2013 Texas Instruments India Educators' Conference

DESIGN, ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION OF PORTABLE SOLAR

POWER INVERTER BY EMPLOYING MSP-430F5132
Roopa Gangeputra*, Nikhil Seshasayee+ and Usha A Joshi*
*Department of E & E Engg, BMSCE, Bangalore. E-mail:roopa.gangeputra@gmail.com
+Senior Analog Application Engineer, Texas Instruments, Blore,Email:ads.nikhil@ti.com
*Department of E & E Engg, BMSCE, Bangalore, E-mail:ushaajoshi@yahoo.com
Abstract: The aim of this work is to design and mode power converters as interfacing circuit
simulate low cost, portable efficient solar power
inverter for standalone applications using MATLAB
SIMULINK and MSP430 Microcontroller. The
designed expected output is 300W, 230V pure sine
wave signal. The incremental conductance based
Maximum Power Point Technique (MPPT)
algorithm
has
been
implemented
using
synchronous buck converter at the first stage.
Since this project is designed for standalone
applications, lead acid battery is selected, which
has maximum charge storage capacity of 100
Ampere-Hour and charge/discharge rating of 10 i.e.
100Ah and C/10, 12V Lead Acid). Half bridge dcdc converter is designed to boost the battery
voltage from 14.5V to 400V DC. The final stage of
the project is single phase full bridge inverter which
produces the distorted quasi sine wave signal as
output, which is later filtered to remove unwanted
harmonics using designed LC low pass filter . Since
this project is designed for low power applications,
MOSFET is used as the switch in all the power
circuit stages. The control strategy here is designed
and accomplished by employing MSP-430F5132
microcontroller which is user friendly and cost
effective solution.

between the solar panel and the load.

1.2 Proposed Solution

This system is designed using Synchronous Buck
Converter at the first stage, and then high
frequency (100 KHz) Half Bridge DC-DC converter
is designed as the intermediate stage to get the
regulated DC voltage 400V. Single phase Full
Bridge Inverter is designed as the final stage to get
the smooth sine wave output of 300W, 230V and
operating frequency of this inverter is 20 KHz.
Since MSP430 Microcontroller is used for
controlling purpose and high frequency transformer
is designed, overall cost of the project is
significantly reduced. All the circuit stages have
been simulated using MATLAB SIMULINK (Version
2008). The basic overview of the system in terms of
block diagram is as shown below.

Solar
Panel

MPPT
based
charge
controller

Keywords: Solar Panel, MPPT and Charge control,

MSP-430 Microcontroller and MATLAB-SIMULINK.

Half bridge
dc-dc
converter

1. Introduction
For environmental concern and due to peak power
demand solar photovoltaic cell has become an
alternative energy source for power generation.
This is low power project, is designed for
standalone application which ensures increased
efficiency, minimal cost and overall reduction in the
system size.

1.1 Technical Background

MSP-430
Microcontroller
(MSP430F5132)

Single Phase
Full Bridge
inverter

Load

Switch mode power converters are popular and

sometimes
necessary
for
DC-DC
power
conversion. As the Sun delivers the DC power
which is not constant it is necessary to use switch
978-0-7695-5146-3/13 $26.00 2013 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/TIIEC.2013.43

Lead
acid
battery

205
204

Figure 1. Block diagram of the system

conductance MPPT algorithm and charge control

algorithm.

2. Proposed Circuit Design

Solar panel is made up of numbers of series and
parallel connected solar cells. In this system, the
solar panel which is of rated voltage of 24Volts and
short circuit current of 4.5Amps has to be used and
such panels can be connected in parallel to
achieve short circuit current of 20Amps.Solar cell
mathematical model is explained with the relevant
equations as given below.

Rs
Rp

RL

Iph

The optimum load of the PV array is defined by the

coordinates of the MPOP, i.e. RIN = Vmax and
Imax

since the MPOP varies with the atmospheric

conditions, it is clear that the value of RIN, will be
affected by this variation. In this project a
synchronous buck converter is adopted which can
match the array optimum load by changing its
switching duty ratio. It is described by the following
equations.
Input- Output relation in synchronous buck
converter can be described by following equation,

1000

VOUT =D.(4)
VIN

Constant

Figure 2.Solar cell diode equivalent model

IOUT
IIN

1
..(5)
D

Applying Kirchhoffs current law to the above circuit

node where I , diode, R and R meet, following
ph
p
s
From above equations, following relations can be
equations can be obtained
obtained,
Iph = ID + IRp + I (1)
VOUT
Following equations can be obtained from the
VIN = D
... (6)
above equation.
IIN IO
OUT.D
(7)
I = Iph - ID - IRp............................................. (2)
I

Iph Io. exp

I.Rs
V
T

I.Rs
Rp

Input resistance seen by the buck converter,

..(3)

VIN

Where,
I = Insolation current,

RIN = IIN (8)

This gives,

ph

I = Cell current,
I = Reverse saturation current,
o
V = Cell voltage,
R = Series resistance,

ROUT
RIN= D 2 .(9)
By observing the equation no 9, it can be noted that
since the output load ROUT is constant it cannot be
varied. By varying the duty ratio of the converter it
would be possible to match the source resistance
and the load resistance.

R = Parallel resistance,
p

V = Thermal voltage = KT/q,

T

-23

K = Boltzmanns constant = 1.38110 J/K,

o
T = Temperature in Kelvin = 300 K,
-19
q = charge of an electron = 1.6x10 C.
MATLAB program is written to solve the above
equation is given a the appendix A which and I-V
characteristics of solar panel is obtained.
To implement MPPT, basic dc-dc converter
topologies or derived dc- dc converter topologies
can be used. Even though SEPIC, CUK or BuckBoost are ideal choice to implement the MPPT,
these converters are more complex and expensive.
In general buck or boost topologies are extensively
used to implement MPPT.
First stage: synchronous buck converter: To
minimize the conduction losses, synchronous buck
converter is designed to implement incremental
206
205

Input Voltage

(VIN)

18V

Load Current

(I out)

20A

Output voltage (Vout)

14.5V

Switching frequency (Fs)

100KHz

Current ripple assumed Il

20% I out = 4A

Voltage ripple assumed V

50mV.

Duty ratio D

0.8

Table1. Design specifications of synchronous buck

converter.

Output Inductor and Capacitor

calculated as shown below.
VOUT DTs.,
IL
V
VOUT
0.8,
D
VIN
1
1
TS
10s
FS
1
18 - 14.5
LOUT
0.8 10
4

are cumbersome. It is desirable to have control logic

which tracks the MPP automatically. The basic idea
of Incremental Conductance Algorithm is that, by
comparing
instantaneous
and
incremental
conductance, maximum power point can be tracked
efficiently and this can be described with the
following equations and incremental conductance
MPPT flowchart is given below.
dP = 0, at the MPP,
dV
dI .(10)
dP = d(IV)
V.
I V
dV
dV
dV

values

VIN

LOUT

7H

10

IL

ESR

1
)
8
8FSCOUT
1
IL.ESR).8FS

L(ESR
I

V
COUT

(
( V

500
5 F

ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) =10.

Proposed circuit topology to implement hardware

prototype of this synchronous buck converter is
given below.
BUCK_MPPT
U56
D28

D23

10uH,SER2918H-103KL
1
2
L1

Panel_Vol

Vcc

BAT_VOL

SiR422DP

J3

Load Current

BAT

Output voltage (Vout)

400V

Switching frequency (Fs)

100KHz

1
2

C16

J4

Battery: Since this project is suitable for standalone

applications lead acid battery of capacity 100Ah,
C/10 is selected. The control voltage of the battery
is 14.5V, i.e. battery should not be charged beyond
this voltage and must be disconnected from the
load when battery reaches 70% of its maximum
capacity.
Second stage-Half Bridge DC-DC Converter: High
frequency transformer is designed at this stage
which will reduce the cost and size of the entire
system significantly. This stage is designed to
boost the battery voltage from 14.5V to 400V
regulated DC.
Input Voltage (VIN)
14.5V

U2

470UF,ECA1HM471
+

C30 +
2
1

C29

330UF,ECA1HM221

R5
1

R100 0.01
1
2

2
0.01
R8

Panel_Cur_Sense

R99 0.01
1
2

0.01

BAT_CUR

SP_CUR_SENSE

SP_VOL_SENSE

1 R9

C20
0.1uF

VSS

HO

IN

HS

EN

NC

RDT

0.47uF

R7 4k
1
1
R10
4k

3
2

Panel_Vol_Sense

10
9

R6
100k

8
R98
10k

ENABLE_1

R57
TLC272

20% I out =0.2A

50mV.

Cur_S

U8A

C47
16PF

Table 2. Design Specifications of half bridge DCDC converter

Transformer design:
VOUT1= (400+20+0.8) = 420.8V

Vcc

1A

100k

R34
10k

PWM_PULSE_1

Voltage ripple assumed V

0
1

LO

HB

VDD

Panel_Cur_Sense

LM5105
2

R33
60k

Current ripple assumed Il

2
100k

Panel_v ol

C19

(I out)

33UF,ECA1HM330

SiR422DP

Panel

Figure 3.Proposed synchronous Buck Converter

Circuit.
In the above circuit, to drive the MOSFETs,
LM5105 high voltage gate driver IC is used which is
having programmable dead time control pin and
peak gate drive current 1.8A.The solar panel
voltage is sensed employing voltage divider
network, panel current is sensed using current
limiting resistor and inverting amplifier, Then
voltage and current have to be fed to the
MSP430Microcontroller.
Incremental conductance MPPT algorithm: Due to
rapid variation in the atmospheric conditions solar
panel exhibits highly nonlinear characteristics. So
the maximum power point will be oscillating point.
Obtaining MPP using experimental setup is

POUT = 420.8W
Efficiency = 80%
Area- product for half-bridge DC-DC converter is
given by,

1)

POUT( 2
Ap =

4K WJBmF S

Kw-Window utilization Factor = 0.4, J= current

2

density= 3A/mm , Fs= switching frequency =

4

100KHz, Efficiency=80%,Ap = 12,294.23 mm .

Choose EE-core-

207
206

E42/21/9.

Area product Ap= 27,390mm , window area Aw=

2

256mm ,core cross section area Ac= 107 mm

both capacitor has to be same else flux imbalance

will occur.
At the Final Stage, Single phase full bridge inverter,
known as H-Bridge inverter is designed and
simulated to obtain the desired output. Uni-polar
pulse width modulation technique is used to derive
the pulse pattern. Output Voltage harmonic
calculation is shown below.
Fs = Fc = 20 KHz, Fm= F1= 50Hz and ma = 1
Vdc = 400V.
Ma--------modulation index.
Mf--------frequency modulation index= Fc\Fm= 400.
Fs--------Switching Frequency

mean magnetic length lm =108.5mm, effective

permeability r = 2100.

VI N/2 = 1, choose N1 =
4A CBmF S

Primary turns N1 =
2 turns.

N2
N1

VOUT
2 D VIN/2

65 , No of secondary turns
6

N2=130turns,

orACN1
Equivalent primary inductance L1=
LM

= 283V, ma=

modulation index = 1
2Mf+1 = 40.05KHz & 2Mf -1 = 39.95KHz voltage

=10H.

0.18 4
400

harmonic, V03 =

RMS value of secondary and primary currents is

given by,

= 51V

2Mf +3 = 40.15 KHz& 2Mf-3=39.85KHz

N2 IOUT 665A .
N1

IOUT D 0
0.67A , I1

I2

ma.Vdc

Fundamental voltage V01 =

voltage harmonic, V05 =

0.21 4
400

= 59.4V

V03 2 V
V05 2
V01

Output inductor and capacitor calculations are

Total Harmonic distortion (THD) =

shown below.
N2 VIN VOUT
N1 2
LOUT
D TS
IL
2
Choose LOUT
680 H
6

X 100 = 27.66%.
LC Filter Design is given below
H(s) =
,H(s)Transfer function
1

563
5 H

V , ESR

250m
2
IL

Choose ESR
200m
2

s 2 LC

ESR

L
Rd

From the transfer function following relations can

be obtained.

25
F
2

COUT

47
4 F

Choose COUT

Rd
&C
2 F
F0

1
2 F 0 Rd

Rd = 50 (load)
The proposed circuit topology is given below to
implement the hardware prototype of this stage.
Cutoff frequency F0 = 3kHz, L = 270H and C =
4F.
V4

HO

EN

NC

RDT

PWM_Pulse

IN

HS

C2
0.47UF

1
2

Bat+

U2

50
C3
0.1uF

2
C1
1000uF

S
R2
10

D2
MUR160

V7

Cur

U6
PS2501

1
D

SiR422DP
U4

Cur

V-

OUT
2

100k

3
2

U5A
R12
4k

1
D

2
R6

SiHB24N65E
S

R9
10
1

U4

R19
2

SiHB24N65E

50
S

R18
10

VDC_Cur_Sense

Figure 4: Proposed Half-Bridge circuit

In the above circuit, the input capacitors has to be
selected in such way that leakage current of the

2
100k

2
50

R14

V+

R13
1

TLC272/5_2/TI

100k

G
1

R5
100
1

Bat-

C1
6uF

2
U2

R3

2
4k

R10

R11

SMU110N04-2m1P

15Vdc
U8
PS2501

V6

Gate_Drive_1

15Vdc
4

U3

R4
10

L1
1

0.01
R7
1

R3
G

Gate_Drive_2

0.01

SiHB24N65E
S

R8
10

270uH

R6
1

R10
10

U3
2

2
50

400Vdc

C5
47uF

XFRM_LIN/CT-SEC

R7
100
1

V1

Vout

MUR160

50

SiHB24N65E
S

0
1
680uH

Ls2

50

R2

D1

Lp

C4
1000uF

R4
100

TX1
Ls1

L1

1
D

U1

15Vdc
4

R1

SMU110N04-2m1P

U5
PS2501

1
D

R8
5k

R1
1

V5

Gate_Drive_2
1

VDC_Vol_Sense

U7
PS2501

Gate_Drive_1

LM5105

R9
990k

Enable_Signal

R5
100k

Vout

Figure 5. Proposed single phase full bridge inverter

circuit.
MSP-430F5132
Microcontroller:The
Texas
Instruments MSP430 family of ultra-low-power

208
207

LOAD

15Vdc

10

LO
VSS

HB

VDD

100

U1
1

microcontrollers consists of several devices the above simulink model memory block will track
featuring different sets of peripherals targeted for the previous voltage and current values.
various applications.
Variation of solar irradiation:
Features:
Low Supply Voltage Range: 1.8 V to 3.6 V
Flexible Power Management System
10-Bit 200-ksps Analog-to-Digital (A/D) and 3
Timers TD0,TD1 and TA0 with compare/capture
registers.
MPPT_k/SOLAR IRRADIATION : Group 1

Signal 3

2.5

1.5

0.5

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5
Time (sec)

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

MICROCONTROLLER
U13
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

Vcc

BAT_CUR_SENSE
BAT_VOL_SENSE
VDC_Vol_Sense
VDC_Cur_Sense
Panel_Vol_Sense
Cur_S

PWM_PULSE_1
PWM_PULSE
gate_driv e_1
gate_driv e_2
ENABLE_1

AVCC
XOUT
XIN
AVSS
A0
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
CB6
CB7
CB8
CB9
PM_TD0.0
PM_TD0.1
PM_TD0.2
PM_TD1.0
PM_TD1.1

38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20

PM_TA0.1
PM_TA0.2
RST
TEST
PM_TA0CLK
PM_TD0.0
TD0.1
DVCC
DVSS
VCORE
PM_TD1.2
PM_TD1.1
PM_TD1.0
PM_TD0.2
PM_TD0.1
PM_TD0.0
DVSS
DVIO
PM_TD1.2

Variation of input voltage and input power with

MPPT is shown below.

ENABLE

Vcc
LED_ov er_LOAD
BAT_LOW
SOLAR_ON
Led_Inv _On

MSP430F5132

Figure 6.MSP-430F5132 microcontroller circuit

3. Software Implementation
i. I -V Characteristics of the solar panel.
a. For constant solar irradiation.
25

400

300
Solar Power in watt

Solar Panel Current(Amps)

350

20

15

10

250
200
150
100

5
50

0
0

10
15
Solar Panel Voltage (volts)

20

0
0

25

10
15
Solar Panel Voltage (Volts)

20

25

Figure 8. Simulink model of half bridge DC-DC

converter
Output voltage = 400V output current =1A

b. For varying solar irradiation.

400
350

Solar Panel power

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0

In1

Out1

10

15
Solar Panel voltage

20

25

30

+ i
-

Mosfet1

V+

load current

Iout

Solar panel

Gate _Pulse _2

V-

Out2

Signal 3

SOLAR IRRADIATION

Mosfet2
Gate _Pulse _1

+
- v

Rout

Vout output voltage

Memory 1

Vref

Vpr

voltage

Va

Memory 2

INC Iref
Ipr
P

Ia

current
MPPT

power

Figure 7.Simulink model of synchronous buck

converter
Incremental conductance algorithm is implemented
using MATLAB Simulink (embedded function) .In

Figure 9. Simulink model of single phase full bridge

inverter

209
208

4. Results

5. Conclusion & Future Work

Figure 10 .Inverter ouput voltage without filtration

The aim of this research work is to design, analyze

and simulate the novel low cost portable solar
power inverter for standalone applications. The
high frequency transformer is designed, which will
further reduce the size and cost of the system
significantly. In this work, all power circuits are
designed, analyzed and simulated by employing
MATLAB SIMULINK (Version 2008) and it is
observed that there was good agreement between
the theoretical and simulation results.
The MSP430F5132 microcontroller selected in this
work, can be effectively implemented in future, to
efficiently minimize the cost of the entire system.

6. References
Figure 11. Inverter output voltage with Filtration

[1].Trishan Esram, Student Member, IEEE, and

Patrick L. Chapman, Senior Member, IEEE,
400
Comparison of Photovoltaic Array Maximum
200
0
Power Point Tracking Techniques, IEEE
-200
-400
Transactions on Energy Conversion, VOL. 22, NO.
0
0.01
0.02 Time (s)0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
2, June 2007.
Fundamental (50Hz) = 384.3 , THD= 4.16%
[2].K.H. Hussein I. Muta, T.Hoshino, M.Osakada,
400
Maximum photovoltaic power tracking: an
300
algorithm for rapidly changing
Atmospheric
200
100
Conditions, lEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol.
0
142, No. J, January 1995
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Frequency (Hz)
[3].Roberto F. Coelho, Filipe Concer, Denizar C.
Martins, A Study of the Basic DC-DC Converters
Figure 12. Output voltage harmonic profile THD = Applied in Maximum Power Point Tracking, 978-14.16%
4244- 3370-4/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE.
[4].Yuri Panov and Milan M. Jovanovic, Fellow,
IEEE Design and Performance Evaluation of LowVoltage/High-Current DC/DC On-Board Modules,
IEEE Transactions On Power Electronics, VOL. 16,
NO. 1, January 2001.
[5].Savita Nema, R.K.Nema, Gayatri Agnihotrin
Matlab / Simulink based study of photovoltaic cells
Figure 13. Inverter output current with filtration.
/ modules / array and their
Experimental
verification , Volume 1, Issue 3, 2010 pp.487-500.
Selected signal: 3 cycles. FFT window (in red): 2 cycles
[6].Abraham Pressman Switch Mode Power
Supply Design, Second edition.
[7].Application Note-SLVA057 Understanding Buck
Power Stages in Switch Mode Power Supplies, by
Fundamental (50Hz) = 7.679 , THD= 4.17%
Texas Instruments.
Mag (% of Fundamental)

Selected signal: 3 cycles. FFT window (in red): 2 cycles

5
0

-5

Mag (% of Fundamental)

0.01

0.02

0.03
Time (s)

0.04

0.05

0.06

20

15

7. Acknowledgement

10

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 14. Output current harmonic profile THD=

4.17%

This work was carried out when author was student

intern at Texas Instruments, India. Author would
like to thank Nikhil Seahasayee of TI for his
excellent guidance and TI for providing the
opportunity to carry out the project internship.

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