Abstract
The design of a power electronic interface for high voltage difference DC buses is a key aspect in DC microgrid applications. A multi-port non isolated interleaved high-voltage gain bidirectional converter, which facilitates bidirectional power transfer and islanded operation in a DC microgrid, is presented in this paper. The forward high-voltage transfer ratio is achieved using a voltage multiplier circuit, and the high-gain step-down power conversion is performed using a resonant power module. A novel power transfer selection algorithm is proposed to control power flow among the interfaces of the RES, ESS, and DC grid converters, which utilizes the net power difference as the basis for switching the converter. The proposed converter is simulated for a 24 V PV source, 12 V battery, and 400 V DC grid interface using MATLAB/SIMULINK. A 200 W hardware prototype is implemented. The simulation results for voltages, currents, and power flow among RES, ESS, and microgrid DC bus proved an excellent voltage regulation, efficient power conversion, and a feasible duty cycle range with high voltage gain. These observations are validated through equivalent experimental results. A comparison is made regarding achieved gain, component sizing, achievable power transfer modes, efficiency, and control complexity with existing converters for DC microgrid applications. The presented topology proved to be a better interface with multiple-mode support with high efficiency.