A compact single-phase bidirectional buck-boost-inverter topology

This paper proposes a single-phase bidirectional buck-boost-inverter topology. The boosting function is achieved by using a wide range of duty cycles based on the front-end buck-boost converter characteristics. The two main switches operate at 20 kHz to generate a unipolar half-cycle sinusoidal waveform. The fundamental frequency switched full-bridge inverter block converts the unipolar output of the buck-boost converter into a full sinusoidal waveform. The proposed topology has several attractive features such as: compact size, bidirectional power flow control capability, single inductor and capacitor, few voltage and current sensors, and low cost. Analysis, simulation, and experimental results from a laboratory prototype are presented to validate the performance of the proposed inverter topology.