UTILIZATION FACTOR IMPROVMENT OF A GRID CONNECTED PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM INCORPORATING HERIC TRANSFORMERLESS INVERTER

For the grid connected Photovoltaic (PV) systems, HERIC transformerless inverter is considered one of the most efficient, reliable, and nearly leakage free inverters. Unfortunately, this inverter typically draws a discontinuous current from the PV. However, continuous PV current is required to ensure Maximum Power Point (MPP) operation. Hence, MPP operation of the HERIC inverter is not a clear issue. Also, the utilization factor (Kpv) of the PV drops to small value ( 50%), which in turn increases the size and cost of the PV system. In this paper, a boost converter is inserted between the HERIC inverter and PV then the system is modeled, analyzed, and compared to the traditional topology. Simulations for the traditional HERIC inverter and the proposed system are done to validate the idea and the analyses.