Analysis, Design, and Performance Evaluation of Differential-Mode Y-Source Converters for Voltage Spikes Mitigation

Impedance source converters (ISC) based on the magnetic coupling can enhance their voltage gains by maintaining lower shoot-through duty ratios and reduced passive component count. However, the nonzero leakage inductance in the practical ISC generates high switching voltage spikes resulting in poor voltage regulation. Therefore, an absorbing circuit with additional components is crucial to reduce these voltage spikes and to absorb the energy stored in leakage inductances. This article presents a family of differential-mode Y-source converters (DMYSCs) as an alternative to the latest Y-source converter that mitigates the switching voltage spikes without increasing the number of components. The proposed converters DMYSC-I, DMYSC-II, and improved Γ-type Y-source converter are derived from the original Y-source impedance network by altering the winding orientation. In this article, the respective topologies with their working principles are studied and the characteristics are compared with other Y-source converters. Simulation and experimental results have confirmed the abilities of the proposed converters to mitigate their switching voltage spikes.