Noncascading Quadratic Buck-Boost Converter for Photovoltaic Applications

The development of switching converters to perform with the power processing of photovoltaic (PV) applications has been a topic receiving growing interest in recent years. This work presents a nonisolated buck-boost converter with a quadratic voltage conversion gain based on the I–IIA noncascading structure. The converter has a reduced component count and it is formed by a pair of L–C networks and two active switches, which are operated synchronously to achieve a wide conversion ratio and a quadratic dependence with the duty ratio. Additionally, the analysis using different sources and loads demonstrates the differences in the behavior of the converter, as well as the pertinence of including PV devices (current sources) into the analysis of new switching converter topologies for PV applications. In this work, the voltage conversion ratio, steady-state operating conditions and semiconductor stresses of the proposed converter are discussed in the context of PV applications. The operation of the converter in a PV scenario is verified by experimental results.