An interleaved soft-switching converter with high voltage conversion ratio for fuel cells

• Published in: International journal of electronics Vol. 104; no. 7; pp. 1190 - 1213
• Main Authors: Chang, Long-Yi, Chao, Kuei-Hsiang, Chang, Tsang-Chih, Liu, Yang-Guang, Huang, Liang-Chiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 03.07.2017; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Converters; Direct current; Electric potential; fuel cell; Fuel cells; hard-switching converter; High voltages; Interleaved converter with high voltage conversion ratio; P-V output characteristic curve; soft-switching converter; Switches; Switching; Voltage; zero voltage switching
• ISSN: 0020-7217; 1362-3060
• DOI: 10.1080/00207217.2017.1292556

This article proposes an interleaved soft-switching converter with high voltage conversion ratio as an alternative to existing hard-switching converters, such that the switching loss can be reduced. This proposed soft-switching converter not merely boosts the output voltage of a fuel cell to a high level, that is applied to a high voltage DC link or a DC load, but also reduces the current stress in main switches, the input current and the output voltage ripples. A resonant auxiliary branch is connected in parallel with either main switch employed in a conventional hard-switching converter, such that the voltage drop across the main switch falls to zero before the main switch is triggered. In doing so, the aim of zero voltage switching (ZVS) is achieved, leading to a reduced switching loss, promoted conversion efficiency and lowered switching stress. In the end, this work is applied to fuel cells and validated by a good agreement between simulations and experiments.