There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5610941/5624686/05624745.pdf

Power electronics

The authors discuss high-voltage power conversion. Conventional series connection and three-level voltage source inverter techniques are reviewed and compared. A novel versatile multilevel commutation cell is introduced: it is shown that this topology is safer and more simple to control, and delivers purer output waveforms. The authors show how this technique can be applied to either choppers or voltage-source inverters and generalized to any number of switches.<<ETX>>

Multi-level conversion : high voltage choppers and voltage-source inverters

The major consideration in dc-dc conversion is often associated with high efficiency, reduced stresses involving semiconductors, low cost, simplicity and robustness of the involved topologies. In the last few years, high-step-up non-isolated dc-dc converters have become quite popular because of its wide applicability, especially considering that dc-ac converters must be typically supplied with high dc voltages. The conventional non-isolated boost converter is the most popular topology for this purpose, although the conversion efficiency is limited at high duty cycle values. In order to overcome such limitation and improve the conversion ratio, derived topologies can be found in numerous publications as possible solutions for the aforementioned applications. Within this context, this work intends to classify and review some of the most important non-isolated boost-based dc-dc converters. While many structures exist, they can be basically classified as converters with and without wide conversion ratio. Some of the main advantages and drawbacks regarding the existing approaches are also discussed. Finally, a proper comparison is established among the most significant converters regarding the voltage stress across the semiconductor elements, number of components and static gain.

https://ietresearch.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1049/iet-pel.2014.0605

Survey on non-isolated high-voltage step-up dc–dc topologies based on the boost converter

In this paper, a novel high step-up dc/dc converter is presented for renewable energy applications. The suggested structure consists of a coupled inductor and two voltage multiplier cells, in order to obtain high step-up voltage gain. In addition, two capacitors are charged during the switch-off period, using the energy stored in the coupled inductor which increases the voltage transfer gain. The energy stored in the leakage inductance is recycled with the use of a passive clamp circuit. The voltage stress on the main power switch is also reduced in the proposed topology. Therefore, a main power switch with low resistance $R_{{\rm DS} ({\rm ON})}$ can be used to reduce the conduction losses. The operation principle and the steady-state analyses are discussed thoroughly. To verify the performance of the presented converter, a 300-W laboratory prototype circuit is implemented. The results validate the theoretical analyses and the practicability of the presented high step-up converter.

A Novel High Step-up DC/DC Converter Based on Integrating Coupled Inductor and Switched-Capacitor Techniques for Renewable Energy Applications

In this paper, an ultrahigh step-down converter is presented, which combines one coupled inductor and one energy-transferring capacitor. The corresponding voltage conversion ratio is much lower than that of the traditional synchronously rectified (SR) buck converter, and the proposed converter can achieve extremely low output voltage with an appropriate duty ratio. Moreover, there are three major merits in the proposed converter. One merit is that the voltage conversion ratio of the proposed converter is linear, thereby making control quite easy. Another merit is that if one of the switches fails or is abnormally controlled, a high voltage does not appear in the output terminal, so the output load can be protected. The other merit is that the proposed converter can be driven using the existing SR buck pulse-width modulation control integrated circuit. In this study, brief theoretical deductions and some experimental results are given to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed converter.

Ultrahigh Step-Down Converter

In this paper, a novel voltage-boosting converter is presented, which combines one charge pump and one coupled inductor with the turns ratio. The corresponding voltage gain is greater than that of the existing step-up converter combining KY and buck-boost converters. Since the proposed converter possesses an output inductor, the output current is nonpulsating. After some mathematical deductions, an experimental setup with 12-V input voltage, 72-V output voltage, and 60-W output power is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter.

Voltage Gain Enhancement for a Step-Up Converter Constructed by KY and Buck-Boost Converters

In the high step-down voltage applications, the dc–dc converter with a high step-down voltage conversion ratio is usually used. Recently, a high step-down converter, named ultrahigh step-down converter, has been presented. As compared with the nonisolated tapped-inductor buck converter, the ultrahigh step-down converter has not only a higher voltage step-down gain but also a lower voltage spike. On the other hand, in the high-current applications, a multiple phase structure is preferable. Therefore, in this paper, a novel expandable two-phase interleaved ultrahigh step-down converter with automatic current balance is presented, which is derived from the existing single-phase ultrahigh step-down converter. There are four main advantages of the proposed converter. First, the step-down voltage gain is improved. Therefore, the turns ratio of each phase can be decreased. Second, due to the charge balance of the energy-transferring capacitor, the proposed two-phase ultrahigh step-down converter possesses an automatic current balance. Third, as compared with a single-phase ultrahigh step-down converter, the output current ripple can be reduced. Fourth, the phase number of the proposed converter can be expanded. Finally, the basic operating principle of the proposed converter is analyzed, and a prototype is constructed to verify its effectiveness by some experimental results.

An Expandable Two-Phase Interleaved Ultrahigh Step-Down Converter With Automatic Current Balance

In this study, a single switch isolated step-up converter is presented, which is derived from the traditional flyback converter and charge pump concept. The proposed converter possesses an output inductor, so the output current is non-pulsating. Moreover, there are several advantages of the proposed converter over the traditional flyback converter, such as higher voltage conversion ratio with only additional four passive elements, and smaller voltage and current ripples, except the same switch voltage stress. In this study, some experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter.

Isolated step-up converter based on flyback converter and charge pumps

A nonisolated coupled-inductor-based high step-down converter with zero dc magnetizing inductance current and nonpulsating output current is presented. Since the dc magnetizing inductance current is zero, the magnetizing current can be positive and negative. Therefore, the entire core B–H loop can be used, ranging from the first quadrant to the third quadrant. That is, the utilization of the coupled inductor can be improved and, hence, the core loss can also be reduced. Moreover, due to a discrete output inductor, the proposed converter also features a nonpulsating output current, which makes the output current ripple smaller. In this paper, detailed theoretical analyses and experimental results are provided to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed converter.

Wen-Zhuang Jiang

Papers

Ultrahigh Step-Down Converter

Voltage Gain Enhancement for a Step-Up Converter Constructed by KY and Buck-Boost Converters

An Expandable Two-Phase Interleaved Ultrahigh Step-Down Converter With Automatic Current Balance

Isolated step-up converter based on flyback converter and charge pumps

Nonisolated Coupled-Inductor-Based High Step-Down Converter With Zero DC Magnetizing Inductance Current and Nonpulsating Output Current