Emerging Boost Converter Topologies for Renewable Energy Applications

The role of the power electronic converter is very crucial for the effective utilization of renewable energy resources. Power electronic converters are used as an interface between the renewable energy source to the utilization which can be industrial loads, utility grids and domestic loads. The main converters used with the renewable energy resources are the DC/DC converter and DC/AC converter. As the voltage magnitude of most of the renewable energy resources is low, a boost stage is required between the source and the load. Therefore, a new category of high gain DC/DC converters and DC/AC converters are required with higher reliability and efficiency.

The multilevel inverter (MLI) topology is a matured power converter and it is more suitable for medium and high voltage applications with renewable energy. Most of the multilevel inverters are employing isolated DC sources, which limits their applications. By replacing the DC source with capacitors, a significant reduction in the cost and size of the converters can be achieved. This attractive feature strives the researchers to develop the Boost Multilevel Inverters with reduced switches. The boosting feature enables the use of MLI into PV based applications. Further, the switched capacitor MLI (SCMLI) topologies need further improvement in terms of developing new additional circuits, control and modulation techniques to balance the floating capacitor voltages.

This Research Topic is intended to give an insight into the latest studies concerning the design and development of switched-capacitor topologies and other boost inverter topologies and related issues. We encourage all researchers and engineers working in this area to submit their work to this collection. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
(i) New switched capacitor multilevel inverter topologies for Renewable Energy Integration
(ii) New control, modelling, and modulation technique to balance the floating capacitor
(iii) Emerging Applications for SCMLIs
(iv) Quasi Z source boost multilevel inverters
(v) Inductor based boost inverter topology
(vi) High Frequency Boost converter topologies
(vii) Fault-Tolerant Boost Converter Topologies