Cascade Cockcroft-Walton Voltage Multiplier Applied to Transformerless High Step-Up DC-DC Converter

This paper proposes a high step-up dc-dc converter based on the Cockcroft-Walton (CW) voltage multiplier without a step-up transformer. Providing continuous input current with low ripple, high voltage ratio, and low voltage stress on the switches, diodes, and capacitors, the proposed converter is quite suitable for applying to low-input-level dc generation systems. Moreover, based on the n-stage CW voltage multiplier, the proposed converter can provide a suitable dc source for an n + 1-level multilevel inverter. In this paper, the proposed control strategy employs two independent frequencies, one of which operates at high frequency to minimize the size of the inductor while the other one operates at relatively low frequency according to the desired output voltage ripple. A 200-W laboratory prototype is built for test, and both simulation and experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed converter.