Solar power station isolation

Do solar power converters need isolation?

In a solar power converter, high-voltage and low-voltage circuits co-exist. Isolations are required between the high-voltage and low-voltage circuits for both functional and safety purposes. Fundamental isolation concepts and terminology are presented in references [3-4]. Digital isolators can be used to address the isolation requirements.

What isolation options are available for solar power conversion applications?

In response to these needs, Texas Instruments offers several isolation offerings for solar power conversion applications. These include isolated IGBT gate drivers, digital isolators, isolated delta-sigma ADCs and amplifiers, and isolated communication links such as isolated RS-485 and isolated CAN.

What are the different types of isolators used in solar power conversion?

In a solar power conversion system, different types of isolators are adopted to serve various functions. Isolated gate drivers are used to drive insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) or metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) in the high-voltage power stage.

Do PV panels need to be isolated?

If the controller to perform MPPT and the gate driving function sits on the panel side, these measurements need to be isolated. To operate the PV panel for maximum efficiency, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms need to be used. To achieve MPTT, the panel voltage and current also need to be monitored.

How is a power transformer isolated?

Isolation between the input and output is provided by the insulation layers between the primary coil and the secondary coil. For efficient power transfer across isolation, a self oscillating high frequency oscillator is used to drive the primary for the power transformer, and high frequency Schottky diodes are used to provide rectified dc voltage.

Do PV circuits need an isolation transformer?

However, inclusion of the isolation transformer brings extra power loss and accounts for further board space, which means more cost. The isolation requirements of the PV circuits and grid-tied circuits need to be considered separately for this case.