Active Thermal Management of Single-Phase PV Inverters for Sustainable Urban Transport Systems

The escalating concern regarding energy consumption and carbon emissions has prompted heightened research focus on the utilization of renewable energy sources within the context of future green airports. Within the domain of solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation, the pivotal component is the power electronics converter. Therefore, contemporary solar PV inverters necessitate robust electrical and thermal characteristics, coupled with enhanced reliability. This paper proposes an innovative active thermal control (ATC) strategy founded on multi-variable feedbacks, with the dual active bridge (DAB) converter employed in the DC/DC stage of the single-phase solar PV inverter. The proposed ATC strategy demonstrates efficacy in mitigating junction temperature fluctuations in the Gallium Nitride (GaN) power transistors, thereby enhancing transistor lifespan. Integration of the DAB topology in the DC/DC stage eliminates local pseudo maximum power points tracking (MPPT), optimizing the electrical characteristics of the PV arrays. To validate the proposed strategy and topology, a hardware-in-loop (HIL) test platform is established. Experimental groups with diverse parameter configurations are devised to affirm the effectiveness of the proposed ATC strategy and the optimized topology.