DC to DC Boost Converter

120 Volts output from a 12 Volt input [Type the author name] The goal of the project is to power a 120 V light bulb with a 12 V battery pack. A light bulb was chosen because it is a 120 V load that provides an easy visual indication of its operation. In order to power the bulb, a DC to DC boost converter was constructed. In its simplest form, a boost converter consists of a voltage source, a switch, a diode, and a load. Switching would be accomplished with a bipolar junction transistor or BJT. Capacitors were added to lower the voltage ripple across the load. For an output voltage of 120 V, a 10 to 1 voltage ratio must be achieve through the boost converter. The equation describing a boost converter voltage ratio is a continuous state is

From this equation, it was found that the duty cycle must be 90 percent. A 555 timer chip was chosen to provide the BJT gate signal. The duty cycle and frequency of the 555 timer are controlled by supporting resistors and capacitors. The amount of time which the output signal is on is given by ( ) ( Off time of the 555 timer output is given by ( ) To achieve a 90 percent duty cycle, tON is 9 times longer than tOFF. The sum of tON and tOFF is the period of the duty cycle and is the inverse of the frequency. R1 and R2 were chosen to be 25 k and 3.3 k, respectively. The capacitor was calculated to be 3 nF. A schematic of the entire circuit can be found in the appendix. This places the switching frequency at approximately 25 kHz at a duty cycle of 90 percent. Circuit performance was proven in a simulation in LTSpice. Originally, the inductor resistance was assumed to be negligible. However, it was found later in testing that this was not the case. After testing, additional capacitance was added to the simulation. The simulation results can be found the appendix. After the circuit was constructed, testing would show that the bulb would not light. A switch was placed between the boost converter and the load. When the load was disconnected, the capacitors would charge until the load was reconnected. The bulb would flash momentarily and remain dim afterwards. It was hypothesized that the switching frequency was too high. More capacitance was added to the 555 timer circuit to lower the switching frequency without changing the duty cycle. This did the trick. Boost converter output was measured at 80 volts with a 12 volt input. While this would still light the bulb, it was short of the 10 to 1 voltage ratio it was designed for. This is due to real world losses in the system such as the inductor resistance and ESR in the capacitors. A modification of the circuit to design in additional voltage boost could bring the output back into the designed target. )

DC to DC Boost Converter
120 Volts output from a 12 Volt input [Type the author name]

Schematic

Output voltage over 1 second

DC to DC Boost Converter
120 Volts output from a 12 Volt input [Type the author name]

Transistor gate signal

Inductor voltage

DC to DC Boost Converter
120 Volts output from a 12 Volt input [Type the author name]

Inductor current

Capacitor current