Implementation of a Non-Isolated Three Level DC/DC Converter Suitable for High Power Systems

This paper describes the implementation of a non-isolated three-level DC/DC buck converter that is suitable for high power systems. This topology has the advantage of achieving all of the design objectives for this classification of power converters. The authors have developed, built and tested a system which utilizes a general purpose power electronic module, which can be configured via software/firmware programming and modifications to its input/output power connections to implement various types of power systems. The work behind this paper has proven the usefulness of this topology and has addressed many of the issues associated with successful implementation and commercialization. The paper describes the control implementations and simulation results compared to measured results used in tuning and commissioning of the system. The final 500 V, 100 kW system is implemented in hardware and experimental results are provided showing its performance under step load and step short circuit conditions.