Design of a multistage 0.1/12 kV DC-DC matrix converter using Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier topology

A transformer-less high-performance step-up DC-DC converter based on the Cockcroft-Walton (CW) voltage multiplier is presented in this paper. The proposed converter is suitable for low-input DC generation systems application. A low input DC voltage is boosted up in the DC-DC converter and then inverted through the proposed circuit. An n-stage CW voltage multiplier then converts the obtained AC voltage to a high DC output voltage. This circuit provides continuous input current with low ripple, high voltage gain, low switching losses, low stress on the switches, diodes and capacitors as well as improves the efficiency. The proposed circuit has two power switches which operate at two independent frequencies. One operates at high frequency to enable the use of smaller inductor while the other operates at relatively low frequency according to the desired output voltage ripple. A prototype of the proposed converter has been simulated in PSIM and finally the results are presented and discussed to confirm the effectiveness of this proposed converter.