Simulation of efficient non-isolated DC-DC boost converter topology for photovoltaic application

Environmental threats and rapid growth in demand of energy motivates world to think about alternate sources of energy such as hydro, fuel cell, wind and solar. Among listed renewable energy resources the generation of power from photovoltaic cell have got great consideration throughout the world. Due to its abundant availability, low maintenance, cleanness and inexhaustible nature makes an attractive technology. However, the power produced by the photovoltaic system is stochastic due to intermittent solar irradiation and cell temperature throughout the day. This may not produce the required amount of constant voltage at PV terminals. To overcome this problem an efficient low voltage boost converter is required to supply desired amount of voltage at load. The non-isolated boost converter is finding application progressively at domestic and industrial level PV modules. High duty cycle, intense semiconductor voltage stress, and switching loss make the traditional topologies less advantageous. This study presents the development of efficient non-isolated boost converter topology using switched capacitor and coupled inductor. Switched capacitor helps to reduce the voltage stress of the power semiconductor switch, mitigate conduction loss of the device and enables to adopt low on-resistance switch. In addition, the use of a passive clamp circuit enables to attain zero current for switching on and off the diode and semiconductor power switch naturally. Thus, reducing reverse recovery related losses of the diode and improves the efficiency of the device. The transients in output voltage are reduced by adjusting the value of the output capacitor and duty cycle, voltage is stepped up from 20v to 187v. The provision of a modest duty cycle increases the life of the non-isolated boost converter. The performance of the proposed converter is analyzed and compared with traditional topology.