In this paper, a three-port converter with three active full bridges, two series-resonant tanks, and a three-winding transformer is proposed. It uses a single power conversion stage with high-frequency link to control power flow between batteries, load, and a renewable source such as fuel cell. The converter has capabilities of bidirectional power flow in the battery and the load port. Use of series-resonance aids in high switching frequency operation with realizable component values when compared to existing three-port converter with only inductors. The converter has high efficiency due to soft-switching operation in all three bridges. Steady-state analysis of the converter is presented to determine the power flow equations, tank currents, and soft-switching region. Dynamic analysis is performed to design a closed-loop controller that will regulate the load-side port voltage and source-side port current. Design procedure for the three-port converter is explained and experimental results of a laboratory prototype are presented.

Dual Active Bridge (DAB) dc-dc converter finds applications in the intermediate high frequency link power conversion stage of a high-power solid state transformer. In this paper, a multilevel DAB dc-dc converter is proposed. A three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter topology has been used in the high voltage bridge which enables semiconductor switches to be operated in higher voltage range without using cascaded bridges and multiple DAB converters. Modulation strategy to control power flow between the active bridges with one of the bridges switching at multi-level is proposed in this paper. Steady-state analysis of the converter with the proposed modulation scheme is presented along with simulation results to augment the analysis.

In this paper, PhotoVoltaic (PV) microinverter using a single-stage high-frequency ac link series resonant topology is proposed. The inverter has two active bridges, one at the front-end of PV module and the other at the output or utility side. The active bridges are interfaced through a series resonant tank and a high frequency transformer. A novel phase-shift modulation technique to regulate the current into utility is proposed. Steady-state analysis using sinusoidal approximation is presented to determine the magnitude of output current into utility. Soft-switching operation is ensured in all switches in the converter due to resonant nature of the circuit. The inverter has advantages of minimal power conversion stages, high-switching frequency operation and low switching losses and hence ideally suited for low power module integrated applications.

With increasing use of photovoltaic (PV) power generation by utilities and their residential customers, the need for accurate intra-hour and day-ahead solar irradiance forecasting has become critical. This paper details the development of a low cost all-sky imaging system and an intra-hour cloud motion prediction methodology that produces minutes-ahead irradiance forecasts. The SkyImager is designed around a Raspberry Pi single board computer (SBC) with a fully programmable, high resolution Pi Camera, housed in a durable all-weather enclosure. Our software is written in Python 2.7 and utilizes the open source computer vision package OpenCV. The SkyImager can be configured for different operational environments and network designs, from a standalone edge computing model to a fully integrated node in a distributed, cloud-computing based micro-grid. Preliminary results are presented using the imager on site at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, USA during the fall of 2015 under a variety of cloud conditions.

Dual active bridge (DAB) converters have been popular in high voltage, low and medium power DC-DC applications, as well as an intermediate high frequency link in solid state transformers. In this paper, a multilevel DAB (ML-DAB) has been proposed in which two active bridges produce two-level (2L)-5L, 5L-2L and 3L-5L voltage waveforms across the high frequency transformer. The proposed ML-DAB has the advantage of being used in high step-up/down converters, which deal with higher voltages, as compared to conventional two-level DABs. A three-level neutral point diode clamped (NPC) topology has been used in the high voltage bridge, which enables the semiconductor switches to be operated within a higher voltage range without the need for cascaded bridges or multiple two-level DAB converters. A symmetric modulation scheme, based on the least number of angular parameters rather than the duty-ratio, has been proposed for a different combination of bridge voltages. This ML-DAB is also suitable for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control in photovoltaic applications. Steady-state analysis of the converter with symmetric phase-shift modulation is presented and verified using simulation and hardware experiments.

Neutral point clamped (NPC) multilevel inverter is being used for medium and high power applications since it can synthesize more voltage levels with smaller output voltage steps compared to two level full-bridge inverters. An NPC based multi-level dual-active bridge (ML-DAB) dc-dc converter has been proposed where the low voltage side consists a full-bridge producing a two-level voltage and the high voltage side has two three-level neutral point diode clamped (NPC) switching poles which produce a five-level voltage waveform across the high frequency transformer. Capacitor voltage unbalance has been an important concern for NPC topology. A neutral-point current control scheme has been proposed to control the imbalance between the capacitor voltages in the NPC side. Experimental results for steady-state operation and the capacitor voltage balancing control have been shown in simulation.