An isolated multiport DC-DC converter for simultaneous power management of multiple renewable energy sources

This paper proposes a new isolated multiport DC-DC converter for simultaneous power management of multiple sources, which can be of different types and capacities. The proposed DC-DC converter only uses one controllable switch in each port to which a source is connected. Therefore, it has the advantages of simple topology and minimum number of power switches. A general topology of the proposed converter is firstly introduced. Its principle and operation are then analyzed. The proposed converter is applied for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control of a wind/solar hybrid system consisting of one wind turbine generator (WTG) and two photovoltaic (PV) panels. Simulation studies are carried out in MATLAB Simulink to validate the proposed converter and the MPPT control of the wind/solar hybrid system by using real wind speed and solar radiation data obtained from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Experimental results are then provided to further validate the effectiveness of using the proposed converter to achieve MPPT simultaneously for WTG and both PV panels.