ECE MS Thesis Defense: Anran Wei

MS Thesis Defense: A soft-switching non-inverting buck-boost converter

Anran Wei

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Abstract: There are numerous applications in which DC-DC converters with wide range of voltage gain are required. Non-inverting buck-boost converter is a classical topology that can provide wide range of voltage conversion and bidirectional power transfer; thus, it is frequently used in industrial applications. However, the conventional hard-switching configuration, which transfers power through a link inductor, can only reach a high voltage conversion ratio at the expense of low efficiency due to switching loss. This thesis proposes a soft switching non-inverting buck-boost converter. This converter uses a small film capacitor in parallel with the link inductor to provide zero voltage switching (ZVS) by allowing the link capacitor and link inductor resonate between power transfer states. Principles of the operation of this converter are presented in this thesis and its performance is evaluated through simulations and experiments.