Comprehensive Analysis on Critical Factors for the Operation of Advanced High Gain DC-DC Converters Used in Renewable Energy Applications

Abstract

Renewable energy is identified as a potential alternative to conventional utility grid-based electricity to meet the present-day requirements of a variety of consumers. However, the inadequacy of matching the generated voltage to the customer required rating is still a major constraint. So, to meet the required energy requirements in terms of voltage ratings, power electronics-based DC-DC boost converters are generally used. But the voltage gain produced by traditional DC-DC boost converter may not be sufficient for the renewable energy application, where, the source voltage ratings produced are usually low. Hence, an effective DC-DC boost converter circuit with high gain has to be identified for this purpose. In line with this, many studies have proposed different topologies. Even though there were some studies presented in the literature, all those did not consider various key performance metrics viz., ripple current, voltage stress, voltage gain, number of components used, efficiency, output quality, switching frequency, etc., for the analysis. The effectiveness of any topology has to be evaluated in terms of the above-mentioned factors to understand its usefulness. Hence, keeping this gap in view, this paper presents a detailed theoretical and simulation analysis on state-of-the-art topologies in view of all the key performance metrics. A comparative analysis concerning the number of components used, performance metrics, output quality, transient response analysis, gain factor achieved, switch rating requirement, voltage/current stresses has been conducted. Based on this analysis of the advanced topologies, a better DC-DC converter topology is suggested as the conclusion of this paper.