A Novel Boost Converter for Low Power Photo-Voltaic Harvesters

The Coupling inductors have been utilized to increase and extend the output voltage of the boost converter. This paper introduces a novel converter using a conventional boost converter combined with a coupled inductor. The proposed approach facilitates the operating condition of the power harvesting during strong overcasts by improving the efficiency and output voltage concurrently. It responds to a wide range of overcasts and functions as an efficient harvester with an improved output current in Continuous Current Mode (CCM). A prototype was implemented and successfully tested to verify the proposed topology. An efficiency of 91% is retained for the harvester during a partial overcast with a single stage converter.