Quadratic boost converter based on stackable switching stages

The authors propose a novel step-up converter with stackable switching stages that is suitable for renewable energy applications. On the one hand, the converter gain corresponds to that of the traditional quadratic boost converter, achieving an arbitrary exponential gain in extended configurations. On the other hand, the proposed converter requires a single switch, while the output voltage is partitioned among several capacitors. As argued in this work, the features of the proposed topology represent a significant contribution with respect to standard topologies that exhibit greater voltage stress. The operation principle and the main characteristics of the proposed converter are validated with experimental results.