Optimal Analysis and Design of DC-DC Converter to
Achieve High Voltage Conversion Gain and High
Efficiency for Renewable Energy Systems
Waqas Hassan Dylan Lu
School of Electrical and Information School of Electrical and Data Engineering
Engineering University of Technology Sydney
University of Sydney New South Wales, Australia
New South Wales, Australia Dylan.Lu@uts.edu.au
waqas.hassan@sydney.edu.au
Abstract—High conversion gain of voltage is generally
required to interface various renewable energy sources, such as
PV modules. This paper focuses on the optimal analysis and design
of non-isolated DC-DC converters to meet the high-step-up gain
requirement and achieve high efficiency. The proposed topology
utilizes the coupled inductor technique to achieve high step-up
voltage conversion ratio. A power loss model is developed to
identify losses in each component for efficiency enhancement. The
switch has relatively low voltage stress since leakage energy is
directly transferred to the output to avoid voltage spikes across it.
In addition, the coupled inductor alleviated the reverse recovery
issue of the diode. The circuit operation and steady-state analysis
of the proposed converter are presented in detail. A prototype
circuit is built and tested to prove the circuit analysis and optimal
design.
Keywords— coupled inductor, DC-DC power conversion, high
efficiency, high voltage gain, microgrid, renewable energy
I. INTRODUCTION
Renewable energy, such as PV and fuel cell, are considered
as low-voltage resources. Hence, they generally require a high
step-up DC-DC converter to increase the voltage to meet grid
level. In DC microgrid or nanogrid, DC-DC converter integrates
the renewable energy sources onto a common DC bus. The
typically DC bus voltage is 380 V. The challenge is caused by
the high voltage conversion ratio, which results in relatively low
conversion efficiency. Therefore, high voltage gain, high
efficiency, and cost-effective DC-DC converters are considered
as an integral part of a DC microgrid to boost the low voltage of
renewable energy sources to utility level.
Conventionally, the non-isolated boost converter is used for
step-up applications. But in many applications, where the high
conversion ratio is required, the boost converter is not feasible
due to low system efficiency and physical constraint for high
gain conversion of voltage. Moreover, the extreme duty cycle of
boost converter encountered the serious reverse-recovery
problem of the diode and high electromagnetic interference
(EMI) [1]. Therefore, advanced techniques are developed to
increase the voltage gain and overcome these problems
associated with classically boost converter. One such technique
is switched capacitors, where capacitors are charged in parallel
l-)))
Weidong Xiao
School of Electrical and Information
Engineering
University of Sydney
New South Wales, Australia
weidong.xiao@sydney.edu.au
and discharged in series to increase voltage gain [1]−[5].
Another technique is the use of voltage lift and/or voltage
multiplier, which is discussed in [7]−[10]. The most popular
technique is coupled inductor and considered a promising
solution for high step-up applications [11]−[25]. A hybrid boost-
flyback converter, based on coupled inductor technique, for
photovoltaic battery powered DC bus system is presented in
[26]. The proposed converter achieves high step-gain for low
power applications such as common portable electronic devices.
However, it is not studied in detail and analyzed for higher
power applications such as high-power PV panel (~300W).
In this paper, a coupled inductor boost converter integrated
with flyback converter based on [26] is further studied and
utilized for high conversion gain. The coupled inductor is
operated as a transformer in flyback converter mode. The
converter combines the benefits of boost and flyback converter
to achieve step-up gain. The converter has low voltage stress on
main power switch as compared to boost converter. Hence,
switching loss is reduced. The leakage energy is clamped at the
output to avoid voltage spikes of the main power switch.
Therefore, a switch with low on-state resistance ( ) can be
selected to reduce the conduction loss. Hence, efficiency can
further be improved.
II. OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF THE PROPOSED CONVERTER
In this section, a detailed analysis and operation of the
proposed converter are presented.
A. Steady State Operation and Analysis
The proposed converter is shown in Fig. 1. The converter has
one active switch, two diodes, and two capacitors. The input
voltage is , the main switch is and the output voltage is .
The and are the number of turns of primary and
secondary windings of an ideal transformer, respectively. The
following assumption are made to make analysis simple during
one switching period:
1) The switch and diodes are considered ideal, and
parasitic capacitors are neglected.
2) The capacitors and inductors are considered ideal i.e.
zero equivalent series resistance (ESR).

Fig. 1. The proposed DC-DC converter

3) The capacitors are sufficient large so that

their steady-state voltages are constant.
4) The coupled inductor is modeled as an ideal
transformer. The turns ratio of coupled inductor is =
⁄ .

The converter has three operating modes in steady-state. The

equivalent circuits of each mode are shown in Fig. 2. The key
voltage and current waveforms of the proposed converter are
shown in Fig. 3.

(a)

Fig. 3. Key waveforms of the proposed converter

Mode 1: ∈ [ , ], In Fig. 3, S is defined as a switching

function. When = 1; switch is on, and when = 0; the switch
is off. The converter is in steady state and before mode 1, the
switch is off, and current through the switch, , is zero. At time
, the switch is turned on and current through switch increases.
(b) In this mode, the diode is reverse biased and current in
secondary the winding is zero. The diode is also reverse
biased. The capacitor is driving the load. The switch current
is equal to the input current. The current in magnetizing
inductance is increasing linearly, as shown in Fig. 3. The energy
is stored in the core during this mode. The mode 1 terminates,
when the switch is turned off.
Mode 2: ∈ [ , ], when the switch is turned off, current
in the switch is zero. The leakage energy of primary winding
passes through capacitor and charges the output capacitor .
The energy stored in the capacitor transfer to the output
(c) capacitor . The capacitor is discharging in this mode, as
Fig. 2. Equivalent circuits in different operating modes (a) Mode 1, (b) Mode shown in Fig. 2 (b). The current in the secondary winding is
2, and (c) Mode 3 increasing and input current is decreasing. The mode 2
terminates, when the input current becomes equal to .


 Mode 3: ∈ [ , ], during this mode, the capacitor
charged by secondary winding, as shown in Fig. 2(c). The
energy stored in the core simultaneously transfer to secondary
winding through mutual induction. The capacitor is also
charged, as shown in Fig. 2(c). The mode 3 switches to mode 1,
when the switch is turned on = 1.
The transfer relation is derived by ignoring the leakage
inductance of primary winding. The volt-second balance on the
primary side is expressed as
=( − − )(1 − )
The voltage across capacitor is given by
is
= (7)
∆
B. Power Loss Analysis
A power loss model is built as described in [27]. The loss
model is built based on parameters given in the datasheet of
components. The loss model shows the losses in each
component and identifies the lossy elements.
1) Conduction Loss
(1) Switch S: The RMS current of the switch is calculated by (8)
and conduction loss is calculated in (9).

= (2) 1
1− ( ) = ( ) (8)
By substituting (2) into (1), the transfer relationship of
proposed converter is given by
( ) = ( ) × ( ) (9)
1+
= (3) Diode : The average current of the diode is calculated by
1−
Fig. 4 shows the comparison of voltage gain against duty (10) and conduction loss is calculated in (11), where
cycle of the proposed converter with flyback converter under represents the forward voltage drop of the diode. For simplicity,
n=5. only the forward voltage drop is considered for loss calculation.
The switch, diode and voltage stresses can be 1
calculated by ( ) = (10)

= − = (4) ( ) = × ( ) (11)
1+
(5) Diode : The average current of the diode is calculated by
( ) = + =
1+ (12) and conduction loss is calculated in (13).

( ) = − = (6) 1
1+ ( ) = (12)
The capacitor is selected by (2). The capacitor is
selected by (7), where ∆ represents the ripple in the output ( ) = × ( ) (13)
voltage.
Capacitor : The RMS current of the capacitor is
calculated by (14) and conduction loss is calculated in (15),
where is the equivalent series resistance of the capacitor .

1
( ) = ( ) (14)

( ) = ( ) × (15)
Capacitor : The RMS current of the capacitor is
calculated by (16) and conduction loss is calculated in (17),
where is the equivalent series resistance of the capacitor .

1
( ) = ( ) + ( − ) (16)

( ) = ( ) × (17)
Coupled Inductor: The RMS current of primary and
secondary windings is calculated by (18) and (19), respectively.
Fig. 4. Voltage gain versus duty ratio of the proposed converter with flyback The loss is calculated in (20) and (21), where and
converters under n = 5 represents the series resistance of primary and secondary
windings, respectively.


 1 III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
( ) = ( ) (18) The proposed converter is constructed and tested in the
laboratory for experimental verification of theoretical analysis
and simulation results. A prototype of 300 W output power is
1
( ) = ( ) (19) built. The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 6. The nominal
switching frequency is 100 kHz. The input voltage is 30 V and
the output voltage is regulated at 380 V. The key parameters
( ) = ( ) × (20) and components used in the experimental prototype are shown
( ) = ( ) × (21) in Table 1.
The measured waveforms under full load = 300 are
2) Switching Loss demonstrated. The PWM signal, switch current and voltage
Switch S: The switching loss of switch is calculated by (22), waveforms are shown in Fig. 7. The input current and voltage
where is the switching frequency, and are rise and across the diode are shown in Fig. 8. The output voltage and
the voltage across are shown in Fig. 9. The maximum voltage
fall time of the switch. stress on main power switch is 60 V. Fig. 7 shows that leakage
1 energy is transferred to output through , when the switch is
( ) = [ ×
2 turned off. The small voltage spike is due to internal parasitic
(22)
+ × ] capacitance of switch. The waveforms demonstrate the
consistency with theoretical analysis and simulation results.
Diodes: The coupled inductor alleviated the reverse recovery The experimental conversion efficiency with a comparison
issue of diodes. The switching loss of diodes is very small and of the loss model analysis is shown in Fig. 10. They follow the
has not included in the loss model. same trend even though the practical system shows lower
3) Core Loss
The core losses are calculated by (23), where K and are
taken from the datasheet of the core.
( ) = (∆ ) (23)
where ∆ is peak flux density, is a cross sectional area of
core and is the mean path length of the core.
A model is built according to these equations. The losses of
each component are shown in Fig. 5. This loss contribution may
vary according to different components model. The loss model
shows that switch is the lossiest element due to high switching
loss. The copper and core losses in coupled inductor contribute
the second major portion of power loss. These two components
contribute a major portion to power loss. The losses in other
components are relatively low, as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 6. Experimental setup in the laboratory

TABLE 1
DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENTS AND KEY CIRCUIT PARAMETERS
Description Parameters Nominal Values
Input Voltage 30 V
Output Voltage 380 V
Output Power 300 W
Duty Cycle 0.5
Switching Frequency 100 kHz
Magnetizing Inductance 50 μH
Turns Ratio 10.82
Coupled Inductor Ferrite ETD-44
Switch IRF135B203 135 V, 129 A
Diode C4D08120A 1200 V, 12 A
Diode MBR40250 250 V, 40 A
Capacitor 68 μF/ 400 V
Capacitor 470 μF/450 V
Fig. 5. Loss contribution at a rated power of 300 W


 S:10 V/div

Vo:100 V/div
vds :30 V/div
VC1:100 V/div

isw:20 A/div Time: 2.5 μs/div

Fig. 9. Experimental results: Output voltage and the voltage across capacitor

96
Measured Efficiency
Time: 2.5 μs/div 95.5 Model Efficiency

Fig. 7. Experimental results: PWM signal, switch voltage and current waveform
95
Efficiency (%)

S:10 V/div 94.5

94

93.5
iin:20 A/div
93
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Output Power (W)

vD2:30 V/div Fig. 10. Comparison of measured and model conversion efficiency

are listed out in Table II. The peak efficiency is 95.15% at =

85 W. The full-load efficiency is 93.75%.

η = 0.04 × % + 0.05 × % + 0.12 ×

% + 0.21 × % + 0.53 × % + 0.05 × (24)
%

Time: 2.5 μs/div

Fig. 8. Experimental results: PWM signal, input current, and the voltage across η = 0.03 × % + 0.06 × % + 0.13 ×
the diode + 0.10 × + 0.48 ×
% % % + 0.20 × (25)
%
conversion efficiency than the theoretical analysis. The output
power of renewable energy sources is not constant and vary
TABLE 2
according to environmental conditions. Therefore, the
DIFFERENT MEASURED EFFICIENCIES
California Energy Commission efficiency (CEC) and European Efficiency Value
Efficiency (EU) are measured to evaluate the performance of Peak 95.15%
the proposed converter for renewable energy sources Full load 93.75%
applications, which are expressed in (24) and (25), respectively. European Efficiency (EU) 94.58%
The % represents the conversion efficiency measured at % California Energy Commission Efficiency (CEC) 94.41%
of rated output power. The different measured efficiency values


 IV. CONCLUSION
This paper has proposed a single switch, non-isolated, high
step-up DC-DC converter to interface renewable energy
sources. The loss analysis is performed in detail and compared
with experimental results. A prototype circuit rated 300 W
output power operating at switching frequency of 100 kHz, with
30 V input voltage and 380 V output voltage, is built and tested
in the laboratory. The switch voltage stress is reduced to 1/6 of
the output voltage. The experimental results show that
converter can achieve high step-up gain and high efficiency.
The peak efficiency is 95.15%. The converter has shown the
advantage of low cost, high-efficiency, and low voltage stress.
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