A Study on an Improved Three-Winding Coupled Inductor Based DC/DC Boost Converter with Continuous Input Current

Amir Farakhor,Mehran Sabahi,Saeid Gholami Farkoush,Sang-Bong Rhee,Mehdi Abapour,Seung-Ryle Oh

doi:10.3390/en13071780

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel high voltage conversion gain DC/DC boost converter for renewable energy applications and systems. The proposed converter utilizes a three-winding coupled inductor. The presented converter benefits from a unique advantage, as the actual turn ratio of the coupled inductor is decreased in the charging state of the coupled inductor. However, while the inductor is discharging, the actual turn ratio is increased. This feature leads to a very high voltage conversion gain. Furthermore, a passive clamp circuit is employed to recover the leakage current of the coupled inductor. The voltage stresses on the semiconductors are also reduced. In addition, the average current of the primary side of the coupled inductor is zero. This will reduce the total energy stored in the passive elements of the converter. The paper analyzes the Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM) and the operation principles of the presented converter are thoroughly derived. A 250 W laboratory hardware prototype is prepared to verify the proper operation of the presented converter. The obtained experimental results validate the feasibility of the presented converter.

Highlights

Demand for clean and renewable sources, such as Photovoltaic (PV), fuel cells, and wind energy, have been dramatically increased in recent years
Boost DC/DC converters with high output voltage gain are a good solution to the aforementioned issue since they have a large voltage conversion gain characteristic, high conversion efficiency, and small size [4,5]
The passive clamp circuit is active, and the voltage stress of the power switch is limited to VC2. This time interval is very short, and it ends once the current of the third winding of the coupled inductor reverses and the diode D2 is turned OFF