A comparative performance study of an interleaved boost converter using commercialized Si and SiC diodes for PV applications

A performance comparison of an interleaved boost converter (IBC) using Si and SiC diodes for PV energy conversion systems is presented in this paper. Performance attributes under investigation include the device behavior, thermal requirement, system efficiency and power density. The interleaved boost converter is designed for sustaining the dc link voltage in the energy conversion system. Due to the absence of reverse recovery current in SiC Schottky diodes, low switching loss is generated in the diodes and the switches. This benefit causes higher system efficiency and lower cooling system design requirement. As a benefit, the volume and weight of the heatsink can be further reduced. Furthermore, behaviors of semiconductors and steady-state characteristics of IBC are discussed in the paper. The validity of the analyses is confirmed experimentally by using a 2.5 kW IBC prototype with wide power and input voltage operating range.