A New High Efficiency High Step-Up DC/DC Converter for Renewable Energy Applications

Abstract

This article introduces a new nonisolated soft-switching coupled-inductor (CI) step-up dc/dc converter. The presented topology utilizes a three-winding CI (TWCI) along with a voltage multiplier circuit to increase the voltage conversion ratio without needing a high duty cycle. Using this circuit, a high voltage gain can be achieved without requiring a large number of turns ratio in the CI. The input current ripple of the introduced converter is very low, which is very desirable for renewable energy sources applications. The TWCI also creates an additional design freedom to increase the voltage gain, which indicates more circuit flexibility. Additionally, the voltage stress across the single power switch is limited with the help of a regenerative clamp capacitor. The leakage inductor of the CI is used to create a resonant tank to reduce power losses further. The leakage inductances help provide the zero-current switching conditions for the single power switch and decrease the reverse-recovery issues for all diodes, leading to an efficiency improvement. The operation principle, steady-state analysis, and design considerations are discussed thoroughly. Finally, the theoretical analysis is validated through experimental results obtained from a 200 W prototype with 250 V output voltage.