A Modified Quadratic Boost Converter With Reduced

Voltage Stress and High Voltage Step-Up Ratio For Solar

Application.
Prasad S. Wankhade Angeline Ezhilarasi
Department of Power Electronics and Drives Department of Power Electronics and Drives
VIT University, Chennai Campus VIT University, Chennai Campus
Chennai, India Chennai, India
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— The paper presents a modified quadratic boost inductors can offer reduced voltage stress with high voltage
converter integrated with a small unit of capacitor-inductor- step up ratio but with very high duty cycle. Whereas, the
diode (CLD). The CLD unit comprises two capacitors, one leakage inductances produce high voltage spikes on the
inductor and two diodes which together acts as a ‘Voltage switching device. Employing the voltage lift technique can
Divider’ unit and connected between the MOSFET and the load.
significantly raise the dc voltage gain but with no
The paper mainly focuses over the advantage of reduced voltage
stress across the MOSFET switch and the other diodes involved improvement in reduction of voltage stress. The energy
in the converter circuit.Consequently, circuit shows advancement transfer in the converter is solely dependent on the capacitor
in the voltage step-up ratio which is remarkably high. The than an inductor. Therefore, the capacitor with low ESR value
modified quadratic boost converter is compared with the of high cost may increase the effective cost of converter
conventional quadratic boost converter and boost converter and device. The Grid has released an incentive scheme for
shows significant improvement in reduced voltage stress of customers which is beneficial to both the bodies i.e. customer
switches. The modified converter circuit is designed for the and utility grid. Under the scheme, the customer should install
rating of 100W resistive load with switching frequency of 50 kHz roof- top solar panel of the capacity required to fed the own
for solar applications. This paper begins with theoretical
residential load. The customer should fed its own load and the
analysis, derivation to achieve voltage step-up ratio and finally,
the results of simulation of model using MATLAB Simulink and surplus solar power should be injected into the grid utility
hardware prototype results to verify theoretical analysis results. supply lines. The customer is awarded by the incentives
equivalent to the power injected into the grid utility.
Keywords—Quadratic boost converter, Voltage step-up ratio, However, depending upon the characteristics of
Voltage stress. photovoltaic module, the output voltage of solar panel varies
due to uneven weather condition, uneven solar irradiation,
I. INTRODUCTION temperature, dark or cloudy atmosphere effect. The input
voltage of residential PV inverter can vary widely, for example
Electricity is most essential for the growth of any nation from 200V to 500V and can possibly be different from the
over the surface of globe. Fact is electricity is not available desired voltage level. Therefore, a DC-DC Boost-Buck is
naturally and it has to be converted from conventional energy employed which either can function in boost mode or buck
sources (Coal, Gas, Radioactive elements) and renewable mode or both buck-boost before the single phase inverter stage.
energy sources (Wind, Solar, Fuel cell). World’s 79% of total Such DC-DC converters in addition to a single phase inverter
energy is produced from conventional energy sources. The are widely being used.
world’s energy forum has predicted oil, coal and gas reserves
will be exhausted in coming few decades. The rate of rise in
utilization of fossil fuel will indirectly lead to shortage of
electricity and also polluted environment. The safety of
environment and conservation of energy sources has become
the major concern for human being and the solution lies in the
advancement in renewable energy technology blending with
power electronic technology [1]-[6]. Fig.1 Conventional two stage PV system
Solar PV-based generation does have its own Fig.1 shows, block diagram of conventional two stage PV
drawbacks and one of those is efficiency of solar cell material system with DC link in the middle out of which in first block,
which is 18%. Hence, a conventional boost converter is the DC bus voltage should be stepped up or stepped down
employed to boost the output voltage of photovoltaic system depending upon required voltage on the load end side and this
and that too at very high duty cycle which gives rise to will be high frequency power conversion also in the second
limitation of switching frequency of the circuit. Utilizing stage, there should be a high frequency inverter fed to AC
flyback converter or the other topologies with coupled
load. Another alternative is to employ line commutated operating at high switching frequency and the Sbuck switch will
inverter along with first stage [7]-[11]. If first stage of DC-DC be constantly ON.
converter produces rectified sinusoidal output voltage then
according to the polarity of pulsating DC output voltage, the
second stage only needs to operate at line frequency.

III. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

A. Analysis of Buck Mode

The analysis of the DC-DC boost buck based inverter circuit

in fig.2.has been performed for buck mode in which Sbuck
switch operates at high frequency of 50kHz and the Sboost
Fig.2. DC-DC Boost-Buck based inverter
switch remains OFF constantly.
In Fig.2.The circuit either function in buck mode or boost
mode depending upon DC the input voltage level fed by solar
panel. Due to the presence of power MOSFET which operates
at very high switching frequency and their on state voltage
drop is very less, the efficiency of first stage is reasonably
high [12]-[13]. As the unfolding circuit operates at the
fundamental frequency and the switching occurs at the zero
voltage or current, the switching losses can be perished. The (a)
only reason for losses in second stage can be on state voltage
drop which can also be reduced by employing power switches
like IGBT which has low on state voltage drop and its gating
control is also very easy. Since, the high frequency switching
operation occurs only in one stage (first stage) and that too for
only one power switch in either of the modes at a time, hence
reliability and efficiency is high.
The paper is organized as follows: Section II (b)
describes operating principle, section III deals with theoretical
analysis, section IV reveals Simulation Results and finally Fig.4 (a) During turn ON time of switch Sbuck
(b) During turn OFF time of switch Sbuck
Section VI concludes the paper.

For ON time,
II. OPERATING PRINCIPLE In loop 2,

-VC + VL2 + V0 = 0
A. Buck Mode VL2 = VC – V0………………………………(1)

When voltage produced by the PV panel is higher than the In Loop 1

required load voltage then the circuit will operate in buck -Vin + VL1 + VL2 + V0 = 0
mode. During this mode, Sboost switch will be always OFF and VL1 = Vin - VC………….................................(2)
the Sbuck switch will be operating at high switching frequency.
For OFF time,
In loop 1,
-Vin + VL1 + VC = 0
VL1 = Vin – VC……………………………...(3)
A. Boost Mode In loop 2,
VL2 + V0 = 0
When voltage produced by the PV panel is lower than the VL2 = – V0………………………………......(4)
required load voltage then the circuit will operate in boost
mode. During this mode, Sboost switch will be always
By using Voltage-Seconds balance equation for Inductor L1,

(Vin – VC) D + (Vin - VC) (1 - D) = 0 For ON time

Vin = Vc In Loop 1,
………………………………….(5) -Vin + VL1 = 0
VL1 = Vin………….......................................(8)
By using Voltage-Seconds balance equation for Inductor L2,
In Loop 2
(VC – V0) D + (-V0) (1 - D) = 0 -VC + VL2 + V0 = 0
VC D = V 0 VL2 = VC – V0……………………...……....(9)

…………………………………(6) For OFF time,

In loop 1,
-Vin + VL1 + VC = 0
………………………………...(7) VL1 = Vin – VC…………………………….(10)
In loop 2,
In Fig. 4(a), switch Sbuck is in ON position during
which inductor L1 and L2 are in the state of charging where Vin + VL1 + VL2 + V0 = 0
inductor L1 acts as input filter and inductor L2 acts output filter VL2 = VC – V0……………………...........….(11)
to cut down the amount of ripple in output current or input to
the inverter. Also the DC link capacitor C is in state of By using Voltage-Seconds balance equation for Inductor L1,
discharge. In Fig. 4(b), switch Sbuck is in OFF position during Vin D + (Vin - VC) (1 - D) = 0
which inductor L1 and L2 are discharging and DC link Vin D + Vin (1 - D) – VC (1 - D) =0
capacitor is charging. By writing the KVL equations for both Vin – VC (1 - D) = 0
turn ON and turn OFF state of Sbuck switch, we have obtained Vin = VC (1 - D)
ultimately duty cycle for buck mode by combining and
rewriting the equations according to the voltage second balance ……………………………..…(12)
rule shown in equation no.7. This ensures the DC-DC boost
buck converter based inverter circuit function in buck mode. By using voltage-Seconds balance equation for Inductor L2,
(Vc – Vo) D + (Vc – Vo) (1 - D) = 0
Vc = V o
B. Analysis of Boost Mode
……………………………………(13)
The analysis of the DC-DC boost buck based inverter circuit
in fig.2.has been performed for boost mode in which Sboost
switch operates at high frequency of 50kHz and the Sbuck .
switch remains ON constantly.

……………………...............(14)

In Fig. 5(a), switch Sboost is in ON position during

which inductor L1 and L2 are in the state of charging. Also the
DC link capacitor C is in state of discharge. In Fig.5(b), switch
Sboost is in OFF position and switch Sbuck is ON during which
(a) inductor L1 and L2 are discharging and DC link capacitor is
charging. By writing the KVL equations for both turn ON and
turn OFF state of Sboost switch, we have obtained ultimately
duty cycle for boost mode by combining and rewriting the
equations according to the voltage second balance rule shown
in equation no.14. This ensures the DC-DC boost buck
converter based inverter circuit function in boost mode.

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

(b) The Cascaded Boost-Buck converter based inverter is
Fig.5 (a) During turn ON time of switch Sboost simulated in MATLAB 2013(a) for open loop control and
(b) During turn OFF time of switch Sboost designed for 40W of resistive load. As the simulation is
performed for the open loop control, two fixed magnitude of
input DC voltages, one higher input voltage value for buck
mode and another lower value for boost mode is taken into
account for the experiment.
The experimental parameters and simulation waveforms for
boost mode are given as follows
Table I (f)
Experimental Parameters
Input voltage 24V
Duty Cycle 50%
Inductance (L1,L2) 4.7mH
Capacitance (C) 470uF
Load Resistance 57.6Ω
Switching Frequency 50kHz
Inverter Frequency 50Hz (g)

Fig.6 (a) Input Voltage

(b) DC-DC converter input current
(c) Duty Cycle Pulse
(d) DC-DC converter output voltage
(e) DC-DC converter output current
(f) Inverter Load Voltage
(g) Inverter Load Current
(a)

The experimental parameters and simulation waveforms for

buck mode are given as follows,

(b) Table II
Experimental Parameters
Input voltage 64V
Duty Cycle 75%
Inductance (L1,L2) 4.7mH
Capacitance (C) 470uF
Load Resistance 57.6Ω
Switching Frequency 50kHz
Inverter Frequency 50Hz
(c)

(d) (a)

(e)
(b)
 V. CONCLUSION

The theoretical analysis and the derivation of the cascaded

boost-buck converter based inverter for residential solar
(c)
application is presented in this paper. The simulation results
are satisfactory. The functioning of the model is having
considerable high efficiency due to one switch in operation at
very high switching frequency and the presence of line
commutated inverter. Hence simulation of the robust and
effective model approves its implementation for residential or
off-grid sector.
(d)

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