Efficient ZVT cell for interleaved DC–DC converters

Interleaved DC–DC converters are extensively employed in high-power applications to reduce input/output current ripple, elements current stress, and improve reliability. In order to eliminate the switching losses in interleaved converters, zero voltage transition (ZVT) technique can be used. This study presents a new compact ZVT cell appropriate for interleaved converters. This cell employs a low number of elements while imposing no extra voltage and current stresses on the converter main semiconductors. The proposed cell is applied to an interleaved boost converter to achieve full soft switching feature. The resulting ZVT interleaved boost converter is completely analysed and its design procedure is provided. Also, the converter is compared with the latest prominent counterparts presented in literature. Besides, its operation and theoretical analysis are validated by a 200 W and 100 kHz prototype. Finally, the proposed ZVT cell is applied to other types of interleaved converters and a family of ZVT interleaved converters is introduced.