Multi-Input Multistage SEPIC Converter for Contemporary Applications

Renewable Energy Sources are abundant in nature but utilization of these energies requires sophisticated techniques since these sources are erratic in nature. Electrical output of most of the Renewable Sources is variable DC and it needs to be converted in to constant DC or AC voltage for the standalone and grid connected applications. DC-DC converters are used to convert the variable DC input from Renewable Energy Sources to the constant DC voltage. SEPIC converters use a single switch to give regulated output voltage in the presence of solar energy. SEPIC converter use minimum number of active components and convert the voltage level without changing the polarity. This article proposes a three stage SEPIC converter with multiple inputs and a single switch. This will reduce the requirement of separate chopper circuit for each input. A modified Pulse Width Modulation scheme also presented for duty cycle calculation. A comparison has been made with other converters and the analysis also presented. The proposed converter has been simulated in the MATLAB/Simulink Environment and the results of the simulation have been validated by the hardware setup.