IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO.

12, DECEMBER 2011

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An Improved Z -Source Inverter

Yu Tang, Member, IEEE, Shaojun Xie, Member, IEEE, and Chaohua Zhang
AbstractThis paper proposes an improved Z-source inverter topology. Compared to previous Z-source inverter topology, it can reduce the Z-source capacitor voltage stress greatly, and has an inherent limitation to inrush current. The control strategy is exactly the same as the previous one, so all existing control strategies can be used directly. Soft-start strategy is also proposed to avoid the inrush current and resonance between the Z-capacitors and the Z-inductors. Comparison between the proposed and previous topologies is also presented. Analysis, simulation, and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the new features of the improved topology. Index TermsInrush current, soft start, Z-source inverter.

I. INTRODUCTION HE Z-source inverter can perform buckboost functions, as compared to the traditional voltagesource inverter. In addition, the two switches in the same phase leg can be gated on simultaneously. Therefore, no dead time is needed, so output distortion is greatly reduced and reliability greatly improved. Fig. 1 shows the Z-source inverter topology. Recently, most publications have been focused on modulation strategies [1][4], application elds [5][7], and modeling of the Z-source inverter [9]. Despite the aforementioned merits, the traditional Z-source inverter topology also has the following drawbacks. 1) To perform the voltage boost function for the Z-source stage, the Z-capacitor voltage is larger than the input voltage. Thus, high-voltage Z-capacitors should be used, which may increase the volume and cost of the system. 2) The Z-source inverter cannot suppress the rush current and resonance between the Z-capacitors and the Z-inductors at startup. This causes voltage and current surges, and may destroy the device. To solve the aforementioned problems in the traditional Z-source inverter, a new Z-source inverter topology is presented with reduced Z-capacitor voltage stress and inherent inrush current suppression capability. A new soft-start strategy is also presented to avoid the resonance between the Z-capacitors and the Z-inductors.

Fig. 1.

Z-source inverter.

II. CONSIDERATIONS ON TRADITIONAL Z-SOURCE INVERTER A. Z-capacitor Voltage Stress As described in [1], the peak dc link voltage can be expressed as Vi = BVo = 1 Vo 1 2D0 (1)

where Vo is the input dc voltage and B is the boost factor. B is determined by shoot-through duty ratio D0 . To perform a boost conversion, the Z-capacitor voltage is determined by VC 1 = VC 2 = VC = 1 D0 Vo . 1 2D0 (2)

As can be derived from (2), VC is not less than Vo , thus presenting a high Z-capacitor voltage stress. B. Inrush Current at Startup A huge inrush current exists at the Z-source inverter startup, as shown in Fig. 2. The initial voltage across the Z-capacitors is zero, so the huge inrush current charges the Z-capacitors immediately to 0.5Vo , and then the resonance between the Z-capacitors and the Z-inductors starts. This results in a large Z-capacitor voltage surge and Z-inductor current surge. III. IMPROVED Z-SOURCE INVERTER The improved Z-source inverter is shown in Fig. 3. The elements used are exactly the same as in the previous one. The difference is that the position of the inverter bridge and diode is exchanged and their connection direction is reversed. The voltage polarity of the Z-capacitors in the proposed topology keeps the same input voltage polarity; therefore, the Z-capacitor voltage stress can be greatly reduced and get the same boost voltage across the inverter bridge. In addition, as can be seen in Fig. 3,

Manuscript received October 22, 2007; revised October 23, 2007; accepted January 21, 2008. Date of current version December 6, 2011. This work was supported by Delta Environmental and Educational Foundation under the Power Electronics Science and Education Development Program (DREG2008002), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (BK2008391), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20093218120017), and Foundation of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Recommended for publication by Associate Editor B. Tamyurek. The authors are with the College of Automation Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China (e-mail: ty8025@hotmail.com; eeac@nuaa.edu.cn; zhangchaohua007@163.com). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TPEL.2009.2039953

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Fig. 4. Fig. 2. Inrush current at startup.

Input current of traditional Z -source inverter.

B. Z-Inductor Current Ripple The average Z-inductor current equals the average input current; therefore, the average Z-inductor current for both topologies is the same. For the improved topology, during the nonshoot-through state, the Z-inductor current is decreased. The current ripple can be expressed as iL = D0 (1 D0 )T VC (1 D0 )T VC = L (1 2D0 )L (6)

while for the previous topology, during shoot-through state, the Z-inductor current increased. The current ripple can be expressed as
Fig. 3. Improved Z -source inverter.

iL =

D0 (1 D0 )T VC D0 T VC = . L (1 2D0 )L

(7)

the topology has inherent inrush-current limitation ability, as compared to the previous one, because there is no current path at startup. IV. OPERATION PRINCIPLE AND COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS TOPOLOGY A. Z-Capacitor Voltage Stress and Voltage Ripple Dening the shoot-through duty ratio as D0 , the peak dc-link voltage can be expressed as Vi = 1 Vo . 1 2D0 (3)

From (6) and (7), we can see that the current ripple is the same for these two topologies. C. Input Current Ripple The input current for the Z-source inverter is different under the different control. The following analysis uses the simple boost control as an example. For the traditional Z-source inverter, the current to the inverter bridge is ii , so the input current can be expressed as iin = 2iL ii . (8)

It is the same as in the previous topology, and VC can be expressed as VC = D0 Vo . 1 2D0 (4)

Compared with (2), one can see that VC is decreased by Vo while maintaining the same voltage boost. During shootthrough, the conditions for the previous and the improved Z-source inverter are the same. The Z-inductor current discharges the Z-capacitor; therefore, the voltage ripple of the Z-capacitors in both inverters can be expressed as VC = IL D0 T . C (5)

In the shoot-through state, the input current is zero. In the traditional zero state, ii is zero, so iin is 2iL . In active states 1 and 2, ii is i1 and i2 , respectively, so iin is 2iL i1 and 2iL i2 , respectively, and the averaged input current is IL . The input current for the previous topology is shown in detail in Fig. 4. For the improved topology, the input current is the current fed to the inverter bridge, so in shoot-through state, the input current is 2iL . In the traditional zero state, the input current is zero; in active states 1 and 2, the input current is i1 and i2 , respectively, and the averaged input current is IL . The input current for the improved topology is shown in detail in Fig. 5. In Figs. 4 and 5, we can see that the input current ripple of these two topologies is exactly the same.

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Fig. 5.

Input current of improved Z -source inverter.

Fig. 7.

Simulation results under D 0 = 0 and M = 0.8 of improved topology.

Fig. 6.

Simulation results under D 0 = 0 and M = 0.8 of traditional topology.

V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Simulation results are given to verify the proposed Z-source inverter topology and compare it with the traditional one. A simple boost control is applied, and other control can also be used, including maximum boost control, maximum constant-boost control, and support vector machine (SVM) control. The simulation parameters are 1) input voltage Vo = 200 V; 2) load: three-phase resistance load R = 5; 3) Z-source network: L1 = L2 = 500 H, C1 = C2 = 500 F; 4) output lters: Lf = 500 H, Cf = 10 F; 5) switching frequency: 10 KHz. Figs. 6 and 7 show the simulation results of the traditional and improved topologies, respectively, when D0 = 0 and M = 0.8. The waveforms from top to bottom are input current iin , Z-capacitor voltage VC , dc-link voltage Vi , Z-inductor current iL , and output lter inductor current iL f , respectively. In Fig. 6, we can see that in the traditional topology, VC is equal to Vo in steady state and a huge inrush current occurs at start up. VC is charged from 0 to 100 V instantaneously. Then the resonance between the Z-capacitors and Z-inductors starts, and the voltage and current surges occur. This may destroy the converter.
Fig. 8. Simulation results under D 0 = 0.2 and M = 0.8 of traditional topology.

As shown in Fig. 7, the inrush current is avoided at start up, VC is equal to 0 in steady state, and the resonance between the Z-capacitors and Z-inductors can be neglected. Thus, the system security can be guaranteed. Figs. 810 show the simulation results when D0 = 0.2 and M = 0.8. Fig. 8 shows the waveforms in the traditional topology. We can see that VC is larger than Vo in steady state in order to perform the voltage boost capability, and a huge inrush current at start up and resonance also occurs. Fig. 9 shows the waveforms in the proposed topology without soft-start strategy. VC is much smaller than Vo and performs the same voltage boost. The inrush current and the resonance between the Z-capacitors and Z-inductors also exist, though they are much smaller than previously. To avoid the resonance, a soft-start strategy is also given here, i.e., increase D0 from 0 to 0.2 gradually at start up. Fig. 10 shows the waveforms in the proposed topology with the soft-start strategy. We can see that the inrush current and resonance are eliminated.

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Experimental results are also given for Vo = 250 V and R = 17 when D = 0.18, and M = 0.82, as shown in Fig. 11. The waveforms given from top to bottom are the Z-capacitor voltage VC , dc-link voltage Vi , and output phase voltage vload . As can be seen, VC is about 70 V, which is much smaller than Vo . The experimental results veried the operating principle well. VI. CONCLUSION This paper has presented a new Z-source inverter topology. Compared to the previous one, the improved topology has several merits. 1) The Z-capacitor voltage stress is reduced by Vi to perform the same boost ability. Thus, a low-voltage Z-capacitor can be utilized to reduce the system cost and volume. 2) The in-rush current and resonance between the Z-capacitors and the Z-inductors in the traditional topology can be eliminated with a proper soft-start strategy. REFERENCES
[1] F. Z. Peng, Z-source inverter, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 504510, Mar./Apr. 2003. [2] F. Z. Peng, M. S. Shen, and Z. Qian, Maximum boost control of the Z-source inverter, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 833 838, Jul. 2005. [3] M. S. Shen, J. Wang, A. Joseph, F. Z. Peng, L. M. Tolbert, and D. J. Adams, Constant boost control of the Z-source inverter to minimize current ripple and voltage stress, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 770777, May/Jun. 2006. [4] P. C. Loh, D. M. Vilathgamuwa, Y. S. Lai, G. T. Chua, and Y. W. Li, Pulsewidth modulation of Z-source inverters, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 13461355, Nov. 2005. [5] F. Z. Peng, A. Joseph, J. Wang, M. Shen, L. Chen, Z. G. Pan, E. O. Rivera, and Y. Huang, Z-source inverter for motor drives, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 857863, Jul. 2005. [6] F. Z. Peng, M. Shen, and K. Holland, Application of Z-source inverter for traction drive of fuel cell-battery hybrid electric vehicles, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 10541061, May 2007. [7] Y. Huang, M. Shen, F. Z. Peng, and J. Wang, Z-source inverter for residential photovoltaic systems, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 17761782, Nov. 2006. [8] P. C. Loh, D. M. Vilathgamuwa, G. J. Gajanayake, Y. R. Lin, and C. W. Teo, Transient modeling and analysis of pulse-width modulated Z-source inverter, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 498507, Mar. 2007. [9] Y. Tang, S. J. Xie, and C. H. Zhang, Z-source AC-AC converters solving commutation problem, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 21462154, Nov. 2007. [10] M. S. Shen and F. Z. Peng, Control of the Z-source inverter for fuel cell-battery hybrid vehicles to eliminate undesirable operation modes, in Proc. IEEE IAS, Oct. 2006, pp. 16671673.

Fig. 9. Simulation results under D 0 = 0.2 and M = 0.8 of improved topology without soft-start strategy.

Fig. 10. Simulation results under D 0 = 0.2 and M = 0.8 of improved topology with soft-start strategy.

Authors photographs and biographies not available at the time of publication.

Fig. 11.

Experimental results.