A Robust Open Circuit Fault Detection and Localization Scheme for HERIC PV Inverter

Transformerless inverters are widely used to integrate the photovoltaic (PV) source into the distributed generation system. Within the converter, an open-circuit (OC) switch fault may lead to the partial or total failure of the converter. To address this issue, a new technique for detecting and localizing OC switch faults based on pole-to-pole voltage (voltage measured across the inverter output terminals) is proposed. The proposed variables for fault detection and localization (FDL) are continuously generated with every sampled pole-to-pole voltage and are compared with threshold values which are immune to parameter variation. As a result, OC is detected and located within a switching cycle for the ac side bypass switches. For localizing the OC fault in the H-bridge, the converter is reconfigured once the fault in the H-bridge switch is detected using pole-to-pole voltage. The input voltage required for the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is estimated from the voltage measured with the new sensor arrangement for pole-to-pole voltage measurement. This makes the number of sensors the same as in a conventional converter. The viability and effectiveness of this approach are demonstrated through simulation studies on the highly efficient and reliable inverter concept (HERIC) inverter, a popular transformerless inverter topology. Additionally, a laboratory prototype is developed to validate the practical applicability of the method.