A New Voltage-Multiplier-Based Power Converter Configuration Suitable for Renewable Energy Sources and Sustainability Applications

• Published in: Sustainability 2022-12, Vol.14 (24), p.16698
• Main Authors: N, Kanagaraj, Mollajafari, Morteza, Mohammadiazar, Farzam, Akbari, Ehsan, Sheykhi, Ebrahim, Chaoui, Hicham
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Capacitors; Circuits; Design; Efficiency; Electric current converters; Electric power loss; Electronics industry; Energy; Energy industry; Energy sources; Green market; High voltage; Inductors; Inverters; Load; Maintenance costs; Network topologies; Photovoltaics; Power converters; Power electronics; Reliability; Renewable energy sources; Semiconductor devices; Simulation; Simulation methods; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Theoretical analysis; Topology; Transistors; Voltage; Voltage gain
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su142416698

The sustainability of new-generation energy sources has become one of the most critical challenges in recent years as renewable energy sources (RESs) rapidly replace old fossil sources. Integration between RESs and the grid should be completed through power electronics converters and optimized control techniques. RESs have many advantages, such as having increased reliability and sustainability, being environmentally friendly, and having cheaper maintenance costs and more reasonable energy prices. Photovoltaic (PV) panels are among the most popular RESs. A PV array’s generated voltage level is unsuitable for direct load or grid connection and has to be enhanced via a DC-DC boost converter. After that, an inverter should be used to change the generated DC voltage to AC voltage for the grid or loads. In order to reach higher voltage gains, different structures have been proposed in the literature, such as cascaded converters, non-isolated converters (including transformers), and positive- and negative-voltage-lift Luo converters. These converters have some disadvantages, such as including a large number of semiconductor devices and inductors, heavy and bulky structures, and the need for intermediate converters to convert DC to AC voltage and vice versa. Besides the efficiency and high DC voltage gain feature, to achieve more reliability and sustainability and a longer lifetime of the PV source, the current drawn from these sources should be as ripple-free as possible. This study considers all these details by presenting a novel DC-DC power boost converter. The steady-state analysis, simulation, and test results are presented. The most important features of the proposed converter include the lack of need for a transformer, intermediate inverter, rectifier converters, and bulky and heavy components, while still ensuring that high voltage gains and high efficiencies are possible. Simulation results showed that for duty ratios from D = 0.05 to D = 0.15 for the switch S3, the gain of the converter was 22, 35, and 70 times greater than the input voltage, respectively. The desired 200 VDC and 400 VDC voltages for the output nodes were obtained using 12 VDC as the input voltage with and without the switched-capacitor cell, respectively. A limited number of the voltages between −47 and 12 V dropped across the inductors, and a reversed voltage from −12 to −48 V was reported for the power diodes. Additionally, an efficiency close to 96.88% was obtained for the proposed