Isolated high-efficiency DC/DC converter for photovoltaic applications

While an increasing number of photovoltaic (PV) systems is installed, those systems typically use central inverters. In practical cases, output-power differences between PV modules will cause these central-inverter-based systems not to achieve Maximum Power Point (MPP) for each PV module. Furthermore, central-inverter-based systems feature limited modularity and single point-of-failure properties. These issues are, among other issues, addressed by the de-central inverter systems. The (patent pending) DC/DC stage topology presented in this paper has been developed to overcome issues that are experienced with the flyback and forward stages that are typically used for these de-central inverters and achieves very high efficiencies across the whole converter power range. A prototype has been built to verify the operation and shows promising results.