Patent ID: 8391031

Claim:
A power conditioning unit for delivering power from a photovoltaic dc power source to an ac mains power supply, the power conditioning unit comprising: a dc power input to receive dc power from a photovoltaic dc power source; an ac power output for delivering ac power to said ac mains power supply; a dc link coupled between said dc power input and said ac power output; at least a first dc-to-dc converter coupled between said dc power input and said dc link; and a dc-to-ac converter coupled between said dc link and said ac power output; wherein said dc-to-dc converter comprises: a transformer having an input winding and an output winding; an input dc-to-ac converter coupled between said dc power input and said input winding of said transformer; an ac-to-dc converter coupled between said output winding of said transformer and said dc link; and wherein said output winding of said transformer has a winding tap between first and second portions of said output winding, and wherein said ac-to-dc converter comprises: first and second rectifiers, each connected to a respective first and second portion of said output winding, to said dc link, and to said winding tap; and a series inductor connected to said winding tap; and wherein said rectifiers are each connected to said winding tap of said output winding via said series inductor such that said series inductor is shared between said first and second rectifiers.