University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila

Electrical Engineering Department

Lab Manuals
For the Course of
POWER ELECTRONICS

Lab 8
Buck and Boost Converter

Submitted to: Ma’am Zainab Shahid

Submitted by: Group 5

Hania Rehman 17-EE-03
Rimsha Saeed 17-EE-06
Alveen Zainab 17-EE-33
Fatima Naveed 17-EE-36
Hira Kiran 17-EE-48
Sana Munawar 17-EE-66
Anoosha Rani 17-EE-69
 Lab 08: Buck and Boost Converter

Objectives
• To develop understanding of buck and boost convertors and their working, characteristics and
parameters
• To analyze their voltage and current graphs as well as the inductor current ripples and output
voltage ripples
• To analyze the effect of duty cycle at output, and apparent power at input and output

Software used: NI Multisim 14.2

Theoretical Background
Buck Convertor
A buck converter is a type of switch mode convertor that is used to step-down the input voltage to
some lower level, hence also called a step-down convertor. It contains two semiconductor devices,
i.e., a diode and a transistor, and at least one energy storage element, i.e., a capacitor or an inductor,
or the two in combination. When the diode is replaced with a second transistor, the buck convertor
performs synchronous rectification. To reduce voltage ripples at the input or output of buck
convertors, filters made of capacitors are normally added.

Figure 1. DC-to-DC Buck Convertor

Working Principle
→ The key principle that drives the buck converter is the tendency of an inductor to resist changes
in the current either by increasing or decreasing the energy stored in the inductor magnetic field.
→ When the switch is opened, sudden changes in the current are opposed and voltage is created
across the inductor. Polarity of the left side of the inductor is positive.
→ This voltage allows the capacitor to charge and power the load through the diode even when the
switch is OFF.

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→ Meanwhile, the output current throughout the switching cycle is maintained.
→ When the switch is closed, the current flows through the output capacitor and charges it up.
→ Since the voltage across the capacitor cannot vary instantly, and since the inductor limits the
charging current, so the voltage appearing across the capacitor during the switching cycle is not
the full voltage of the power source.

Boost convertor
A boost convertor is a type of switch mode convertor that is used to step-up the input voltage to some
higher level, hence also called a step-up convertor. This unique capability is achieved by storing
energy in an inductor and releasing it to the load at a higher voltage. In a boost converter, the peak
inductor current can be twice the input current.

Figure 2. DC-to-DC boost convertor

Working Principle
→ The key principle that drives the boost converter is the tendency of an inductor to resist changes
in the current either by increasing or decreasing the energy stored in the inductor magnetic field.
→ When the switch is closed, current flows through the inductor in the clockwise direction and the
inductor stores some energy by generating a magnetic field. Polarity of the left side of the inductor
is positive.
→ Meanwhile, the output capacitor stays charged.
→ When the switch is opened, current will be reduced as the impedance is higher.
→ The magnetic field previously created will also be reduced in energy to maintain the current
towards the load. Thus, the polarity gets reversed. As a result, causing a higher voltage to charge
the capacitor.
→ Since load is in parallel to the capacitor, so same higher level of voltage is obtained across it.
→ In steady state, the average DC voltage across the inductor should be zero so that after each cycle
the inductor returns to the same state, as voltage across the inductor is proportional to rate of
change of current through it.

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Applications
Boost converters can increase the voltage and reduce the number of cells. Two battery-powered
applications that use boost converters are hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and lighting systems. They
are also used in solar power systems for power system protection, regulated power supplies,
regenerative braking of DC motors and some portable devices.
Buck convertors have a vast variety of applications. They are used in point of load converters used
to drive high current loads efficiently, PCs and motherboards, battery chargers used for mobile
phones, laptops and power banks, solar chargers, and to drive BLDC motors.

Lab Tasks
Task 1: Buck Convertor

• Voltage and current graphs (inductor current ripples and output voltage ripples)

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Analysis
Ripple current comes from the inductor. Inductor current (represented by green marker) rises up to a
maximum value during each cycle. The RMS current will be greatest at 50 percent duty cycle. If we
assume the ratio of output current ripple to average current is fairly small, the inductor ripple current
will be directly proportional to average output current.
Initially the output voltage (represented by blue marker) shoots to a higher value as oscillates for a
few milli seconds. After that, steady state is achieved and constant ripples could be observed at the
output voltage.

• Effect of duty cycle

D=30

D=50

D=70

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Analysis
Duty cycle has a direct relationship with the output voltage and current. When the duty cycle is
reduced from 50 to 30, the output voltage falls from 4.93𝑉𝑉 to 2.40𝑉𝑉 and output current decreases
from 1.24𝐴𝐴 to 601𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚. And when the duty cycle is increased from 50 to 70, the output voltage goes
from 4.93𝑉𝑉 to 7.16𝑉𝑉 and output current decreases from 1.24𝐴𝐴 to 1.79𝐴𝐴.

• Apparent power (𝑃𝑃 = 𝑉𝑉𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝐼𝐼𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 ) from input and output powers

Analysis
Input and output powers can be determined as,
𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 = 𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) 𝐼𝐼𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) = (8.33)(1.45) = 12.08 𝑊𝑊
𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 = 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) 𝐼𝐼𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑡(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) = (6.84)(1.71) = 11.69 𝑊𝑊
The apparent power at output is 3.2% less than the input power in a DC-to-DC buck convertor, and
its efficiency is given by,
𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜
𝜂𝜂 = = 96.8%
𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖

Task 2: Boost Convertor

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 • Voltage and current graphs (inductor current ripples and output voltage ripples)

Analysis
Ripple current comes from the inductor. Inductor current (represented by red marker) rises up to a
maximum value during each cycle. The RMS current will be greatest at 50 percent duty cycle. If we
assume the ratio of output current ripple to average current is fairly small, the inductor ripple current
will be directly proportional to average output current.
Initially the output voltage (represented by blue marker) shoots to a higher value as oscillates for
about 0.6𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚. After that, steady state is achieved and constant voltage ripples could be observed.

• Effect of duty cycle

D=30

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 D=50

D=70

Analysis
Duty cycle has a direct relationship with the output voltage and current. When the duty cycle is
reduced from 50 to 30, the output voltage falls from 15.2𝑉𝑉 to 14.4𝑉𝑉 and output current decreases
from 5.37𝐴𝐴 to 3.59𝐴𝐴. And when the duty cycle is increased from 50 to 70, the output voltage goes
from 15.2𝑉𝑉 to 38.3𝑉𝑉 and output current decreases from 5.37𝐴𝐴 to 9.57𝐴𝐴.

• Apparent power (𝑃𝑃 = 𝑉𝑉𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝐼𝐼𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 ) from input and output powers

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Analysis
Input and output powers can be determined as,
𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 = 𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) 𝐼𝐼𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) = (30)(7.50) = 225 𝑊𝑊
𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 = 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) 𝐼𝐼𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) = (8.37)(24.5) = 205.1 𝑊𝑊
The apparent power at output is 8.84% less than the input power in a DC-to-DC buck convertor, and
its efficiency is given by,
𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜
𝜂𝜂 = = 91.16%
𝑃𝑃𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖

Conclusions
• Boost convertor provides more power as compared to the buck convertor.
• The use of a large capacitor increases the amplitude of ripples at the output voltage.
• If inductance is set to be large enough while keeping the capacitance small, a drop could be
observed at the output voltage.

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