Comparative analysis of non-inverting buck-boost converter topologies for fuel cell low voltage applications

Abstract

The FC sources are unregulated voltage sources and require power converter devices to get a regulated output voltage. When these devices are used in low voltage low power applications DC-DC buck-boost converters (BBC) are required to get the regulated voltage on load side. The multi device multi switch operation of the buck-boost converters are usually employed for successful operation of the FC stacks. In this paper, the different non-inverting type of buck-boost converters i.e., buck-boost converter (BBC), multi-device buck-boost converter (MDBBC), interleaved buck-boost converter (IBBC), and multi-device interleaved buck-boost converters (MDIBBC) are analysed and comparative study among them are presented with respect to the parameters like, ripple current, component size, power losses and efficiency. The comparative study demonstrates that the multi device converter topologies are more efficient than the other converter topologies employed in low voltage low power applications.