Modified all-GaN multidevice interleaved boost converter topology for hybrid electrical vehicles and its miniaturization

Abstract

In inverter technology for hybrid and electric vehicles, some properties, such as low weight, compactness, small size, high power density, and high efficiency, are highly required because they affect vehicle production costs and fuel economy. Bringing reliable and cheap devices with high response rates into being, which is in close relation with circuit design, miniaturization, and appropriate selection of components, have become one of the main topics of scientific research in electronics. One of the main obstacles to achieving these goals is the bulkiness of inductors and capacitors. These essential building blocks of the converter topology are used to reduce input current and output voltage ripples, which are closely related to thermal stress in batteries, affecting their lifespan. This study proposes a GaN-based multidevice interleaved boost converter (MDIBC) topology for hybrid vehicles. The topology is investigated in terms of power loss, efficiency, current and voltage ripples, and size of passive components under two salient case studies at various switching frequencies. In both cases, current and voltage are reduced by smaller values of passive components without sacrificing efficiency. Efficiencies ranging between 97.34 and 97.83%, are achieved with passive components remaining in the benchmark converter.