High step up DC–DC converter with low conduction losses and reduced switching losses

Abstract This article presents a novel high step up converter based on the active switch inductor (ASL) technique for renewable energy source applications. The coupled inductor technique provides an opportunity to increase the gain. The proposed converter exploited the leakage inductors to provide zero current switching (ZCS) turn‐on for both switches. Therefore, there is no need for an auxiliary circuit, which simplifies the structure. Also, all diodes turn off under ZCS, which eliminates the reverse recovery problem and results in reduced switching losses. The energy of the leakage inductor is recycled, and the voltage spike on the switches is limited. In addition, all semiconductor voltage stresses are clamped below the output voltage. Hence, components with lower on‐resistance can be utilized to reduce conduction loss. Because of the reduction in power loss, the efficiency rises to 97.2% at 250 W output power. It also benefits from the current sharing of the interleaved structure. The operating principles, design considerations, and comparison to other topologies are discussed. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter, a prototype converter with 250 W of output power, 50 V of input voltage, 500 V of output voltage, and 100 kHz of switching frequency is implemented.