The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

Coupled Inductor Based Current-Fed Switched

Inverter for Low Voltage Renewable Interface
Soumya Shubhra Nag and Santanu Kumar Mishra
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, V.P., India
E-mail:- soumyasn@iitk.ac.in and santanum@iitk.ac.in

Abstract: This paper presents a novel coupled inductor based

provided high gain (same as ZSI) with the low passive

component count. Due to the presence of input inductor, CFSI
provided continuous input current property which is necessary
for renewable applications. In all of the above mentioned
inverters, shoot-through state imposes some restriction on the
modulation index which limits them to achieve high overall
input DC to output AC gain. Thus, in recent years, there is a
constant effort among the researchers to increase the overall
DC-to-AC conversion ratio of these shoot-through inverters by

high boost inverter topology which can be utilized in low voltage

renewable systems where high voltage step-up is needed to
interface with 110 Vt220 V AC systems. The proposed inverter
possesses

high

boost

ability

with

superior

EMI

compared to a traditional voltage source inverter

immunity

(VSI).

Unlike

the traditional VSI, the proposed inverter does not need dead
time circuit for its switching signals as it utilizes shoot-through
state of the inverter in its single-stage configuration. Insertion of
shoot-through state also helps it to achieve high boost operation
essential

for

renewable

energy

applications.

The

proposed

a) Modifying the pulse width modulation scheme so that

the constraint on modulation index can be minimized.
It has resulted in invention of new modulation
techniques like Constant Boost Control, Maximum
Boost Control schemes, etc.
b) Improving the boost factor (input DC-to-inverter input
gain) of the inverters by using either passive network
(switched capacitor, switched inductor etc.) or
magnetic (tapped inductor, coupled inductor etc.)
network.
Nevertheless, inverters with low component count, continuous
input current, low device stress are always an attractive option
owing to their high efficiency, ease of integration with
renewable sources, low device cost and device footprint.
This paper presents a coupled inductor based high
boost inverter topology derived from Current-Fed Switched
Inverter (CFSI) which is named as Coupled Inductor based
Current-Fed Switched Inverter (Trans-CFSI) as it utilizes
energy transfer through the transformer action of the coupled
inductor to achieve high boost. Like SBI, the proposed
inverter uses an active network between the DC input and
inverter bridge with one LC-filter pair. In the next section,
CFSI topology is reviewed. Derivation of Trans-CFSI
topology from CFSI is discussed in section III along with its
steady-state characteristics. In section IV, the PWM control
scheme of Trans-CFSI is described. The proposed inverter is
verified with experimental results in section V. Section VI
presents some conclusions.

inverter is derived from Current-Fed Switched Inverter topology.

Apart from topology derivation, this paper describes the steady
state analysis of the inverter and establishes the relation between
input, DC-link, and AC output. An experimental prototype is

built to validate the proposed inverter circuit. A 220 V rms AC

is obtained from 52 V DC input to demonstrate its boost mode of
operation.

Index Terms

ZSI, SBI, Coupled inductor, Shoot through state,

EMI immunity.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Voltage source inverters are widely used in UPS, motor

drives, grid connected and stand-alone renewable systems, etc.
The main limitations of traditional VSI are:
1) The output AC voltage cannot be more than its input
DC voltage as VSI is a buck inverter. Due to this reason a DC
DC boost converter stage is needed prior to the VSI to achieve
step-up DC-AC inversion when the input DC voltage is
limited like in the case of solar PV, fuel cell, etc.
Commercially available solar PV panel voltage ranges from
12 V to 48 V typically whereas for fuel cells, it is typically
between 24 V to 56 V. For this reason, a high step-up
inversion is needed to connect the renewable sources to 110
V/ 240 V AC systems which cannot be obtained from a VSI.
2) The upper and lower switching devices of any leg of
the VSI cannot be turned on simultaneously thus requiring for
a dead-time circuit which in turn contributes to waveform
distortion. Although, adding dead-time in the switching
signals cannot alleviate the chances of mis-gating or shoot
through due to spurious signals or EM! noise [1].

II.

To eliminate these drawbacks of VSI, inverters like Z

Source Inverter (ZSI) [1], Quasi-ZSI (q-ZSI) [2], Switched
Boost Inverter (SBI) [3]-[5], Boost-Derived Hybrid Converter
(BDHC) [6], Trans-ZSI (T-ZSI) [7], etc., were proposed.
These new-age inverters present single stage DC-AC inversion
with high boost capability and utilize the shoot-through
phenomenon in the inverter legs to provide superior EMI
immunity. In the lines of these inverters, Current-Fed
Switched Inverter (CFSI) was proposed [8]-[9] which
978-1-4799-2705-0/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE

REVIEW OF CFSI TOPOLOGY

The circuit schematic of Current-Fed Switched Inverter

(CFSI) is shown in Fig. 1 (a). CFSI provides high-boost
operation similar to ZSI and q-ZSI utilizing the shoot through
state of the inverter legs. The operating states of the CFSI can
be broadly categorized into i) Shoot through state and ii) Non
Shoot through state, the later can be further be divided into
active state (power interval of the inverter) and zero state (zero
interval of the inverter). The equivalent circuit of the CFSI is
shown in Fig. 1 (b). In the shoot through interval (or duty
3587

interval D) switch S is turned on along with both the switches

of any inverter leg. In this interval source Vg and capacitor Co
charges inductor L together. In non-shoot through interval ((1D) interval or D' interval), switches S is turned off which
forces diodes Da and Db to tum on, and the inductor charges
Co and power is delivered to the AC-Ioad through the inverter.
The equivalent circuits of CFSI in D and D' intervals are
shown in Fig. 1 (c). From Fig. 1 (c), the voltage across
inductor L in one switching period of Ts is given by (1)
(assuming small ripple approximation) from which the boost
conversion ratio of CFSI can be obtained as shown in (2).

During D.T,

The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

+
Fig. 2. Schematic of Trans-CFST topology

The equivalent circuit diagram of Trans-CFSI is shown in Fig.

3 which is obtained by replacing the two windings of the
coupled inductor with an ideal transformer and a mutual
inductance Lm on the primary side.

(1)

During(l- D).T,

(2)

J-c

ic

Co

v;

i;

Jg

Jl

Da

....1. -

iD

Jfz

J
+

-=x:: 19

is
ic
----'
'--f
L------17.
3
J

Co

+
1

iL
+

(a)

+ VL -

--==-J

v;

ic

Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of Trans-CFSl.

Co

In the shoot through duty interval (D interval), switch S is

turned on with the inverter leg being shorted while both the
diodes remain reverse biased (as shown in Fig. 4 (a)). The
inductor voltages in this interval can be written as in (3). In the
non-shoot through duty interval ((1-D) interval), switch S is
turned off and the inverter operates either in active or zero
state. In this interval both the diodes remain in conduction (as
shown in Fig. 4 (b)). The inductor voltages in (1-D) interval
can be written as in (4).

+ vL -

(b)

+
ic

Co

i;

(c)

Fig. 1. Schematic of (a) Current-Fed Switched Inverter (CFST), (b)

equivalent circuit of CFSI, and (c) equivalent circuit of CFSI in shoot though
and non-shoot through state.
+

-=-v..

Although CFSI provides high boost output, use of shoot

through state restricts the modulation index to a value always
less than (1-D) in simple boost control method. This also
imposes higher stress on the inverter switches. In the next
section, a coupled inductor based CFSI topology (Trans-CFSI)
will be derived which will mitigate the problems of CFSI as
stated above.
III.

'"

(a)
n
n
2
=1===

DEVELOPEMENT OF TRANS-CFSI

-=

TOPOLOGY
The coupled inductor based CFSI topology, namely Trans
CFSI, is shown in Fig. 2. It utilizes energy transfer through the
transformer action of the coupled inductor to achieve high
voltage boost which depends on the turns-ratio nj:n2.

v..
'"

L2

i;

(b)
Fig. 4. Equivalent circuit of Trans-CFST in (a) D-interval (shoot-through
state), and (b) in (I-D)-interval (non-shoot through state).
3588

(3)

VL,
v
M

+VL2 =VL =Vg -Vc

n =
(Vg -V)c
n +n

__
l

The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

Likewise, in the negative half-cycle (VnltJ < 0) of the
modulation signal, gate signals GS3 and GS4 are generated by
comparing the sinusoidal modulation signals -VnltJ and VnltJ
with carrier signal Vlr;{t). The shoot-through interval is
inserted in gate signals Gs/ and GS2. Gate signals Gs/, Gs]' and
Gs are generated using the following logic equation.

(4)

During(l-D).T,

The PWM control signals Gs/, Gs]' Gs3, and

Fig. 6 (d) for the positive half-cycle of Vnlt).

Applying volt-second balance [10] using (3) and (4), the

boost factor of Trans-CFSI can be obtained as,

(Vg +VJ.D+(_n
'-(Vg -VJ . (l-D)=
l n, +n2
Vc = I + nD
B
Vg 1-(2+ n)D

____

__

Trans-CFS/

GS4 are shown in

0
(5)

Where coupled inductor turns-ratio n=n,:n2' The switch

node voltages of Trans-CFSI, viz. Vs/, Vsb Vs3 are shown Fig.
5 (a) in along with shoot through switching signal and input
current (current through the primary winding of the coupled
inductor) of the inverter. The boost factor
of Trans
CFSI for different values of coupled inductor turns-ratio is
plotted in Fig. 5 (b).

(VjV)g

PWM CONTROL SCHEME OF TRANS-CFSI

IV,

To incorporate shoot-through state in the PWM control,

the traditional PWM technique for VSI is modified
accordingly. The modified PWM scheme for Trans-CFSI is
developed based on the traditional sine-triangle PWM with
unipolar voltage switching, Sinusoidal modulation signals
VnltJ and -VnltJ and high frequency carrier signal Vlrlt) are
shown in Fig. 6 (a).

(a)

DTs D'Ts DTs

..
.

'l 01

IIVg+'

c=J 1'"1+iI t

____L __,
on_'
'''? oj
ri::[-::

u:

R R !'"
iL
:
. :
..

<!l

'30ii
o

ii ..
-,
on
..

Ts---.l

(a)

10

75

t"

SM

12'
.)

2.5
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 03
Shoot TIll'ough Duty Ratio (D)

(b)
Tek

(b)

...

'.
4.l

Fig. 5. (a) Switch-node voltages along with shoot through duty and inverter
input current of Trans-CFSI, and (b) boost factor of Trans-CFSI.

Shoot-through constant voltages Vsr and -Vsr, and Gate

signals Gs, Gs/, Gs]' GS3, GS4 of the modified modulation
scheme for positive and negative half cycles of the sinusoidal
modulation signal Vm{t) is shown in Fig. 6 (a). Shoot-through
signals STl and ST2 are generated by comparing Vsr and -Vsr
with carrier signal as shown in Fig. 6 (b) and Fig. 6 (c) for the
positive and negative half-cycle of the modulation signal,
respectively. In this half cycle, the shoot-through interval is
inserted in the gate signals GS3 and GS4' Gate signals GS3, GS4,
and Gs are generated using the following logic.

(c)
Stop

J'L

0.:4

'\

..

G.d
Gs2

CH2 10.0Y
CH3 10.OY

34.40s

Gsl

s.l .... I
2

W Pos:

CH4 10.OV

\.

_JW 10.0s

MEASURE

L:
I"

CH3
Period

66.64s?

CH3
Pos Width

43.00s?
CH4
Pk-Pk
lS.6Y

CH2

Mean
8ASY
1/8

(d)

Fig. 6. (a) Generation of PWM control signals, (b) PWM control scheme
when V,.,(tO, (c) PWM control scheme when V,.,(t)<O, and (d) PWM control
signals for the positive half-cycle of the modulation signal.
3589

The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

The mathematical relation between D and

as,

Tek

VST can be written

JL

M POI: -40,OO)JS

"""'....-"""'-_
.
........
..
....
.. ..
-"1".....

(6)

8.-W-W-v-:
2

(7)

CH1 200VE\oJ

CH3 200VE\.!

Where M is the modulation index of the inverter. The relation

between the AC output and DC input (Vg) is
VACpeak

= Brrans-CFSIx Mx V

V.

l+nD
Mx
V
1-(2 + n) D g

Tek

(8)

CH2 200VE\oJ

JL

Stop

PROTOTYPE SPECIFICATION

CH1 100VE\.!

CH2 1.00AE\.!

CH3 100VE\oJ

CH4 10,OVE\oJ

Tek

JL

50 Hz
25 kHz

Coupled Inductor (Ll> L2, n)

1.78 mH, 1.78 mH, 1

Capacitor (Co)

940 uF

Output Filter Inductor (Lf)

4.6 mH

Output Filter Capacitor (Cf)

10 llF

Output Power

225 W

M POI: -140,O)J'

Vc
....

M 5,OOm,

..

(a)

MEASURE
CH1
Mean
228V

CH2
Cye RMS
873mA
CH3
P-P
320V
CH3
Cye RMS
103V
CH4
Mean
27,7V

CH3 f 2,80V
<10Hz

Stop

Attributes

Carrier Frequency (ftr;)

CH4
Mean
211V

(b)

Fig. 7. (a) Steady-state switch-node voltages and DC-link voltage (Ve) of

Trans-CFSI, and (b) steady-state output AC voltage (Vae) and output current
(lac) with DC-link voltage (Ve) and DC-input voltage (Vg) for 110 V AC
systems.

TABLE I

Modulation Frequency (fm)

: AAV

A prototype is built to test the proposed Trans-CFSI

topology. The PWM control for the inverter is developed in
Texas Instruments TMS320F28335 DSP. The design
specifications are tabulated in Table I.

CH3
Freq
43,34Hz

<10Hz

v.:: f r

.p'

CH3
Pk-P
236V

CH3 f 30,OV

M 1O.0)JS

CH4 50,OVE\.!

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICAnON

Parameter/ Component

CH1
PH
472V
CH2
Cye RMS
111V?

In order to ensure that the shoot-through duty D interval

doesn't overlap with the power interval of the inverter, D
should be chosen such that

D$.I-M

MEASURE

M POI: -100,O)J'

MEASURE
CH1
Mean
447V
CH2
Cye RMS
1.03A?
CH3
Cye RMS
222V
CH3
Freq
43,80Hz
CH4
Mean
52,OV

CH1 200VE\oJ

CH2 2,OOAE\oJ

CH3 200VE\oJ

Tek

Steady-State Operation

M 5,OOm,

JL

Stop

CH3 '- 176V

<10Hz

CH4 50,OVE\.!

M POI: -100,O)J'

(a)
MEASURE
CH1
Mean

59,OV

Fig. 7 (a) shows converter switch node voltages along

with the DC-link capacitor voltage. Fig. 7 (b) shows the
inverter circuit operation of Trans-CFSI in boost mode where
a 110 V AC output (at 50 Hz) is obtained from 230 V DC-link
voltage with input voltage of 28 V.

CH2
Cye RMS
532mA?
CH3
Cye RMS
36,OV
CH3
Freq
50,OOHz

Fig. 8 (a) shows the high boost operation of Trans-CFSI

where a 220 V AC output is obtained from an input voltage of
52 V DC at D=0.285, M=0.68, n=1 with DC-link capacitor
voltage (Ve) of 450 V. The output power is 225 Watt at unity
power factor (resistive load). Steady-state operation of Trans
CFSI in buck mode is shown in Fig. 8 (b) where 36 V AC
output is generated from an input voltage of 60 V DC with
DC-link capacitor voltage (Ve) of 59 V with D=O, M=0.87,
n= l.

CH1 50,OVE\.!

CH3 20,OVE\oJ

CH4
Mean
60,OV
CH2 2,OOAE\.!
CH4 50,OVE\.!

M 5,OOm,

CH3 '- 6,40V

<10Hz

(b)

Fig. 8. Steady-state operation of Trans-CFSI in (a) high-boost mode: DC-link

capacitor voltage (Ve), input DC voltage (Vg), output AC voltage (Vae), and
output AC current (iae) waveforms for 220 V AC systems with D=0.285,
M=0.68, n=l, (b) buck mode: DC-link capacitor voltage (Ve), input DC
voltage (Vg), output AC voltage (Vae), and output AC current (iae) waveforms
with 0=0, M=0.87, n=l.

3590

The 2014 International Power Electronics Conference

for EMI and DC-bus fault which shows that the inverter shows
EMI immunity and can sustain DC-bus fault.

Effect ofDe-link Fault Due to EMf

Due to the presence of shoot-through state, Trans
CFSI provides better EMI immunity than traditional VSI. To
prove the EMI immunity of Trans-CFSI, an EMI noise of 1ms duration is applied to the inverter bridge which makes all
the gate switching signals high. The operation of the circuit
under this test is shown in Fig. 9 (a). From the result, it can be
seen that the output AC voltage and DC-Link capacitor
voltage remains at their previous voltage levels and does not
respond to the noise. Although the input current, iim (im is the
input current drawn by the converter after placing an input
filter capacitor) of the inverter rises to about 4 times of the
normal value, it comes back to steady-state within a short
period of time (3-ms). The Trans-CFSI circuit is also tested for
a long duration DC-bus fault test with 80 ms fault duration
which is shown in Fig. 9 (b). It can be seen from the test result
that there is no damage to the inverter and the circuit regains
steady-state after the fault is cleared.
Tek

JL

...

Aeq

Complete

M POI: 11.00ms

'V(tf\;

\<==;;r
. \'---r" ...,-' --y-' 1
' in

CH1 50,OV

CH2 2,00A
CH4 20,OV

Aeq
JL
...
Fault Initiated

Tek

M 5,00ms

Complete

VII.
[1]
[2]

M POI: 150,Oms

Topology-Based
[4]

wNVWNvW
Fault Cleared

CH1 50,OV

CH2 20,OA
CH4 50,OV

M 50,Oms

Transactions

on

Power

R. Adda, 0, Ray, S. Mishra, and A. Joshi, "Synchronous

Standalone DC Nanogrid Applications," IEEE Transactions on

CH2

[5]

A. Ravindranath, S. Mishra, and A. Joshi, "Analysis and PWM

Control

1,72A

CH3 Off
Cye RMS

of

Switched

Boost

Inverter,"

IEEE

Trans.

Ind.

Electron., vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 5593-5602, Dec. 2013.

[6]

Olive

Ray

and

Santanu

Mishra,

"Boost-Derived

Hybrid

Converter with Simultaneous DC and AC Outputs," accepted for

CH3 Off

publication in iEEE Trans. on Indus. Applications, 2013. DOl

freq

1O.11091TIA.2013.2271874.

CH4

Cye RMS
20,5V

[7]

Wei Qian, F. Z. Peng, H. Cha, "Trans-Z-Source Inverters" IEEE

Transactions on Power Electronics, Volume: 26, Issue: 12,

20II, pp. 3453 - 3463.

(a)

[8]

MEASURE

Soumya

Shubhra

Switched

CH1

Nag

Inverter,"

Transactions

on

and

iEEE
indus.

Santanu

Early

Mishra,

Access

Electronics,

"Current-Fed

Article,

iEEE

2014,

DOl

10,1109ITIE.2013.2289907.
[9]

Mean
?

Soumya Shubhra Nag, Ravindranath Adda, Olive Ray, Santanu

Mishra, "Current-Fed Switched Inverter Based Hybrid Topology

th Annual Coriference of

for DC Nanogrid Application, " in 39

CH3 Off

IEEE Industrial Electronics SOCiety, IECON, 2013, pp. 7146-

Cye RMS

7151.

CH3 Off
freq

[10] R. W, Erickson and D, Maksimovic, Fundamentals of Power

d
Electronics, 2n Edition, Springer science+ business media Inc.,

CH4

Cye RMS

NY, 2001.

(b)

Fig. 9, (a) EMI testing on Tran-CFSI with I ms duration EMI pulse, and (b)
DC-bus fault testing on Trans-CFSI with 80 ms fault duration.

VI.

IEEE

Power Electronics, Volume: 28, Issue: 3, 2013, pp. 1219 - 1233.

Mean

CH2 .I 9,60A

Inverter,"

Reference Frame Based Control of Switched Boost Inverter for

CH2

S. Mishra, R. Adda, and A. Joshi, "Inverse Watkins-Johnson

Electronics, Volume: 27, Issue: 3, 2012, pp. 1066 - 1070.

Mean
?

Vac

J. Anderson, F.z. Peng, "Four Quasi-Z-Source Inverters" in

pp. 2743 - 2749.

[3]

63,8V

<10H,

F.Z. Peng, "Z-Source Inverter," IEEE Transaction on Industrial

IEEE Power Electronics SpeCialists Coriference, PESC 2008,

Mean

CH2 .I 4.56A

REFERENCES

Applications, Volume. 39, No. 2, 2003, pp, 504-510,

CH1

2'

This work was supported by Science and Engineering

Research Board (SERB), Govt. of India under grant no.
SRlS3/EECE/0187/2012.

MEASURE

<

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CONCLUSION

This paper proposed a coupled inductor based high boost

inverter, named Trans-CFSI, which exhibits improved EMI
noise immunity similar to the ZSI, SBI etc. The high gain of
the inverter is obtained by the transformer action of the
coupled inductor and insertion of shoot-through state. In this
paper the development of Trans-CFSI topology is described in
details along with its steady-state characteristics and PWM
switching scheme. The proposed inverter is tested on a
laboratory prototype and verified. The inverter is also tested
3591