A Review of Inverter Topologies, Electric Drives, Intelligent Control Strategies, and Emerging Applications in Solar Photovoltaic Power Conversion Systems
Keywords:
Electric drives, Grid-forming control, Inverter topologies, Maximum power point tracking, Solar photovoltaic systemsAbstract
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) generation now depends as much on the power-electronic interface built around it as on the PV cells themselves; inverter topology, motor drive, and control algorithm jointly set the achievable efficiency, power quality, and grid compatibility of a PV installation. This review organises PV power-conversion literature published mainly between 2019 and 2025 into four connected themes. First, it examines inverter topologies — conventional two-level voltage-source inverters, transformerless H5/H6/HERIC designs, diode-clamped and cascaded multilevel structures, and impedance-source (Z-source/quasi-Z-source/T-source) circuits — together with the efficiency gains that wide-bandgap semiconductors are bringing across all these families. Second, it reviews the electric drives most often paired with PV sources, namely brushless DC (BLDC), induction, permanent-magnet Synchronous (PMSM), and reluctance machines, with particular attention to front-end converter choice in BLDC pumping and Electric-Vehicle (EV) drives. Third, it surveys control strategies for maximum power point tracking and grid interaction, from classical proportional-integral control through fuzzy-logic and neural-network approaches to sliding-mode and grid-forming methods. Fourth, it maps these technologies onto practical application domains: grid-tied installations, agricultural water pumping, EV propulsion and charging, standalone and microgrid electrification, and Internet-of-Things-enabled monitoring. The review closes by identifying cross-cutting gaps — narrowing topology-efficiency differences, the real-time cost of intelligent control, and the relative immaturity of grid-forming PV schemes — intended to guide topology and controller selection in future PV system design.
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