of
a SCAWI-PV inverter. New versions of supercapacitors come in capacitances from 0.2 F
to 7500 F but have the limitation of very low DC voltage ratings from 0.7 V to 4 V [18–20].
Furthermore, these new developments and the availability of supercapacitors with higher
capacitances in a small can size with low ESRs make compact versions of SCA applications
a reality [21].
In this paper, the design and development of SCAWI-PV inverter are discussed along
with the following structure. Section 2 provides a summary of SCALoM theory. Section 3
provides the conceptual background of the supercapacitor assisted wide input PV inverter
(SCAWI-PV inverter) and its operational modes thereby extending the application scope of
SCALoM theory. Section 4 illustrates the details of the integration of the DC-UPS capability
into the SCAWI-PV inverter. Section 5 shows the prototype implementation of widening the
input voltage range of a 12–120 V commercial inverter to be used as 24–120 V inverter with
a supercapacitor circulation at the front end and shows the verification of the theoretical
claims with the experimental results.

2. Supercapacitor Assisted Loss Management (SCALoM) Theory

The SCALOM theory is an extension of the traditional textbook Resistor-Capacitor
(RC) circuit theory in a way to achieve higher charging efficiency in the charging loop using
the advantage of a large time constant of a supercapacitor combined with partially charging
state along with a useful resistive load in the loop. Starting from the traditional RC theory,
the fundamental background of this theory is described in three stages (Sections 2.1–2.3)
as follows:
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 4 of 17

2.1. Adding a Useful Load into Traditional RC Charging Loop

In a simple RC charging circuit as shown in Figure 2a, an uncharged capacitor starting
from a zero-charge achieves an energy content of 12 CVS2 after about 5RC time constants if
the input source voltage is VS .

Figure 2. R-C circuit leading into SCA techniques: (a) The basic RC circuit, (b) RC circuit and added
useful resistance RL .

During this time, the resistive components (rp : parasitic circuit resistance) in the loop
wastes an equal amount of energy (Er p ) irrespective of the value of its resistance, so the
charging process is 50% efficient. This loss can be written as in Equation (1).

1
Er p = CV 2 , (1)
2
The simple RC circuit can be modified as shown in Figure 2b by inserting another
resistive load in series with rp as a useful resistive load (RL ) which is a power electronics
building block (PEEB) such as, a loaded DC-DC converter, a loaded inverter, or any other
“useful” resistive load (i.e., a heating element). When the circuit is modified by inserting
RL , total loop resistance becomes (rp + RL ) and the wasted energy due to rp is negligible if
RL >> rp . Therefore, the energy loss due to rp is now reduced as defined in Equation (2).

rp
 
1 2
Er p = CV , (2)
2 r p + RL

Then, the overall charging efficiency of the system in Figure 2b, can be expressed as:

rp
  
1
η= 1− × 100% , (3)
2 r p + RL

2.2. Inserting a Partially Charged Supercapacitor into the Charging Loop

Figure 3 depicts the second modification to the case in Figure 2a by inserting a
supercapacitor into the charging loop, with a pre-charge voltage of kVW together with the
supply voltage increased to Vs = mVw.
This is to take the advantages of a high charge/discharge capability of supercapacitors
as well as the very long-life cycles of commercial supercapacitors (which are several orders
larger than rechargeable batteries) [22]. For calculations, k is defined as the pre-charge factor
and m is defined as the power supply over-voltage factor [13]. By adding a supercapacitor,
which is almost 5–6 orders of a larger capacitance compared to a normal capacitor, the
circuit becomes very slow and it allows easier changes from charge to discharge of the
capacitor using low cost, low –speed switches.
In the partially charging curve of the SC displayed in Figure 3b, the capacitor volt-
age (Vc (t)) increases from kVW to VW , during the period t1 to t2 , respectively: where
k (0 < k ≤ 1) is the initial voltage fraction. The efficiency of the charging under these
conditions can be determined as a function of k and m as below.
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 5 of 17

Figure 3. Modified Figure 2a by inserting a pre-charged supercapacitor: (a) longer time constant R-C circuit achieved by
inserting a supercapacitor; (b) charging curve of the supercapacitor from pre-charge voltage (kVW ) to working voltage (VW )
which is below power supply voltage mVW .

The increment in stored energy in the supercapacitor (EC ) between time t1 and t2 is

1 1 1  
EC(t1 ,t2 ) = CVw2 − C (kVw )2 = CVw2 1 − k2 , (4)
2 2 2
The voltage across rp during the SC charging process as per Figure 3a is given in
Equation (5).
 −t
 −t
mVw − VC (t) = mVw − mVw 1 − e r p C = mVw e r p C , (5)

while the energy loss in r p over t1 and t2 time interval is given by the integral as
Z t2
Er p (t1, t2 ) = i (t)2 × r p × dt, (6)
t1

−2t
(mV − V (t))2 2 2 rp C
where i (t)2 r p = w
rp
C
= m Vwr pe .
Integrating (6), and substituting leads to,

CVw 2  2 
Er p (t1, t2 ) = k − 2km + 2m − 1 , (7)
2
The charging efficiency (η) of partially charging process of SC from t1 and t2 is given by

1 − k2


EC (1 + k )
η= × 100% = × 100% = × 100%, (8)
Er p + EC 2m(1 − k) 2m

In the limit k → 0 (with no capacitor precharge) and m → 1 (no power supply

overvoltage factor), the efficiency (η) > 1/2, giving the standard textbook result according
to Figure 2a. Equation (8) shows that the efficiency is enhanced if the capacitor carries a
percentage charge—so it is never allowed to fully discharge during a cycle: thus, avoiding
the large energy losses that accrue when current is high. The optimum efficiency is achieved
when (k, m) equals to (1:1).

2.3. Combining the Useful Load and the Partially Charged Supercapacitor in the Charging Loop
Figure 4 depicts the overall case with the resistive load, parasitic resistance and the
partially charged supercapacitor working in a very long RC time constant circuit.
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 6 of 17

Figure 4. Insertion of a useful resistive load into the partially charging RC loop: (a) modified circuit with useful resistance
RL (b) Graphical representation of the circuit behaviour in terms of efficiency versus variables m and k.

The charging efficiency defined in Equation (8) can be further improved for the case
in Figure 4a as below.
ER L , the energy consumption of R L over t1 and t2 time interval is given by the
integral as,
Z t2
ER L (t1, t2 ) = i (t)2 × R L × dt, (9)
t1

Given the case that the energy stored in SC is to be reused in a discharge operation
with the energy source disconnected, efficiency expression of Equation (8) gets modified to

EC + ER L
η= , (10)
EC + ER L + Er p

After completing similar simplifications steps for Equation (9) as in Equation (7), this
modifies the efficiency expression of Equation (10) to
  
1 1+k
η= p+ × 100%, (11)
1 + p 2m

where p = R L /r p and p > 1.

The derivations of Equation (11) are given in Ariyarathna et al. [13]. The trends of
Equation (11) are illustrated in Figure 4b which shows that when the ratio (p = R L /r p ) is
getting larger, the efficiency advantage increases significantly. The middle and upper traces
of Figure 4b depict this claim for rp : RL = 1:1 and 1:9, respectively.
Given the above case of improving the overall charging efficiency of an R-C circuit loop
by inserting a useful resistive load, a pre-charged supercapacitor, and an increased power
source to suit the overall implementation, loss within the R-C loop can be managed effec-
tively to achieve high- efficiency power converters and protection circuits [22]. This is now
introduced as the SCALoM theory, making use of the basis of Equation (11). In a discharg-
ing phase of the circuit, based on low-speed switches inserted into the loop as appropriate,
the input power source can be disconnected in the discharging phase, maintaining the
energy balance of the supercapacitor. SCALDO [14] and SCALED techniques [23] are
typical application examples of this SCALoM theory.
Fundamentally this concept is looking at the advantage of replacing the traditional
microfarad order capacitor with one million times larger capacitance of a supercapaci-
tor, based on the RC circuit theory extended by appropriate circuit modifications. It is
important to note that, the primary use of (an ideal) supercapacitor in all SCALoM theory-
based converter applications is equivalent to inserting a lossless voltage dropper element
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 7 of 17

into the charging loop and re-using the excess charge in the load in the second phase of
the cycle. The application scope of supercapacitors in SCALoM based non-traditional
applications is completely different from traditional energy storage applications of super-
capacitors which are complementary to other storage devices such as batteries. Table 1
summaries the comparison of characteristics of supercapacitors versus batteries which
supports the selection of supercapacitor as an ideal candidate for developing SCALoM
based converter applications due to its very low ESR, high cycle time, power density, and
high charge/discharge efficiency.

Table 1. Comparison of characteristics of supercapacitors versus batteries which supports the

selection of supercapacitors in SCALoM-based converter applications.

Characteristics Supercapacitors Batteries

Power density (W/kg) 10,000 50–200
Energy density (Wh/kg) 1–20 20–100
Charge/Discharge ≈100 % Less than 85 %
Equivalent series resistance Typically, in mΩ range Fractional Ω to few Ω
Cycle time 50,000–1,000,000 500–2000
Charge time 1–60 s 3600–18,000 s
Discharge time 0.1–30 min 10–180 min

In the next section, we demonstrate the development of useful application of the

aforementioned SCALoM theoretical concept. Section 3 discusses an application of RC loop
extension where a partial charging of a supercapacitor occurs with a loaded commercial
inverter as the useful load in the charging loop.

3. Extending SCALoM Theory Specifically Towards Developing the Supercapacitor

Assisted Wide Input PV Inverter (SCAWI-PV Inverter)
Here, the SCALoM theory discussed in Section 2 is extended for a power electronics
application, where the terms in partially charging RC loop is represented as a low voltage
input commercial inverter (R) and a supercapacitor (C), as shown in Figure 5a. The
theoretical background of utilising the charging efficiency advantage given in Equation (11)
is described below for the inverter application.

Figure 5. The basic circuit diagram of the SCAWI-PV inverter: (a) SC charging phase; (b) SC discharging phase.

In this design, a single-phase inverter is chosen with its VA rating such that,

VDC IDC × ηinverter = VAC I AC , (12)

where VDC and IDC are the nominal values of voltage and current of the DC side of the
inverter, ηinverter is the efficiency of the commercial inverter and VAC and I AC are the full
load ratings of the AC output characteristics, respectively.
In the proposed inverter configuration shown in Figure 5a and satisfying the con-
ditions of the SCALoM theory, the supercapacitor (SC), with capacitance of CSC , is pre-
charged to VDCmin and placed in series with the commercial inverter connected to an input
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 8 of 17

DC voltage supply of Vp in charging arrangement. At an any given time during the SC

charging process:
Vp = VDC (t) + VSC (t) , (13)
where VDC (t) and VSC (t) are the instantaneous voltages across the inverter and the SC,
min to V max while the inverter
respectively. The SC voltage is allowed to charge up from VDC DC
max min
input changes from VDC down to VDC by selecting the DC input supply Vp to satisfy the
relationship in Equation (14).
min max
Vp = VDC + VDC , (14)
As a result of adding the SC as a voltage dropper in the series path of an inverter, the
input DC supply source required to drive the same inverter has changed to the new value
Vp which is obviously a higher value than the original inverter input voltage, VDC .
Furthermore, the average value of the inverter input is,
min + V max
VDC Vp
avg DC
VDC = = , (15)
2 2
This shows that
avg
Vp = 2VDC , (16)
For example, if the original commercial inverter input voltage is 12 V, now the over-
all system is powered by a voltage supply of 24 V. These voltage levels are more com-
monly used in microinverter designs which use separate inverter modules for different
application purposes.
The selection of the SC is based on the required voltage rating of the inverter. SC
voltage rating should be greater than VDCmax . With the limited voltage rating of single SC,

the SCs available in the market would be selected to make a compact design by placing the
SCs in series to match the required voltage rating.
The amount of energy supplied by the DC source during the charging phase is,
avg avg avg
Echarge = Vp i DC t = 2 VDC i DC t, (17)
min + I max
IDC
avg DC
where IDC = 2 .
According to Equation (17), the total energy requirement in the charging phase is
increased to 2 times the energy required by a single inverter for the charging phase simply
because of the fact that the inverter and the supercapacitor both consume and store energy
respectively in this phase. The supply should therefore be able to handle this additional
energy requirement.
When the threshold condition VDC min is met, the charging phase ends, V supply will be
p
disconnected and the stored energy in the SC will be used to drive the inverter operation
during the discharging phase as shown in Figure 5b. The switching arrangement of the
circuit is shown in Figure 6 and the switching scenarios are given in Table 2.

Figure 6. The switching arrangement of the SCAWI-PV inverter.

Electronics 2021, 10, 88 9 of 17

Table 2. Switching sequence of the SCAWI-PV inverter.

Switch SC Charging Phase SC Discharging Phase

S1 ON OFF
S2 OFF ON
S3 ON OFF
S4 OFF ON

Energy drawn from the DC source for the inverter operation in the discharging phase
is theoretically zero joules.
Edischarge = 0 J, (18)
h i
avg avg
2 VDC i DC t + 0 × t avg avg
Pavg = = VDC i DC (19)
t + t
As shown in Equation (19), the extra energy stored in the charging phase is compen-
sated for in the discharge phase. The SC discharging phase is started with a voltage VDC max

across the input of the SC and the inverters as shown in Figure 5b. The SC discharging
process will be continued until the supercapacitor voltage reaches the minimum working
input voltage of the inverter VDCmin . Then, the switching network will be activated again,

and the circuit operation will be placed back into SC charging phase as shown in Figure 5a.
This process will be continued cyclically.
Throughout the charging and discharging cycles, the SCASWI-PV inverter is in contin-
uous operation and the efficiency (ηSCA ) in an ideal situation can be expressed as follows:

VAC I AC
ηSCA = avg avg , (20)
VDC IDC

The above efficiency figure in Equation (20) is close to the commercial inverter’s ideal
efficiency as denoted in Equation (12), which can be rearranged as to show the original
inverter’s efficiency as,
V I
ηinverter = AC AC , (21)
VDC IDC
Although the input voltage range of the inverter has been extended to a new value
as per Equation (14) in the SCASWI-PV inverter, it can still maintain an efficiency very
much closer to that of the original inverter. This effect removes the downside of using
another new inverter for a higher input voltage application. The input voltage range can be
further widened using a SC matrix and switching it in a switched-capacitor arrangement
to achieve different types of voltage requirements of inverters. This arrangement is beyond
the scope of this paper.
The above-mentioned inverter range extension scenario is applicable for any type
of DC input and any inverter topology. It does not necessarily need to be a PV input
to the inverter. However, in this paper, we primarily look at applying the scenario of
microinverter design which is commonly used with PV inputs.

4. Integration of DC-UPS Capability

In the previous discussion, the selection of SCs was primarily limited to design a
compact prototype. The major design constraint was to minimize the number of SCs to
match the voltage ratings of the inverter while effectively choosing a low-cost SC to handle
the maximum load current capability of the input side. The availability of SCs with larger
capacitances in the range of a few thousand Farads in a single cell (e.g., 3,000 F) gives the
design flexibility to select a relatively oversized SC as the series dropper element. This
choice will not make the design excessively bulky as the SCs are a small physical size
considering the million times larger capacitance they provide. By selecting an oversized
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 10 of 17

SC with its new capacitance CSC oversize , this capacitor can be used as an extra-energy-buffer

to safeguard against short-term disruptions to the input DC power supply.

In this UPS capability integration approach, the minimum working voltage of the
inverter is modified to a new value (VDC UPS ) which is a slightly higher value than the previ-
min of the inverter. During normal operation, in the modified UPS enabled
ously selected VDC
topology, the series SC charges until the inverter DC input voltage (VDC (t)) reaches, VDC UPS .

Then the inverter operation switches to the discharging mode where the SC takes the time
to discharge until the UPS input voltage drops back to VDC UPS .

In a DC input power supply disruption during the charging phase of the SC, and if
distrupt oversize , is
the input voltage of the UPS is disrupted at Vp , then the voltage across the CSC
distrupt
reached and the amount of energy stored corresponds to the rise of change of (Vp -Vp )
at that point. The stored energy in the oversized SC at this moment is substantially large,
and it can be used to continue the UPS operation until the UPS input voltage drops back to
min for a significant time. By introducing an oversized SC and changing the minimum
VDC
working voltage of the inverter to a slightly higher value, the DC-UPS feature can be
integrated into the SCAWI-PV inverter design without using any additional hardware.
Even if there is a disruption of DC power supply during the normal discharging operation
of the new topology, the discharging mode can be further continued to until the inverter
input voltage drops to its real minimum working voltage VDC min . An example of this DC

UPS capability will be demonstrated with experimental results in the next section.

5. Experimental Validation
5.1. 24VDC-120VAC SCAWI-PV Inverter Prototype Implementation
With the use of a 12 VDC–120 VAC/50 Hz commercial sinewave inverter (Mdaoud
Electrical Ltd, Shanghai, China), the SCAWI-PV inverter prototype was implemented to
extend the input voltage of the inverter to 24 VDC. The input voltage range of the inverter
is specified as 11–13 VDC by the manufacturer. Therefore, VDC min was maintained at 11 V.

The selected SC bank (VInaTech VEM16R0606QG, Ropla Elektronik., Suchy Dwór, Poland)
at the front end of the inverter for energy circulation is rated at 60 F with a maximum
operating voltage of 16 V. The low-frequency SC energy recovery method was managed by
five low-speed MOSFET switches as depicted in Figure 7a.

Figure 7. 24V-to-120V SCAWI-PV inverter prototype: (a) Informative schematic; (b) Test setup.

IPP120P04P4L-03 P-channel MOSFETs (VDS = 40 V, RDS (on) = 3.1 mΩ, ID = 120 A)

were used for the S1, S2 and S3 switches. For S4 and S5, IRF740 N-channel MOSFETs
(VDS = 400 V, RDS (on) = 0.55 Ω, ID = 10 A) were used. Switches S1 and S3 control superca-
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 11 of 17

pacitor charging, while S2 and S4 control the discharge phase. During the off state of S3,
the body diode of a single MOSFET is forward biased with the SC bank voltage and this
causes problems for proper operation. To eliminate this problem, S3 was made up of two
back-to-back P-channel MOSFETs. At the initial startup of the circuit, to bring the SC bank
min , an additional switch (S5) along with a series charging resistor (Rc)
voltage close to VDC
was used. The source voltage was kept fixed at 24V during the testing.
The switches were optically isolated and were controlled by digital outputs of an
ATMEGA328P based embedded system. This controller continuously monitored the
input voltage of the inverter and the voltage across the SC bank via its analogue inputs.
The switching algorithm of the MCU satisfied that the inverter was operated within its
rated input voltage range and the SC bank was charged below its maximum voltage. To
keep the inverter powered during switching transitions, a buffer capacitor (1 mF/35 V)
was connected across the input terminals of the inverter. The experimental setup of the
prototype is shown in Figure 7b.

5.1. Steady-State Operation

The steady-state performance characteristics of the 24 VDC–120 VAC SCAWI-PV
inverter was compared against the performance of the standalone 12 VDC–120 VAC
inverter. Figure 8 shows the input/output voltage waveforms of the commercial inverter
when running at 100 W output load before the SCAWI technique is applied.

Figure 8. The input/output waveforms of the commercial 12 VDC–120 VAC inverter when the
output was set to 100W: Yellow—Input supply voltage, Blue—Input current, Green—Output current,
Purple—Output AC voltage).

Figure 9 depicts the input/output voltages of the SCAWI-PV inverter when the output
was set to 100 W. As can be seen from these oscilloscope traces, the input voltage of the
inverter varies between 11 V and 13 V with a very low switching frequency (<1 Hz) while
the output is fixed at 120 V/50 Hz. The low-frequency ripple amplitude is very low
compared to the fundamental 50 Hz component, and it can be further reduced by keeping
the input voltage variation at a minimum level.
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 12 of 17

Figure 9. The input/output waveforms of the SCAWI-PV inverter operating at 100W output load (Yellow—Input DC
voltage, Blue—Input current, Purple—Output AC voltage, Green—Output current): (a) For waveform—duration =5 s; (b)
For waveform duration =10 ms.

5.2. Power Losses and End-to-End Efficiency

The primary losses of the SCAWI-PV inverter are similar to the losses associated with
primary SC-assisted topology [24]. These key implementation losses are estimated based
on the maximum output power and the rated expanded voltage (24 V) and listed in Table 3.

Table 3. Estimated power losses in the 24VDC-120VAC SCAWI-PV inverter.

Loss Factor Description Estimated Value

Ohmic losses due to the ESR of the SC and
1 700 mW
the switches for 100 W load [25]
2 Dynamic losses during switching [26] ≈0 W
3 The power consumption of the control unit 300 mW
Energy loss due to the paralleling of
4 2 mW
capacitors with different voltages [25,26]
Power losses in the standalone inverter at
5 12 W
12 V input and for a 100 W load

This estimation is based on manufacturers’ specifications (for inverter block efficiency)

and some operating conditions (e.g.: voltages /currents/capacitor size for switching losses
and controller efficiency). The estimated total power loss is about 13 W when the above
factors are concerned. The SCAWI-PV inverter prototype had approximately 87% efficiency
at 24 V and 100 W output power for the worst-case scenario.
The chosen commercial inverter has an efficiency of 88%. As per Equation (20) and
Equation (21), theoretically, in an ideal situation, the SCASWI PV inverter should have the
same efficiency as the commercial inverter.
The efficiency of the SCAWI-PV inverter was compared with the standalone inverter
for different levels of input power based on the experimental prototype design and the
results tabulated in Table 4. The efficiencies are displayed in Figure 10.
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 13 of 17

Table 4. End-to-End Efficiency of the SCAWI-PV technique compared to the standalone 12 VDC–120 VAC inverter.

Standalone Inverter SCAWI- PV Inverter

Output Load Output Power-
Resistance (Ω) Output Power Input Power- SC Output Power - Input Power-SC Average
Input Power (W) Efficiency (%) SC Discharging
(W) Charging (W) SC Charging (W) Discharging (W) Efficiency (%)
(W)
144 113.04 100.80 89.17 114.11 100.30 104.88 92.80 88.19
160 103.80 92.40 89.02 102.90 88.92 105.84 93.60 87.43
180 103.56 92.40 89.22 92.28 83.30 100.75 84.49 87.07
206 82.44 73.81 89.53 82.60 71.40 84.42 72.59 86.21
240 70.68 61.71 87.31 74.93 67.76 75.89 61.71 85.87
288 60.12 51.18 85.13 62.40 54.45 65.52 53.24 84.26
360 50.40 41.14 81.63 50.39 42.70 51.53 42.70 83.80
480 34.08 29.65 86.99 44.60 37.82 45.23 36.60 82.85
720 24.73 20.53 83.02 32.24 26.18 30.24 24.99 81.92
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 14 of 17

Figure 10. Comparison of end-to-end efficiency of the SCAWI-PV technique and the standalone
12VDC-120VAC inverter.

This shows that the practical efficiency of the commercial inverter in use has an
efficiency in the range from 83% to 89% for 25 W to 100 W input power, respectively.
Conversely, when the SC energy circulation front approach (SCASWI design) is applied,
the efficiency range margin has changed from 82% to 88% for 25 W to 100 W. This clearly
verifies the theoretical claims given in Equation (20) and Equation (21). There is only a
1% loss increase for 25–100 W power range while gaining a wide input voltage range and
added DC-UPS capability in the SCAWI-PV prototype. The efficiency of this technique can
be maintained very much closer to the efficiency of the standalone inverter by reducing
the major loss factors using SCs with low ESR, switches with low RDS (on) resistance and
reducing the power consumption of control circuit with discrete low-quiescent current
logic gates instead of an MCU.
The design of high input inverters requires MOSFET switches with higher voltage
capability for input side switching, which have higher RDS (on) resistances. As a result,
high input designs have high losses and low efficiency. On the other hand, in an inverter
designed for low input voltage, input side switching transistors are generally low on-
resistance MOSFETS, contributing to better efficiency. The 12 V input commercial inverter
that was used for the SCASWI design is compared with 24 V input inverter from the same
manufacturer as shown in Table 5.

Table 5. Comparison between 12 VDC–120 VAC Inverter, 24 VDC–120 VAC Inverter and 24 VDC–120 VAC SCASWI Inverter.

Model Mandaou TEP-300-121 Mandaou TEP-300-241 SCAWI 24VDC-120VAC Inverter

Rated Power 300 W 300 W 300 W
DC input voltage 12 V 24 V 24 V
AC output voltage 120 V 120 V 120 V
No-load current 0.5 A 0.25 A 0.5 A
AC output frequency 50 Hz/60 Hz 50 Hz/60 Hz 50 Hz/60 Hz
AC output waveform Pure Sine Pure Sine Pure Sine
Efficiency >88% >86% >87%
Unit price of inverter + NZD 70
Unit Price NZD150 NZD185 (Approximate cost of range
extender)

The efficiency numbers clearly show the claimed lower efficiency for the high input
inverter and its higher cost. Our technique described here is just an input range extender,
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 15 of 17

without any modifications required within the inverter. All that we added is a set of
4 low-frequency switches with an affordable cost supercapacitor to achieve an inverter
with twice the input range while maintaining efficiency closer to low input commercial
inverter and having the added advantage of short-term energy buffer based on a long-
life energy storage device. Instead of buying a new inverter with high input voltage for
different applications, using a low voltage input commercial inverter and SC range extender
gives the option to use one inverter and get a higher voltage input with advantages of
lowest cost and high efficiency. The entire range extender circuit design cost is much
cheaper than buying separate inverters for high voltage input application. The cost of
building the prototype version of SC range extender circuitry was around NZD 70.

5.3. DC-UPS Integrated Operation

One of the advantages of SCAWI-PV inverter is its DC-UPS capability. When the input
supply is disconnected, the stored energy in the SC is used to power the inverter during
this period. Figure 11 displays a line interrupt event and how the SCAWI-PV inverter
UPS was selected as 11.5 V, which is slightly higher than
operates during this period. The VDC
the minimum working voltage 11 V ( VDC min ) of the inverter in use.

Figure 11. The operation of SCAWI-PV inverter during a line disruption (Yellow—input voltage
of the inverter, Blue—12 V input source voltage, Purple—Voltage across the supercapacitor bank,
Green—Output voltage of the inverter).

As can be seen from Figure 11, the line interruption occurred during the discharge
mode of the SC and its current mode was continued until the input voltage of the inverter
diminished to 11 V. The stored energy of the SC was sufficient to keep the inverter running
for at least 64 s. The time duration of DC-UPS in operation depends on the capacitance
of the SC bank, the efficiency of the system and the output load. Since the input voltage
min , the inverter
source was not restored after the 64 s and the inverter voltage dropped to VDC
was shut down and the SC voltage remains constant. This operation can be seen from the
capacitor voltage waveform in Figure 11 as it became a flat line during this deadtime of
operation. When the DC source was connected back, the SC was switched to the charging
mode and the inverter operation was begun. The deadtime of inverter output voltage
during the line disruption can be minimized by increasing the capacitance of the SC bank.

5.4. Load Transient Response

A step load was applied to the PV inverter before and after applying the SCAWI-PV
technique and the corresponding output voltage response is displayed in Figure 12. These
results imply that the inverter output transient characteristics are not affected even though
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 16 of 17

the case of a SC switching configuration is used for energy recovery and voltage extension
at the front end.

Figure 12. Load-Transient response for 100 W to 50 W step load change (Yellow—Output AC voltage, Blue—Output
current): (a) Standalone 12 V–120 V inverter; (b) After applying the SCAWI-PV technique.

6. Conclusions
The SCALoM theory has been successfully applied in the SCASWI inverter design
using a commercial inverter as the PEBB in the RC loop and replacing the capacitor with
a several orders of magnitude larger capacitor (supercapacitor) to achieve a versatile
inverter design to extend the input range of a commercial inverter. In this proof-of-concept
project, without doing any modification to the internal circuits of a commercial off-the-self
inverter, we have shown that a supercapacitor module can be used to double the input
range, without significant deterioration of the efficiency and with no adverse transient
effects. The SCASWI PV-inverter design maintains an efficiency range very much closer
to the commercial inverter independent from the change made to the input voltage. The
12V–240 V, 100 W commercial inverter has an efficiency range from 83% to 88% whereas
SCASWI-PV inverter efficiency ranges from 82% to 87% for the same loads. The 1%
discrepancy is due to the losses in the resistive elements in the supercapacitor front end.
This technique has the added advantage of a supercapacitor-based energy buffer (DC-UPS
capability) for the inverter to overcome any negative effects of solar/ wind type input
fluctuations. More elaborate applications of the same design approach using SCALoM
theory are in progress into the area of microinverter research.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, K.G. and N.K.; methodology, K.G. and K.S.; validation,
N.B. and K.S.; formal analysis, K.G. and K.S.; data curation, N.B. and K.S.; writing—original draft
preparation, K.G., K.S. and N.B.; writing—review and editing, K.G., K.S. and N.K.; supervision, K.G.,
K.S. and N.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by Auckland University of Technology.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Electronics 2021, 10, 88 17 of 17

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