Design issues for the active clamp forward converter in micro-inverter applications

Isolated high step-up ratio dc/dc converter is a key part for grid-tied micro-inverter applications. Generally speaking, active clamp forward or flyback converter could be used for isolated step-up purpose. Our study shows that active clamp forward converters are more problematic than the flyback counterparts in this high output voltage high transformer turn ratio situation. A stacked forward converter configuration was proposed to mitigate these problems while retaining the simplicity of forward converter.