New gate control technique for ripple reduction in renewable energy DC-DC converter

Abstract

Recently, as global warming and environmental issues have emerged, interest in renewable energy sources such as fuel cells and photovoltaics has increased. In the case of renewable energy, a DC-DC converter is required when connected to the system due to intermittent power generation. Recently, various studies have been aimed at improving the performance of DC-DC converters interconnected to renewable energy. However, in previous studies, the effect of dead time on the performance or operation of the power converter was neglected. In DC-DC converters, dead time is essential to prevent shoot-through, but due to the effect of this dead time, the converter's performance or operation might be degraded. For example, input current ripple increases in a DC-DC converter for a fuel cell system, and output voltages are unbalanced in a voltage balancer-integrated DC-DC converter for photovoltaics. In this study, the dead time effect on DC-DC converters interconnected to renewable energy is analyzed, and a new gate control technique is proposed to mitigate the dead time effect.