Design of a High Step-Up Partial-Power Quadratic DC-DC Converter for Wide-Voltage Range Photovoltaic Applications

This work presents the analysis, design, and simulation of a new multi-stage Partial Power Processing (PPP) converter with Input-Parallel-Output-Series (IPOS) topology for photovoltaic (PV) applications. An ad hoc design flow was developed to assist in the converter design in the 15V-45V input voltage range and 0 W-680 W power range, while simultaneously optimizing the efficiency at the desired rated voltage. The PPP approach enables part of the power to bypass the converter, achieving high efficiency and reduced component stresses. The integration of multi-stage and PPP approaches allows the achievement of a flat efficiency curve across the entire voltage range, a desirable feature for PV applications. The simulation results demonstrate a California Energy Commission (CEC) weighted efficiency of 97.2 % and European (EURO) efficiency of 96.8 % at rated voltage.