This paper describes practical issues related to control of the active power buffer (APB) developed for a 2 kVA single-phase inverter. The buffer is designed using the latest GaN HEMTs controlled with triangular current mode to reduce switching losses, however, the switching frequency should be limited to 1 MHz. In the case of the presented analogue-digital controller, frequency is influenced by a reference current of the APB and circuit. Therefore, the operation at start-up and shut-down is especially challenging. A modified control algorithm that also includes pre-charging and discharging process of the energy buffer is presented and experimentally verified by series of tests of the 2 kVA GaN based inverter with the APB.

This paper discusses selected problems regarding a high-frequency improved current-fed quasi-Z-source inverter (iCFqZSI) designed and built with SiC power devices. At first, new, modified topology of the impedance network is presented. As the structure is derived from the series connection of two networks, the voltage stress across the SiC diodes and the inductors is reduced by a factor of two. Therefore, the SiC MOSFETs may be switched with frequencies above 100 kHz and volume and weight of the passive components is decreased. Furthermore, additional leg with two SiC MOSFETs working as a bidirectional switch is added to limit the current stress during the short-through states. In order to verify the performance of the proposed solution a 6 kVA laboratory model was designed to connect a 400 V DC source (battery) and a 3£400 V grid. According to presented simulations and experimental results high-frequency iCFqZSI is bidirectional – it may act as an inverter, but also as a rectifier. Performed measurements show correct operation at switching frequency of 100 kHz, high quality of the input and output waveforms is observed. The additional leg increases efficiency by up to 0.6% – peak value is 97.8%.