A Review of Single Switch 3-Port Converters

This review paper examines single switch three port converters (SSC) for off grid solar/battery/load applications. By combining the traditional cascaded buck, boost or buck/boost DC/DC converters and combining the switches, the single switch topology can be realized. The selection of which of these converters to cascade depends upon the specifications required for the circuit. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM) is used to regulate the single switch to perform the required circuit operations. The advantage of the single switch design is fewer components, lower cost, improved reliability and efficiency.