Flexible Common-Mode Voltage Modulation Strategy for Differential Boost Inverters

Photovoltaic power generation and energy storage technology are current hotspots in the clean energy industry. As a core piece of equipment, an inverter is subjected to higher demands for its voltage regulation range and output performance. A differential boost inverter features a boosting function not found in traditional inverters, effectively widening the input voltage range, with characteristics of a single-stage structure and simple modulation. However, the differential boost inverter faces the issue of high common-mode voltage. Considering that the magnitude of the common-mode voltage changes with different modulation methods, a novel modulation strategy with a flexible common-mode voltage is proposed, which can effectively suppress the common-mode voltage under the same gain without affecting the output power quality. This article first introduces the topology, working principle, and traditional modulation methods of the differential boost inverter. Then, the new modulation strategy is defined, and the gain equation is derived. The new modulation method’s applicable scenarios are discussed and compared to other modulation methods based on the gain curve, concluding that the new method has advantages in terms of common-mode voltage amplitude and power quality under low boost gain. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through simulation and experiments.