Contents I. Introduction
With the global energy revolution, the next generation of highly integrated distributed PV systems demands inverters with high-efficiency and high-power-density. The academia [1]–[3] and industry [4], [5] have made tremendous work for the application of GaN HEMTs to meet such requirements, for their promising characteristics. Various optimization methods have been proposed for designing GaN HEMT specified converters, including novel topologies [6], [7], advanced control/modulation technologies [1], [8], [9], and high accuracy analytical models [8], etc. However, most of these works mainly focus on one specific area of designing/optimizing GaN converters. The effective and practical design of a compact and highly efficient GaN-based microinverter remains a challenge in the newly-growing industry. Therefore, this paper aims to propose an effective and practical design process for a GaN-based microinverter. If necessary, any of the aforementioned technologies can be incorporated into the proposed process to enhance calculation accuracy and/or system performance.
