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Theoretical and Experimental Study of Interleaved Non-Inverting Buck-Boost

Converter for RES

Conference Paper · June 2018

DOI: 10.1109/HiTech.2018.8566632

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Zahari Zarkov Vladimir Dimitrov Lazarov

Technical University of Sofia Technical University of Sofia
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 Theoretical and Experimental Study of Interleaved
Non-Inverting Buck-Boost Converter for RES
Zahari Zarkov Vladimir Lazarov
Faculty of French Electrical Engineering Education Faculty of French Electrical Engineering Education
Technical University of Sofia Technical University of Sofia
Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia, Bulgaria
email: zzza@tu-sofia.bg email: vl_lazarov@tu-sofia.bg

Ivan Bachev
Ludmil Stoyanov
Faculty of French Electrical Engineering Education
Faculty of French Electrical Engineering Education
Technical University of Sofia
Technical University of Sofia
Sofia, Bulgaria
Sofia, Bulgaria
email: iv.bachev@tu-sofia.bg
email: ludiss@tu-sofia.bg

Abstract—The DC-DC converters are used in some The circuit of the studied converter is shown in Fig. 1. It
configurations of modern energy conversion systems using is built with MOSFETs and Schottky diodes because the
renewable energy sources (RES). One of the topologies of DC- voltages are relatively low – under 100V. The mathematical
DC converters is non-inverting buck-boost converter, which is modelling is based on equations for state variables, which are
suitable for relative low-power applications. The studied the output voltage VO and inductors’ currents iL1 and iL2 [6].
circuit consists of two identical converters connected in parallel In the equations it is taken into account the series resistance
with common input and output voltage. The study is based on of the inductor and the voltage drop in the diodes. The
simulations with Matlab/Simscape models. Besides, an switching times and series resistances of the transistors and
experimental test bench is created and used for measurements
diodes are neglected. The two converters are considered to
of converter behavior in different modes of operation. The
comparison between theoretical and experimental results show
be absolutely identical.
a good degree of overlap. The differential equations that describe the converter
operation are the following:
Keywords—interleaved converters, DC-DC converter
modeling, non-inverting buck-boost converter, parallel DC-DC
diL1 1
converters =  γ1 (Vi − RiL1 ) − (1 − γ1 ) (Vo + 2VF + RiL1 ) 
dt L
I. INTRODUCTION diL 2 1
=  γ 2 (Vi − RiL 2 ) − (1 − γ 2 ) (Vo + 2VF + RiL 2 )  (1)
In many applications that use energy of renewable energy dt L
sources (RES) it is necessary to convert the produced electric dVo 1
= ( i12 − io )
energy by one or more power electronic converters in order dt C
to adapt it to the requirements of the consumer. The most i12 = (1 − γ1 ) iL1 + (1 − γ 2 )iL 2
used converter type are DC-DC converters and inverters. The
DC-DC converters are applicable in PV systems, wind Vo
io =
generators, energy storage devices etc. [1]. They may fulfill RL
the functions like matching the voltages of the source and the
load, performing MPPT operation (in PV systems) or where Vi is the input voltage, C – capacitance of the filter
providing bi-directional path for electric energy for storage
ii ii1
devices [2], [3]. The non-inverting buck-boost (NIBB) T11 R1 L1 iL1 D12 i
1 i12 io
+
converter is not very popular but it has the big advantage to
iC
be able to decrease or increase the input voltage [4]. This Inductor Vo
feature provides wide area of operation with different Vi γ1
T12 RL
sources and loads. The parallel connection and interleaved D11
γ1 C
mode of operation of converters increase their reliability and
efficiency and can lead to lower price due to mass production -
D22
of similar devices [5], [6]. ii2 T21 R2 L2 iL2 i2

The main goal of this work is to provide theoretical and Inductor

experimental study of NIBB converter consisting of two γ2
D21 T22
equal converters connected in parallel and operating in
γ2
interleaved mode.

II. CONVERTER CIRCUIT AND MATHEMATICAL MODEL Fig. 1. Circuit of two parallel buck-boost converters with common input
and output voltage.

978-1-5386-7039-2/18/$31.00 ©2018 European Union

 TSW
γ1
tp
t The parameters of the converters’ components are
TSW/2
γ2
t digital microprocessor platform dSpace DS1104 is used for
Fig. 2. Control pulses for two converters operating in interleaved mode.
capacitor, R1=R2=R – series resistance of the inductors,
L1=L2=L, VF is the forward voltage drop in diodes
D11÷D22.
Switching functions γ1=1 when the transistors T11 and
T12 are on, and γ1=0 when the transistors are off. The
switching function for the second converter γ2 is shifted by γ1
with ½ period to achieve interleaved operation – see Fig. 2.
The duty cycle is defined as
D = tp/TSW . (2)
Based on the presented mathematical model a simulation
model of the interleaved converter is developed in
Matlab/Simscape environment. This model is used for
simulations of the converter behavior under different
operating conditions.
III. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In order to verify the analysis and simulations,
experimental study was carried out on a prototype consisting
of two parallel noninverting buck-boost converters (Fig. 3).
L1=L2=0.21mH, C=940 μF (electrolytic), R1=R2=0.04Ω,
VF=0.8V. The transistors T11, T12, T21 and T22 are
MOSFET with low RDS. The diodes D11, D12, D21 and D22
are Schottky type. The switching frequency of the transistors
is 25kHz. The load is a rheostat with adjustable resistance. A
implementing the interleaved control of the converters. There
is no current sensing and current sharing control applied.
During the first experiment, the converters operate in
boost mode with duty cycle D=0.8, which gives output
voltage four times greater than the input voltage. The input
voltage is 11.71V, output voltage is 44V, total input current
is 18.6A, output current is 3.8A, and the transferred output
power is 167.2W. The voltage ratio is not exactly 1:4
because of the voltage drops in the diodes and resistances of
inductors and transistors. In the following figures,
oscillograms of voltages and currents are shown alongside
with corresponding waveforms obtained by simulations with
the same parameters as prototype converters. In Fig. 4 are
shown waveforms of voltages over diodes D11, D21 and
input currents of the two converters (ii1 and ii2) operating in
boost mode.

Load

Fig. 3. Picture of the designed interleaved NIBB converters and the test
bench.
 Ii
I L1 = I L 2 = D = 11.625A (3)
D11 voltage 2

where Ii is the average total input current.

D21 voltage
The NIBB converter also has the possibility to decrease
the input voltage – operation in buck or step-down mode. It
can be particularly useful in WECS or PV systems that
i1 current operate with fixed voltage of the load when it is combined
with batteries [8]. That is why the operation in step-down
mode of NIBB parallel converter is also examined. The
waveforms of voltages over D11, D21 and input currents ii1,
i2 current ii2 of both converters in step-down mode are depicted in Fig.
6 where they are also compared to simulation results. The
operating conditions are as follows: input voltage 57.8 V,
output voltage 14.29V, total input current 2.7A, output
current 8.78A, transferred output power 125.5W, and duty
ratio D=0.2. During this experiment, the average current in
both inductors is 6,75A.

(a) Experimental results. From top to bottom: D11 voltage 10V/div;

D21 voltage 10V/div; i1 current 5A/div; i2 current 5A/div.

D11 voltage

D21 voltage

ii2 current

ii1 current

(b) Simulation results

Fig. 5. Waveforms of voltages over D11, D21 and output currents i1, i2 of
both converters in boost mode.
(a) Experimental results. From top to bottom: D11 voltage 10V/div;
D21 voltage 10V/div; ii1 current 5A/div; ii2 current 5A/div.
Fig. 5 shows once again the voltages over diodes D11,
D21 but now with the output currents of the two converters i1
and i2. When duty cycle D=0.8 the output currents flow only
for 20% of the switching period. During this experiment the
average current in the inductors was

(b) Simulation results

Fig. 4. Waveforms of voltages over D11, D21 and input currents ii1, ii2 of
both converters in boost mode.
 Total input D11 voltage
current

L1 current D21 voltage

10.7A

ii1 current
L2 current
2.1A
ii2 current
Output
voltage Vo.

(a) Experimental results. From top to bottom: D11 voltage 50V/div; D21
voltage 50V/div; ii1 current 5A/div; ii2 current 5A/div.

Fig. 8. Simulation waveforms for the parallel NIBB converters when the first converter operates with duty cycle 75% and the second converter - with 74%.

Another problem that arises in the parallel structures of

interleaved DC-DC converters is the non-equal duty ratio of
control pulses. Under these conditions, the voltage-second
ratio of inductor in the converter with smaller duty ratio is
not fulfilled and its current starts to decrease. As a result, the
current in the other converter increases. This process leads to
a new equilibrium operating point where output voltage is
lower that the initial. The converter with smaller duty cycle
finds its equilibrium at this lower output voltage. The other
converter also operates in steady state with lower output
voltage because of increased voltage drop in its internal
resistances due to increased current.
In Fig. 7 are shown experimentally obtained waveforms
of the inductors’ currents and output voltage of two parallel (b) Simulation results
NIBB converters when the duty ratio of control pulses of the
second converter is changed from 75% to 74%. The Fig. 6. Waveforms of voltages over D11, D21 and input currents ii1, ii2 of
difference in the pulse width is only 0.4µs. This result should both converters in step-down mode.
be compared with the simulations shown in Fig. 8. The first
current becomes greater than the second with around 5A. when the duty ratios of the control signals are exactly equal.
The output voltage drops with about 1V when the duty ratio However, it was observed that during the changes of the duty
changes. ratio there was unbalanced current sharing due to the discrete
Second part of Fig. 8 illustrates zoom-in waveforms of nature of the PWM generation technique in the
the input currents in the steady state when the converters
operate with different duty ratios.

IV. CONCLUSIONS Vo voltage

The paper deals with theoretical and experimental study
of parallel noninverting buck-boost converters with common iL1 current
input and output voltages and interleaved PWM control. The
circuits are modelled and simulated in a Matlab/Simscape
environment. Using simulations the waveforms of currents
and voltages in the circuits are obtained. The comparison
between the simulations and experimental results shows
good level of overlap, which proves the reliability of the iL2 current
adopted approach and developed models. The parallel buck-
boost converter still has a pulsed component in its total input
current that has to be filtered by an input capacitor. In all
modes of operation the inductors carry current that is greater
than the input and output current of single converter. This
issue limits the possibility for increasing converter power too Fig. 7. Experimental waveforms for the inductor currents of the parallel
much. The experiments also demonstrate that the two NIBB converters when the first converter operates with duty cycle 75% and
parallel NIBB converters can successfully operate in steady the second converter - with 74%. From top to bottom: converters’ output
voltage 5V/div; iL1 current 2.5A/div; iL2 current 2.5A/div.
state mode without special measures for current sharing
microprocessor.
The study shows that the studied interleaved converter
can operate in both – step-up and step-down modes. This
gives the possibility to apply successfully these converters in
low-power (up to several kilowatts) renewable energy
applications. This converter is particularly useful where it is
necessary to adapt the generator to loads that require voltages
lower or higher that the generator voltage or when the
generator voltage varies under and over the load voltage.
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