A Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converter with Variable Number of Voltage Gains and Fault-Tolerant Operation

Abstract

This paper presents research results of voltage gain number control methods of a power electronic resonant zero-current switching dc-dc switched-capacitor (SC) voltage multiplier (SCVM) in a topology with fault tolerance capability (FSCVM). The converters operated under the basic switching patterns are constant-voltage-gain dc-dc series-parallel resonant SC converters. However, this paper presents a method for the output voltage regulation by a special switching strategy. A variable voltage gain is made possible by selecting the number of active switching cells, using an appropriate control method. This creates a set of voltage ratio ranges. In addition, the proposed topology and method of control enable a fault-tolerant operation of the FSCVM under various failures of the device. The paper presents an analysis of the concept, simulation results and an experimental verification in a three-cell FSCVM dc-dc resonant boost converter operating at a 200-watt charge. Issues regarding the selection of components related to the problem of inrush currents that can occur during the voltage ratio increase are also analyzed in this paper, and the design for low inrush currents is demonstrated.