An Interleaved Multi-Phase Boost Converter with Coupled Inductors for High Power Density

To reduce the size of passive components, especially the magnetics, is one of the major challenges of boost converters operating in continuous conduction mode. This can be addressed by increasing the switching frequency, which however is infeasible in high power applications. This paper presents an interleaved multi-phase boost converter utilizing the six-pack silicon carbide (SiC) power module as a single-phase building block to triple the ripple frequency of the inductor current at the same switching frequency, hence, reducing the size of passives by three-fold and achieving higher power density while improving performance and maintaining high efficiency. In addition, planar inversely coupled inductors were designed to further decrease the inductor size and to improve the steady-state and transient performance of the boost converter. The analysis and hardware design of the converter are presented in this paper with the experimental results at full load presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed design.