A Review of High Gain Inverters for Smart-grid Applications

Impedance Source Inverters with high gain are appropriate for applications with low input DC voltage, such as roof-top applications. These inverters are apt for low-power applications in renewable integration to supplement smart grid, owing to the characteristics like high gain and improved reliability due to inherent shoot-through protection. Despite having various advantages and suitable characteristics for micro-inverter applications, high gain ZSIs pose certain challenges. In order to explore their feasibility, a detailed insight into the challenges is highly essential. This paper identifies the issues that curtail the performance of a high gain inverter. Current Fed Switched Inverter (CFSI), a widely accepted topology, under this category is taken into consideration for analyzing the challenges. The issues that are pointed out are verified using a 600 W lab developed prototype of CFSI.