A nonisolated three-port DC–DC converter with continuous input and output currents based on Cuk topology for PV/fuel cell applications

Abstract

A nonisolated three-port DC–DC converter based on Cuk topology (NI-TPC) to handle the renewable sources (RS) is proposed in this paper. This converter includes two unidirectional input ports accommodating both a fuel cell (FC) and photovoltaic (PV) cell; and one output port with DC load. Due to the inductors at all the ports, it claims the advantage of continuous input and output currents. Additionally, it uses less number of switches, diodes and inductors compared with conventional ‘n-1’ separate Cuk converters. Synthesis procedure for a generalized n-port DC–DC structure is explained. The derivation law based on conventional Cuk converter, operating principle, design calculation, and analysis are presented in detail, and then the analysis is validated through simulation and a 100W prototype, verifying the performance of the proposed NI-TPC converter.