A Novel Coupled-Inductor Boost Converter with ANN Control for High Step-Up PV Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a high-efficiency DC-DC boost converter using a coupled inductor design with an integrated active clamp circuit. This design was optimized to be employed for renewable energy applications. The proposed converter achieves a gain ratio of 8.3 times the input voltage by stepping up a 12 V input to a 100 V output with 96.5% overall efficiency. Through comparison analysis with related designs in the same fields of power range, the proposed design demonstrated better performance metrics, such as efficiency and voltage gain. When compared to the conventional quadratic boost that achieved only 92.8% and interleaved buck-boost with only 93.0%, the proposed provided an increment of about 3.7% and 3.5%, respectively, among related similar designed converters. The results validated the better performances under varying load conditions that provide < 2% ripple for the output voltage. The proposed active-clamp circuit effectively deals with the voltage spikes across the switching circuit by 30%, which enhances the total system reliability. This work provided a practical solution for solar MPPT systems with balancing high performance plus cost effectiveness, which is considered important in PV field applications.