IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO.
4, APRIL 2011
Review of Nonisolated High-Step-Up
DC/DC Converters in Photovoltaic
Grid-Connected Applications
Wuhua Li, Member, IEEE, and Xiangning He, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—The photovoltaic (PV) grid-connected power system
in the residential applications is becoming a fast growing segment
in the PV market due to the shortage of the fossil fuel energy
and the great environmental pollution. A new research trend in
the residential generation system is to employ the PV parallel-
connected configuration rather than the series-connected config-
uration to satisfy the safety requirements and to make full use of
the PV generated power. How to achieve high-step-up, low-cost,
and high-efficiency dc/dc conversion is the major consideration
due to the low PV output voltage with the parallel-connected
structure. The limitations of the conventional boost converters
in these applications are analyzed. Then, most of the topologies
with high-step-up, low-cost, and high-efficiency performance are
covered and classified into several categories. The advantages and
disadvantages of these converters are discussed. Furthermore, a
general conceptual circuit for high-step-up, low-cost, and high-
efficiency dc/dc conversion is proposed to derive the next-
generation topologies for the PV grid-connected power system.
Finally, the major challenges of high-step-up, low-cost, and high-
efficiency dc/dc converters are summarized. This paper would like
to make a clear picture on the general law and framework for the
next-generation nonisolated high-step-up dc/dc converters.
Index Terms—Boost converters, high step-up, low cost and high
efficiency, photovoltaic (PV) grid connected.
I. I NTRODUCTION
T HE MASSY usage of fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and
gas, results in serious greenhouse effect and environ-
mental pollution, which have a great influence in the world.
Meanwhile, there is a big contradiction between the fossil
fuel supply and the global energy demand. Energy shortage
and environmental pollution have been the major obstacles
for human being development. How to find renewable energy
sources is becoming urgent.
Photovoltaic (PV) source is one of the significant players in
the world’s energy portfolio, and it will make one of the biggest
contributions to electricity generation among all the renewable
Manuscript received September 26, 2009; revised February 5, 2010;
accepted April 16, 2010. Date of publication May 17, 2010; date of current
version March 11, 2011. This work was supported in part by the National
Nature Science Foundation of China (50907058) and in part by the Power
Electronics S&E Development Program of Delta Environmental & Education
Foundation (DREM2009001). This paper was presented in part at the 2009
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, Washington, DC,
February 15–19.
The authors are with the College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang Uni-
versity, Hangzhou 310027, China (e-mail: woohualee@zju.edu.cn; hxn@zju.
edu.cn).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2010.2049715
0278-0046/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
1239
energy candidates by 2040, because it is a clean, emission-free,
and renewable electrical generation source with high reliability
[1], [2].
The PV grid-connected power system in the residential appli-
cations is recently becoming a fast growing segment in Europe,
Japan, and the U.S. [3]. Unfortunately, the output voltage of
the PV arrays is relatively low. In order to satisfy the high
bus voltage requirements for the full-bridge, half-bridge, or
multilevel grid inverters, the PV series-connected configuration
is the conventional solution. However, the generated output
power of the PV arrays is decreased greatly due to module
mismatch and partial shading, especially in the urban areas [4].
The grid-connected PV power system employing the cascaded
H-bridge multilevel inverters or other multilevel configura-
tions is introduced to optimize the PV output power [5], [6].
Moreover, a high-performance utility-interactive PV generation
system with a generation control circuit (GCC) is presented
to take advantage of all the series-connected PV arrays [7].
However, a lot of power devices are necessary, and the cost
is increased in these solutions in order to obtain a 220-V grid
voltage.
In the residential PV grid-connected system, the PV ar-
rays are usually installed on the roof. Thus, the generated
power of the PV arrays is reduced greatly with PV series-
connected configuration when they are covered by the shad-
ows, which may be caused by the clouds, trees, neighbor’s
house, and even the power line cables. In these situations, the
PV parallel-connected configuration is more efficient than the
series-connected configuration due to the PV performance [4],
[7]. On the other hand, only a low voltage is generated with the
parallel-connected configuration, which makes it easy to satisfy
the safety requirements in home applications. In addition, the
multistring structure, which means a combination of series-
and parallel-connected configuration of the PV panels, is also
typical for PV grid-connected application because it can keep
the high maximum power point tracking (MPPT) efficiency
on different string orientation. Thus, the new research trend
is to employ the PV parallel-connected configuration rather
than the series-connected configuration in the residential power
generation system.
Some existing isolated voltage-type converters, such as the
phase-shifted full-bridge converters, can achieve a high-step-
up gain by increasing the turns ratio of the transformer. Un-
fortunately, the input current is pulsed, which greatly impacts
on the life of the PV array. Moreover, more input electrolytic
1240
Fig. 1. Diagram of the single-phase PV grid-connected power system.
capacitors are required to suppress the large input current
ripple. Furthermore, the output-diode voltage stress is much
higher than the output voltage, which limits circuit efficiency
in the high-output-voltage applications. Other isolated current-
type converters, such as the active-clamp dual-boost converters
and the active-clamp full-bridge boost converters [8], [9], can
realize high-efficiency and high-step-up conversion. However,
the start-up operation of these converters should be considered
carefully. Moreover, the cost is increased because many power
components are necessary and because the isolated sensors or
feedback controllers are required. In order to reduce system
cost and to improve system efficiency, it is becoming a suitable
solution to employ the nonisolated dc/dc converters [10], [11].
Due to the large parasitic capacitors at the ground of the
PV panels, the leakage current in the nonisolated PV grid-
connected system is an important issue and a key problem.
Some circuit topologies or PWM control algorithms in the
inverter side can be employed to minimize the leakage current
effectively [12]–[14].
Fig. 1 shows the diagram of a single-phase PV grid-
connected power system. The PV array output voltage is
relatively low with the parallel-connected configuration. High-
step-up and high-efficiency dc/dc converters are required to
boost the low PV voltage to a high voltage, such as 380 V for
the full-bridge inverter or 760 V for the half-bridge inverter in
the 220-V ac grid-connected power system. The battery and the
bidirectional dc/dc converter can be used to improve the energy
supply availability of the weak grid as a back-up function.
During the battery discharging stage, the bidirectional converter
should have a high-step-up and a high-efficiency performance
when a standard 48-V battery is employed. Furthermore, the
distributed power system and the electrical vehicles with fuel
cells call for high-step-up and high-efficiency dc/dc converters
because the output voltage of the fuel cells is low [15], [16]. In
a word, nonisolated high-step-up, low-cost, and high-efficiency
front-end dc/dc converters are necessary due to the high-
power-density requirements in the renewable grid-connected
applications.
The key problems and the major concerns in the nonisolated
high-step-up PV grid-connected power applications can be
summarized in the following two aspects.
1) Cost issue: The extreme duty cycle that exists in the
conventional boost converters should be avoided to mini-
mize the current ripple and to reduce the numbers of the
electrolytic capacitors, which can reduce the circuit cost
and can easily achieve the MPPT algorithms [17].
2) Efficiency issue: The high switch voltage stress that
exists in the conventional boost converters in high-output-
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 4, APRIL 2011
Fig. 2. Single-phase single-switch boost converter and its waveforms in
high-step-up applications. (a) Single-phase single-switch boost converter.
(b) Waveforms in high-step-up applications.
voltage applications should be decreased to reduce the
conduction losses and the power device cost. Further-
more, soft-switching performance should be achieved
to reduce the switching losses and to improve system
efficiency.
First, the limitations of the conventional boost converters are
analyzed in this paper. Then, the state-of-the-art high-step-up,
low-cost, and high-efficiency topologies are covered and
classified based on the circuit structure. Furthermore, a family
of high-step-up and high-efficiency interleaved soft-switching
boost converters with winding-cross-coupled inductors
(WCCIs) is introduced, which can satisfy the stringent
requirements in the PV grid-connected applications. Finally,
a general conceptual circuit for high-step-up, low-cost, and
high-efficiency conversion is proposed, and the challenges
in the high-step-up PV generation system are summarized
to generate the next-generation nonisolated high-step-up and
high-efficiency converters.
II. L IMITATIONS OF C ONVENTIONAL B OOST C ONVERTERS
The conventional boost converters are widely employed in
power factor correction (PFC) applications due to the simple
circuit structure. The conventional single-phase single-switch
boost converter is shown in Fig. 2(a), and its steady key
waveforms in high-step-up applications are shown in Fig. 2(b),
where Vgs is the gate signal of the switch, vds and ids are
the voltage and current waveforms of the switch, and vDo
and iDo are the voltage and current waveforms of the output
diode. In theory, the voltage gain of the boost converter can
be infinite when the duty cycle is close to one. However,
the switch turn-off period becomes short when the duty cycle
increases. The current ripples of the power devices, as shown
in Fig. 2(b), are large, with high-step-up conversion, which
increases the power device conduction losses and turn-off
LI AND HE: NONISOLATED HIGH-STEP-UP DC/DC CONVERTERS IN PV GRID-CONNECTED APPLICATIONS
Fig. 3. Conventional interleaved boost converter.
Fig. 4. Active ZCT interleaved boost converter.
current. Moreover, the voltage stresses of the switch and the
diode are equal to the output voltage, which is large in high-
output-voltage applications. The cost of the switches with high
voltage stress is rather higher than that of the switches with low
voltage stress. The switching and reverse-recovery losses are
significant due to the hard-switching operation. Furthermore,
the power level is limited by the single-phase single-switch
solution.
Power device parallel technology is one of the solutions to
increase the power level. However, this method cannot reduce
the input and output current ripples. Moreover, it is difficult to
realize the current autobalance due to the parameter differences
of the power devices.
The interleaved structure is another effective solution to
increase the power level, which can minimize the current
ripple, can reduce the passive component size, can improve
the transient response, and can realize the thermal distribution
[18], [19]. Fig. 3 shows a two-phase conventional interleaved
boost converter. However, the power devices still operate at
hard switching. The efficiency is limited because the output-
diode reverse-recovery problem is still serious in high-output-
voltage applications.
An active zero current transition (ZCT) interleaved boost
converter is derived from the conventional interleaved boost
converter by adding a set of auxiliary commutation circuit to
each phase, which is formed by an active switch, a capacitor,
and an inductor [20]. The interleaved boost converter with
auxiliary commutation circuits is introduced in Fig. 4. Turning
on of the main switches occurs naturally at zero current, and the
output-diode reverse-recovery problem is alleviated due to the
critical discontinued current mode (DCM) operation. The aux-
1241
Fig. 5. Interleaved boost converters with coupled inductor. (a) With positive
coupling solution. (b) With negative coupling solution.
iliary commutation circuits provide ZCT when the main switch
turns off. However, a variable frequency control is mandatory
for this converter, which is difficult for the electromagnetic
interference (EMI) filter design.
The filter inductors of the conventional interleaved boost
converter can be integrated into one coupled inductor to reduce
the magnetic components [21], [22]. The output-diode reverse-
recovery problem can be alleviated, and zero current switching
(ZCS) turn-on of the switches can be achieved due to the leak-
age inductance of the coupled inductor. The coupling methods
have two selections: One is the positive coupling solution, as
shown in Fig. 5(a), and the other is the negative coupling
solution, as shown in Fig. 5(b). Both circuits can realize ZCS
turn-on operation and can reduce the output-diode reverse-
recovery losses. The current ripple of the circuit with positive
coupling solution is small, which results in less conduction
losses. However, the switch turn-off is under hard-switching
condition. The current ripple of the circuit with negative cou-
pling solution is large because the circuit operates in the DCM
mode. The switching losses are small due to ZCS performance
during the whole switching transition.
An active zero-voltage ZCS (ZVZCS) interleaved boost con-
verter with a coupled inductor is shown in Fig. 6 [23]. An
auxiliary circuit, which is composed of only a clamp switch
and a small capacitor, is inserted into each phase of the in-
terleaved boost converter with coupled inductor. ZCS turn-on
and ZVS turn-off are achieved for the main switches. The
ZVS soft-switching performance is realized for the auxiliary
switches during the whole switching transition. The leakage
inductance of the coupled inductor is used to control the output-
diode turn-off current falling rate, which alleviates the diode
1242
Fig. 6. Active ZVZCS interleaved boost converter with a coupled inductor.
Fig. 7. Normalized input current ripple versus the duty cycle and interleaved
phases.
reverse-recovery problem. The converter is symmetrical and
suitable for high-power and high-efficiency dc/dc applications.
A lot of other active or passive lossless soft-switching solu-
tions are proposed to reduce the switching and reverse-recovery
losses that exist in the conventional boost converters. However,
most of the improvements are presented for PFC applications
[24], [25]. They are not suitable for high-step-up and high-
efficiency PV grid-connected applications.
The relationship of the normalized input current ripple, the
duty cycle, and the interleaved phases is shown in Fig. 7. The
four-phase interleaved boost converter can minimize the input
current ripple when the duty cycle is 0.75. However, the current
ripple cancellation effect is small when the duty cycle is bigger
than 0.9. Furthermore, it is difficult to realize such an extreme
large duty cycle due to the analogy IC technology limitation.
Therefore, it is not enough to optimize the circuit performance
only by employing the interleaved structure in high-step-up
applications. How to realize the high-step-up dc/dc converters
without extreme duty cycle to reduce the switch voltage stress,
to minimize the numbers of the electrolytic capacitors, to
reduce the circuit cost, and to improve the converter efficiency
becomes a reasonable consideration and research filed.
III. T HREE -L EVEL B OOST C ONVERTERS
A three-level boost converter can double the voltage gain
and can halve the power device voltage stress compared with
the conventional two-level boost converter, which is more suit-
able in low-voltage-input high-voltage-output applications [26],
[27]. The conventional three-level boost converter is shown
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 4, APRIL 2011
Fig. 8. Conventional three-level boost converter.
Fig. 9. Active ZVT three-level boost converter.
in Fig. 8. Low voltage stress and high-performance MOSFETs
with low RDS_ON can be employed to reduce the circuit cost
and the conduction losses. The switching losses are reduced,
and the EMI noise is suppressed due to the low voltage stress.
However, the power devices operate under a hard-switching
condition, and the output-diode reverse-recovery problem is
severe.
Some active switching solutions are presented to realize the
soft-switching performance for the switches and to alleviate the
output-diode reverse-recovery problem [28], [29]. Fig. 9 shows
an example of an active zero voltage transition (ZVT) three-
level boost converter [28]. The active clamp switch Sc1(2) turns
on before the main switch S1(2) . The ZVS turn-on of the main
switches is realized by the resonance of the capacitor Cs1(2)
and the inductor Lr1(2) . The ZVS turn-off of the main switches
is achieved due to the parallel capacitor Cs1(2) . However, the
active clamp switches work at hard switching. Moreover, the
ringing induced by the parasitic capacitor of the active clamp
switch and the resonance inductor increases the switch voltage
stress.
Besides the active ZVT solution, the passive lossless so-
lution is another way to achieve the soft-switching operation
because it does not require any additional active devices and
gate divers. Fig. 10 shows one example of the passive lossless
soft-switching three-level boost converter [30]. Each passive
lossless soft-switching cell is made up of a resonant inductor
(Lr1(2) ), a resonant capacitor (Cr1(2) ), an energy-storage ca-
pacitor (Cc1(2) ), and three diodes (D1(2)1 , D1(2)2 , and D1(2)3 ).
The ZCS turn-on and ZVS turn-off of the main switch S1(2) and
the ZCS turn-off and ZVS turn-on of the output diode Do1(2)
are achieved by the resonance of the inductor Lr1(2) and the
LI AND HE: NONISOLATED HIGH-STEP-UP DC/DC CONVERTERS IN PV GRID-CONNECTED APPLICATIONS
Fig. 10. Passive lossless three-level boost converter.
Fig. 11. Cascade boost converter.
capacitors Cr1(2) and Cc1(2) . At each stage, the resonant energy
is first stored in the capacitor Cc1(2) and then transferred to the
load. All the power devices operate under the soft-switching
condition to achieve a high circuit efficiency. Additional gate
drivers are not required due to the passive lossless solution. The
limitation of the converter is that many passive components are
necessary. Moreover, the voltage stress or current stress of the
power devices increases.
IV. C ASCADE B OOST C ONVERTERS
The voltage conversion of the three-level boost converter is
still not large enough in very high-step-up applications. The
voltage gain can be extended, and the current ripple can be
further reduced to satisfy the high-step-up requirements by
employing the cascade structure. Fig. 11 shows a cascade boost
converter [31]. The voltage stress of the first stage is low,
and it can be operated with a high switching frequency to
improve the power density. The second stage can be worked
with a low switching frequency to reduce the switching losses.
However, the cascade converter requires two sets of power
devices, magnetic cores, and control circuits, which is complex
and expensive. The system stability of the cascade structure is
another big issue, and the control circuit should be designed
carefully [32]. The output-diode reverse-recovery problem of
the second stage is severe because a high voltage level should
be sustained in the high-output-voltage applications.
The two switches in the cascade boost converter can be
integrated into one switch to reduce circuit complexity [33]–
[36]. The integrated cascade boost converter is shown in Fig. 12
[33]. The inductors L1 and L2 operate in the charging mode
1243
Fig. 12. Integrated cascade boost converter.
Fig. 13. Integrated cascade boost converter with ZVS performance.
when switch S turns on. The energy stored in L1 is transferred
to capacitor C1 through diode D1 , and the energy stored in L2
is delivered to the load through diode Do when switch S turns
off. The circuit is simplified, and the instability caused by the
cascade structure is avoided, compared with the cascade boost
converter.
An integrated cascade boost converter with ZVS soft-
switching performance is shown in Fig. 13 [34]. The auxiliary
circuit is composed of a small inductor Ls , a resonant capa-
citor Cc , and a power MOSFET Sc , which is used to realize the
soft switching for the main and clamp switches.
However, the switch voltage stress of the integrated cascade
boost converters is equal to the high output voltage, and the
current stress is large because the current of the inductors L1
and L2 flows through the switch when it turns on. These two
factors increase the conduction losses and reduce the circuit
efficiency.
V. H IGH -S TEP -U P B OOST C ONVERTERS
In order to satisfy the stringent requirements with the high-
step-up, low-cost, and high-efficiency performance in the PV
grid-connected power applications, many researchers concen-
trate on how to realize high-step-up, low-cost, and high-
efficiency single-stage converters. Among these achievements,
they can be classified into the following catalogs: high-step-
up converters with coupled inductor, high-step-up converters
with switched capacitor, high-step-up converters with inductor
and switched capacitor, high-step-up converters with coupled
inductor and switched capacitor, and so on.
A. High-Step-Up Converters With Coupled Inductor
A coupled inductor can serve as a transformer that is used
to enlarge the voltage gain in nonisolated dc/dc converters
[37]–[40]. Fig. 14 shows a high-step-up boost converter with
a coupled inductor [37]. The second winding of the coupled
inductor operates as a voltage source, which is in series with
the power branch. The voltage gain can be extended by a proper
turns ratio design of the coupled inductor. The leakage energy
1244 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 4, APRIL 2011
Fig. 14. High-step-up converter with a coupled inductor.
Fig. 15. High-step-up soft-switching boost converters with a coupled inductor
and active-clamp circuit. (a) Topology presented in [41] and [42]. (b) Topology
presented in [43] and [44].
Fig. 16. High-step-up flyback–boost converter with a coupled inductor.
is absorbed, and the turn-off voltage ringing on the MOSFET is
suppressed by the clamp diode Dc and the clamp capacitor Cc .
In order to achieve the soft-switching performance of the
switch in Fig. 14, a high-step-up boost converter with a coupled
inductor and auxiliary circuit is proposed in [41] and [42]. The
circuit is shown in Fig. 15(a). The auxiliary circuit provides
the ZVS and ZCS turn-on conditions for the switch. The turn-
on period of the auxiliary switches is very short in reducing
the additional losses. However, the circuit is complex, and the
cost is high. Fig. 15(b) shows another high-step-up ZVT boost
converter with a coupled inductor [43], [44]. The resonant
inductor Ls is employed to guarantee the ZVT soft switching
for the main and clamp switches. The clamp circuit is adopted
to suppress the voltage spikes and to recycle the leakage energy.
The efficiency is improved due to the soft-switching operation.
Fig. 17. Improved high-step-up flyback–boost converter with a coupled in-
ductor. (a) Improved converter in [47]. (b) Improved converter in [48].
A high-step-up flyback–boost converter can be derived by
combining the conventional boost converter with the flyback
converter. Fig. 16 shows a high-step-up flyack-boost converter
with a coupled inductor [45], [46]. The filter inductor of the
boost converter and the transformer of the flyback converter
are integrated into a coupled inductor. Both converters share
the same switch. A high-voltage conversion is obtained because
the outputs of the boost and the flyback converters are in
series. The leakage energy is absorbed losslessly, and the switch
voltage stress is reduced.
The concept of the integration of the boost and flyback con-
verters has other types [47]–[50]. Fig. 17(a) shows an improved
flyback–boost converter by using the voltage multiplier [47].
A voltage multiplier is adopted to get a large voltage conver-
sion ratio. Another improved flyback–boost converter with the
balanced switching technique is shown in Fig. 17(b) [48]. The
advantage of the converter is the reduction of the common-
mode-conducted EMI noise due to the balanced switching tech-
nique. Moreover, the two coupled inductors can be integrated
into one magnetic core to reduce the passive component size.
The main limitation of the high-step-up flyback–boost con-
verters is that the voltage balance on the output capacitors
should be considered due to the serial structure of the output
capacitors.
B. High-Step-Up Converters With Switched Capacitor
The capacitor can be taken as another voltage source to
achieve a high-step-up conversion. Moreover, a lot of switched-
capacitor dc/dc converters with large conversion ratio are
presented [51]–[54]. Fig. 18 shows an N -stage high-step-up
converter with switched capacitors [53]. Each switched-
capacitor cell is composed of a capacitor, a diode, and two
switches. Each capacitor can be taken as a voltage source,
LI AND HE: NONISOLATED HIGH-STEP-UP DC/DC CONVERTERS IN PV GRID-CONNECTED APPLICATIONS
Fig. 18. N -stage high-step-up converter with switched capacitors.
Fig. 19. N -stage high-step-up switched-capacitor resonant converter.
Fig. 20. High-step-up converter with a general multilevel cell.
which is switched and recombined by the switches. The current
path is provided by the diode when the switch turns off.
High-step-up and wide-range conversion can be realized by
employing N stages of the switched-capacitor cells in series.
In order to reduce the numbers of the power MOSFETs
and gate drivers, an N -stage high-step-up switched-capacitor
resonant converter is proposed in [54]. The circuit is shown
in Fig. 19. The switched-capacitor cell is formed by two
diodes and two capacitors. There are no active switches in
the switched-capacitor cell, which simplifies the circuit struc-
ture. The ZCS soft-switching performance for the power de-
vices is realized because a resonant tank is formed by the
inductor Lr and the switched capacitors. The current spike
problem that exists in the conventional switched-capacitor con-
verter is avoided.
Besides the serial switched-capacitor structure, the high-
step-up converter with switched capacitors can be derived from
the general multilevel converter concept [55], [56]. Fig. 20
shows an example of the high-step-up converter with general
multilevel cell [55]. Each basic cell is made up of a clamp
capacitor and two switches that are operated in complementary
mode. A high voltage gain can be obtained by the parallel or the
serial structure of the basic cell. High-efficiency, high power
density, and bidirectional performances are achieved for the
converter.
The magnetic components, such as the inductor or the trans-
former, are not required in the switched-capacitor converters.
1245
Fig. 21. High-step-up single-switch converter presented in [57].
Fig. 22. High-step-up single-switch converter presented in [58].
The switching frequency can be pushed to a high level, even to
the megahertz range, to improve the power density. However, a
lot of power devices are necessary to get a high voltage gain,
which increases circuit complexity and system cost. The output
voltage regulation capability is poor in a wide load variation
because the output voltage must be a fraction or a multiplier of
the input voltage.
C. High-Step-Up Converters With Inductor
and Switched Capacitor
The switched-capacitor and boost converters can be inte-
grated together to obtain a stepless voltage gain. A family
of single-switch dc/dc converters with high voltage gain is
proposed in [57]. Fig. 21 shows an example of this type of
converter. The first dashed block, which is composed of the
diodes Dx and Dy , the inductor Lx , and the capacitor Cx , is
named as a boost multiplier cell, which can obtain a voltage
conversion as the conventional boost converter. The second
dashed block, which is composed of the diodes D1 and D2
and the capacitors C1 and C2 , is named as the capacitor–diode
multiplier, which can be in series to enlarge the voltage gain
and to reduce the switch voltage stress.
Another family of single-switch high-step-up dc/dc convert-
ers is introduced in [58]. One example of the converter is shown
in Fig. 22. A four-terminal high-step-up switch cell, which is
formed by two diodes, two capacitors, and a switch, is shown
in the dashed block. The voltage gain of the converter can
be extended, and the switch voltage stress is reduced by the
switched cell.
The major disadvantages of the high-step-up converters with
an inductor and a switched capacitor are the large switching
losses due to the hard-switching operation. In addition, the
numbers of the magnetic components are large, which limits
the power level improvements. Therefore, they are usually
employed in the low-power applications.
1246
Fig. 23. High-step-up boost converter with a coupled inductor and a switched
capacitor.
Fig. 24. Improved high-step-up boost converter with a coupled inductor and
a switched capacitor.
D. High-Step-Up Converters With Coupled Inductor
and Switched Capacitor
The concept of the coupled inductor and the switched capac-
itor can be combined to derive high-step-up converters [59]–
[63]. Fig. 23 shows a high-step-up boost converter with a
coupled inductor and a switched capacitor [59]. A wide-range
voltage conversion can be obtained by the coupled inductor
and the switched capacitor. The output-diode reverse-recovery
problem is alleviated by the leakage inductance of the coupled
inductor. The ZCS turn-on of the switch is achieved to reduce
the switching losses. The leakage energy is recycled, and the
voltage ringing on the MOSFET is suppressed by diode Dc1
and capacitor Cc1 . The energy stored in the clamp capacitor Cc1
is transferred to the load by the resonance circuit, which is
formed by the inductor Lr and the capacitor Cc2 . The voltage
gain is higher, and the switch voltage stress is lower than those
of the high-step-up boost converter shown in Fig. 14.
An improved high-step-up converter with a coupled induc-
tor and a switched capacitor is proposed in [63], as shown
in Fig. 24. This converter has the following performances:
1) The voltage gain is extended by the coupled inductor and
the switched capacitor; 2) the leakage energy is recycled, and
the voltage ringing on the MOSFET is absorbed by the passive
lossless clamp circuit; 3) the switch voltage stress is low
to reduce the conduction losses; 4) the output-diode reverse-
recovery problem is alleviated by the leakage inductance; and
5) the converter is simple and easy to control.
E. High-Step-Up Interleaved Boost Converters
The aforementioned high-step-up converters are single-phase
converters, which are not suitable for high-power and high-
current applications. The interleaved structure can be employed
to increase the power level.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 4, APRIL 2011
Fig. 25. High-step-up interleaved boost converter with inductors and switched
capacitors.
Fig. 26. High-step-up interleaved boost converter with a coupled inductor and
switched capacitors.
A high-step-up interleaved boost converter is proposed by
inserting the switched capacitors into the conventional boost
converter [64]. The circuit is shown in Fig. 25. The interleaved
structure is used to increase the power level, minimize the
current ripple, reduce the passive component size, and improve
the transient response. A high voltage gain can be realized by
the switched-capacitor cell. The main disadvantage is that the
power devices operate under the hard-switching condition.
The two separate inductors in Fig. 25 can be integrated
into a coupled inductor to optimize the magnetic core and to
improve the magnetic utility [65]. The high-step-up interleaved
boost converter with a coupled inductor and switched
capacitors is shown in Fig. 26. The magnetic component is
minimized, and the ZCS turn-on is achieved. However, many
switched-capacitor cells are required to get a very high-step-up
conversion.
A high-step-up interleaved boost converter with coupled
inductors is introduced in [66], which is shown in Fig. 27.
The double-voltage-rectifier structure is employed to extend the
voltage gain. The resistor–capacitor–diode solution is used to
suppress the voltage spikes and to absorb the leakage energy.
The hard-switching operation and the large leakage energy limit
the converter in large-current applications.
Another high-step-up interleaved boost converter with cou-
pled inductors is proposed in [67]. The circuit is shown in
Fig. 28. A single-capacitor turn-off snubber is employed to
reduce the switching losses during the turn-off transition. The
turn-off snubber can also be used to limit the rising rate of the
switch voltage and to absorb the voltage spikes. Unfortunately,
LI AND HE: NONISOLATED HIGH-STEP-UP DC/DC CONVERTERS IN PV GRID-CONNECTED APPLICATIONS
Fig. 27. High-step-up interleaved boost converter with coupled inductors
in [66].
Fig. 28. High-step-up interleaved boost converter with coupled inductors
in [67].
Fig. 29. High-step-up interleaved boost converter with an auxiliary
transformer.
the duty cycle of the switches should be less than 0.5, which is
a great limitation for the voltage gain extension.
The transformer that exists in the isolated two-inductor boost
converter is deleted, and the double-voltage-rectifier structure is
employed to derive a two-inductor interleaved boost converter
with high-voltage conversion [68]. The circuit is shown in
Fig. 29. An auxiliary transformer with a unity turns ratio is
employed to couple the current paths of the inductors and to
achieve the current autosharing performance. The output volt-
age can be regulated from full load to practically no load due to
the current-mirror effect of the auxiliary transformer. However,
the converter operates in the hard-switching performance.
VI. H IGH -S TEP -U P I NTERLEAVED
S OFT-S WITCHING C ONVERTERS
A family of high-step-up interleaved dc/dc converters with
WCCIs is proposed in [69]–[72]. A modified coupled induc-
tor with three windings is presented, and its third winding
1247
Fig. 30. High-step-up ZVT interleaved boost converter with WCCIs and
active-clamp circuits.
Fig. 31. High-step-up interleaved boost converter with WCCIs and passive
lossless clamp circuits.
is inserted into another phase, which is named as WCCIs,
as shown in Fig. 30. The second and third windings of the
WCCIs serve as the dc voltage sources and are in series with
the circuit to achieve high-step-up conversion and to reduce
the switch voltage stress. The active-clamp scheme is applied
to the interleaved boost converter with WCCIs to recycle the
leakage energy and to suppress the voltage spikes [70], which
is shown in Fig. 30. With the active-clamp circuits, the ZVT
performance of the main and auxiliary switches is achieved
during the whole switching transition. Meanwhile, the leakage
energy is recycled, and the switching voltage of the MOSFETs
is clamped effectively. The output-diode reverse-recovery prob-
lem is alleviated by the leakage inductance to minimize the
relative reverse-recovery losses.
With some topology variations, the active-clamp scheme can
be replaced by the passive lossless clamp scheme [71]. The
derived interleaved boost converter with passive lossless clamp
circuits is shown in Fig. 31. ZCS turn-on can be realized, and
the clamp circuits are simple but effective in reducing the circuit
complexity and the converter cost.
The transformer function of the WCCIs is employed here to
extend the voltage gain, to minimize the power device peak
current, and to reduce the switch voltage stress in high-step-
up PV energy grid-connected applications [72]. The leakage
inductance of the WCCIs is used to control the output-diode
turn-off current falling rate and to alleviate the output-diode
reverse-recovery problem. Furthermore, the interleaved struc-
ture of the WCCIs is adopted to increase the power level easily.
1248
Fig. 32. General conceptual circuit for high-step-up conversion.
Fig. 33. Performance comparison between the general conceptual circuit and
the conventional boost converter in high-step-up applications.
Moreover, the active-clamp scheme or the passive lossless
clamp scheme is employed to handle the leakage energy and
to achieve the soft-switching performance. It can be concluded
that the high-step-up interleaved soft-switching converters with
WCCIs can achieve a high-efficiency and low-cost performance
in the nonisolated high-step-up PV grid-connected power
applications.
VII. G ENERAL S OLUTION FOR
H IGH -S TEP -U P C ONVERSION
It has been mentioned in previous sections that low-cost and
high-efficiency performance should be taken carefully in non-
isolated high-step-up PV grid-connected power applications. In
this section, a general conceptual circuit is proposed to generate
the next-generation dc/dc converter with high-step-up and large
current conversion. The proposed general conceptual circuit is
shown in Fig. 32, and the performance improvement is given in
Fig. 33. A voltage gain extension cell is inserted between the
switches and the output diodes of the conventional interleaved
boost converter. Due to the voltage gain extension cell, the ex-
treme duty cycle is avoided, and the current ripples on the power
switches are minimized to reduce the numbers of the elec-
trolytic capacitors. Furthermore, the switch voltage stress is
reduced compared with the conventional boost converter, as
shown in Fig. 33. Consequently, low-voltage-rated MOSFETs
are available to reduce the conduction losses and the converter
cost. In theory, there are three types of components that can
be employed to realize the voltage gain extension cell, includ-
ing the coupled inductors, the transformer, and the switched
capacitors. Moreover, the combination of the aforementioned
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 4, APRIL 2011
three components can be integrated to configure the voltage
gain extension cell. As shown in Fig. 32, the interleaved struc-
ture is employed to improve the power level, which makes
the power level and power density requirements in PV grid-
connected applications be satisfied. Also, the active or passive
soft-switching scheme can be adopted to achieve the ZVS or
ZCS soft-switching performance. As a result, the switching
losses are reduced, and the converter efficiency is improved.
The high-step-up, low-cost, and high-efficiency interleaved
dc/dc converters with WCCIs that are introduced in [69]–[71]
are examples deduced from the proposed general conceptual
circuit, where the couple inductors are used to configure the
voltage gain extension cell. Furthermore, the proposed gen-
eral conceptual circuit can be employed to derive the next-
generation interleaved high-step-up boost converters for PV
grid-connected power applications.
VIII. C ONCLUSION
In the residential PV grid-connected system, the PV parallel-
connected configuration can be employed rather than the series-
connected configuration due to the safety and the PV array
utility rate consideration. Moreover, the nonisolated high-step-
up converters are welcomed in order to reduce the system
cost and to improve the converter efficiency since the common
mode current with the large PV area in these applications
can be solved effectively. The limitations of the conventional
boost converter in high-step-up, low-cost, and high-efficiency
PV grid-connected system are analyzed. Most of the state-of-
the-art high-step-up topologies are summarized and classified
into several categories based on the circuit structure. From
the aforementioned analysis, the major challenges in these
applications can be drawn as follows:
1) how to extend the voltage gain and how to avoid the
extreme duty cycle to reduce the current ripple and the
numbers of the electrolytic capacitors;
2) how to reduce the switch voltage to make low-voltage
MOSFETs available to reduce the power device cost and
the conduction losses;
3) how to realize the soft-switching performance to reduce
the switching losses;
4) how to alleviate the output-diode reverse-recovery prob-
lem to reduce the reverse-recovery losses.
The conceptual solution for high-step-up, low-cost, and
high-efficiency conversion is proposed, and some topologies
that meet the stringent requirements in high-step-up PV grid-
connected system are given. A clear picture on the general law
and framework for the next-generation nonisolated high-step-
up, low-cost, and high-efficiency dc/dc converters is made in
this paper.
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Wuhua Li (M’09) received the B.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees in applied power electronics and electrical
engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou,
China, in 2002 and 2008, respectively.
From September 2004 to March 2005, he was an
Intern and, from January 2007 to June 2008, he was a
Research Assistant with GE Global Research Center,
Shanghai, China. From July 2008 to April 2010,
he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the College of
Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University. In May
2010, he became a Faculty Member with Zhejiang
University as a Lecturer. Since July 2010, he has been a Ryerson University
Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engi-
neering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada. His research interests in-
clude high-efficiency power converters and renewable energy power conversion
system.
Xiangning He (M’95–SM’96–F’10) received the
B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Nanjing University
of Aeronautical and Astronautical, Nanjing, China,
in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and the Ph.D. de-
gree from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China,
in 1989.
From 1985 to 1986, he was an Assistant Engi-
neer with the 608 Institute of Aeronautical Industrial
General Company, Zhuzhou, China. From 1989 to
1991, he was a Lecturer with Zhejiang University.
In 1991, he obtained a fellowship from the Royal
Society of U.K. and conducted research in the Department of Computing and
Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K., as a Postdoc-
toral Research Fellow for two years. In 1994, he joined Zhejiang University
as an Associate Professor. Since 1996, he has been a Full Professor with the
College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University. He was the Director
of the Power Electronics Research Institute and the Head of the Department
of Applied Electronics, and he is currently the Vice Dean of the College of
Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University. His research interests are power
electronics and their industrial applications. He is the author or coauthor of
more than 200 papers and one book “Theory and Applications of Multi-level
Converters.” He holds 12 patents.
Dr. He received the 1989 Excellent Ph.D. Graduate Award, the 1995 Elite
Prize Excellence Award, the 1996 Outstanding Young Staff Member Award,
and the 2006 Excellent Staff Award from Zhejiang University for his teaching
and research contributions. He received five Scientific and Technological
Progress Awards from the Zhejiang Provincial Government and the State
Educational Ministry of China in 1998, 2002, and 2009 and five Excellent
Paper Awards. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
(formerly IEE), U.K.