A Novel Single-Stage Boost Inverter for Wind Power Generation

Renewable power systems as distributed generation (DG) units often experience big changes in the inverter input voltage due to fluctuations of energy resources. Often, a front-end boost converter is added to step up the DC voltage when the energy resources are at a weak point. However, when a very high boost gain is demanded, the duty cycle may come to its extreme, and large duty cycle causes serious reverse-recovery problem. This paper proposes a novel single-stage boost-type inverter especially for wind power generation. By introducing a passive network including coupled inductors to the classic three phase bridge inverter, and adjusting the shoot-through duty, the converter can output a stable AC voltage even when it is at a weak wind level. The single stage operation of the converter can lead to improved reliability and higher efficiency. Theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental results are presented to verify its good performance.