Design and Modeling of a High Current Ratio Converter for PV Applications

In photovoltaic systems, the use of DC/DC converter is necessary to provide wide transformation ranges on voltages and currents, as well as, the capacity to supply currents higher or lower than the supply current provided by the photovoltaic modules. Another aspect that converters must satisfy is associated with load consumption requirements such as high current levels for applications such as LED lighting, electric cars and battery banks. However, high currents lead to higher conduction losses. Other requirement in these systems is to assure that power processing by the converter be performed efficiently. This paper proposes the use of switched converter based on the Reduced Redundant Power Processing (R2P2) concept to satisfying high current levels and low voltages in a photovoltaic system, where the input provided by the photovoltaic panels is maintained continuous. Here, the design procedure converter is developed and the description of the operation modes during the switching process, as well as, the average model. The results obtained by simulation and experimental measurements are presented.