A NOVEL HIGH-GAIN DC-DC CONVERTER APPLIED IN FUEL CELL VEHICLES

Abstract

Fuel cell cars should have DC-DC converters with high efficiency, low voltage stress, small size, and high gain. Nevertheless, the requirements are not met by traditional two-level, three-level, or cascaded boost converters. In this work, a novel non-isolated DC-DC converter with switched capacitor and switched inducer is proposed. The proposed non-isolated DC-DC converter exhibits a common ground structure, ensuring high gain, a broad input voltage range, and minimal voltage stresses across components. The comprehensive study includes an analysis of component parameters, the elucidation of the working principle, and thorough comparisons with other high-gain converters. To establish a dynamic model, the small-signal modeling approach and state-space averaging method are employed. Experimental and simulation data affirm that the suggested structure performs as intended. The experimental prototype operates within an input voltage range of 25V to 80V, featuring a rated output voltage of 200V and a rated power of 100W. The converter achieves its most efficient state at 93.1%, an aspect that may be underappreciated. Importantly, the recommended converter is deemed suitable for fuel cell vehicles, offering a promising solution to address their unique requirements.