A Three-Port Quadratic Step-Up DC–DC Converter With High Gain and Continuous Input Current

Abstract

This article presents a new three-port step-up DC–DC converter with two input ports and one output terminal. This converter structure achieves a higher voltage conversion ratio and better switching device power (SDP) than its multi-input counterpart circuits. Using the “quadratic” approach to reach high voltage gains and discarding coupled inductors from the topology have avoided voltage spikes on power switches, resulting in higher efficiency compared to other hard-switched multi-input counterparts. In addition, the proposed converter can transmit power from one or both inputs to the output, from the output to the inputs, or between the inputs. Besides, common ground and continuous input current for all input ports are two distinct features of the suggested topology that most multi-input converter structures lack. This paper thoroughly explains the converter operation and confirms its performance using laboratory experiments on a 200-W hardware prototype. This new topology has been compared with existing competitors, considering several indicators. Comparative studies show that the proposed topology outperforms in terms of gain and SDP. Laboratory results validate the above achievements and exhibit that the maximum achievable efficiency by this method is 94.1%. This converter is suggested for electric vehicles and microgrid applications.