High Boost Seventeen-Level Switched Capacitor Inverter Topology With Continuous Input Current

This research article shows a new single dc source high-boost 17-level (17L) switched capacitor inverter topology with a continuous input current for photovoltaic applications. The proposed topology consists of two modules: 1) a front-end dc/dc converter that offers continuous input current and 2) a switched capacitor module for high voltage boosting. The mathematical expression for output voltage gain is derived. The proposed topology aims to minimize the component stress and counts. Different analyses are addressed, such as soft-charging technique, power loss, and voltage gain. A detailed comparison in terms of maximum blocking voltage ( V_{B} ), voltage gain ( G ), and components' count is shown to demonstrate the superiority of the suggested topology over other topologies. The scaled-down prototype model is designed for 520 W and has 94.5% efficiency. The proposed topology's performance is validated, and the results are reported, including the variation in load, duty cycle, and other characteristics.