Fully Soft-Switched Non-Isolated High Step-Down DC–DC Converter With Reduced Voltage Stress and Expanding Capability

In this article, a fully soft-switched expandable high step-down dc–dc converter is presented. In order to achieve a high step-down voltage conversion ratio and low component count, the synchronous buck and Cuk converters are integrated. Lower switches’ voltage stress is realized by splitting the input voltage, which can considerably decrease the switches’ conduction loss. Moreover, switching losses along with the reverse recovery problems are mitigated due to the soft-switching operation of all semiconductor devices. The switch utilized for soft-switching operation is also used to replace the output diode as a synchronous rectifier, which reduces the conduction loss. The mentioned features have considerably contributed to the converter efficiency. Furthermore, the converter shares a common ground between the input and the output, which is desirable in many applications, while the converter output current is continuous without adding current ripple cancellation methods. Finally, the number of converter cells can be expanded or reduced; therefore, the converter can be applied to a wide range of loads. The operating principles and analysis of the proposed converter are presented, and the results from the implemented prototype are provided to verify the converter operation and performance.