Welcome to another blog post in celebration of #OnTheGrid week! This blog post takes a look at the design of solar micro inverters—an emerging segment of the solar power industry and an increasingly reliable and efficient way to get power “on the grid.”
Rather than linking all solar panels in a solar installation through a central inverter, solar micro inverter systems place smaller, or “micro,” inverters in line with each individual solar panel. While solar micro inverters yield many benefits, including elimination of partial shading conditions, increased system efficiency, improved reliability and greater modularity, they can be extremely challenging for designers. They require the controller to use complex algorithms to control the power stage, synchronize with the grid using software phase locked loop (SPLL) and track to the maximum power point of the panel, along with executing complex state machines, which increases the computational load on the processor.
One of our solar power experts, systems application engineer Manish Bhardwaj, recently published an article in ECN magazine about embedded challenges in solar micro inverters. He explains embedded challenges in control of solar micro inverters and provides insight into power stage design and control to help you mitigate these challenges. Read the full article here: http://digital.ecnmag.com/ecnmag/may_15_2014#pg26.
For more resources on solar micro inverters, check out our earlier blog posts:
- To micro or not to micro? Three main benefits of solar micro inverters for the smart grid
- Cutting-edge solar micro inverter development, uncovered!
Visit our solar solutions site for information about our products, tools and support for your next solar system.
Discover TI’s vision for the smart grid and energy markets in this new industrial video and read our new white paper about technologies that will allow smart cities on the grid to embrace renewable forms of energy generation.
Learn more about TI’s smart grid capabilities in these blog posts featured during #OntheGrid week:
- The power of information #onthegrid – Tools Insider
- New article explains how MCUs ease solar micro inverter design – On the Grid
- Engineering a smarter energy grid – On the Grid
- Smart grid MCU supply monitoring and dynamic voltage scaling technique – Power House
- Configurable AFEs change the future of power line communications – Analog Wire
- Stopping utility fraud and abuse with wirelessly connected smart meter monitoring – ConnecTIng Wirelessly
