Power sharing in a double-input buck converter using dead-time control

Multi-input converters are becoming important in various renewable energy applications like wind energy, fuel cell systems, photovoltaic systems, and hybrid electric vehicles. In this paper, it is shown that in a double-input buck converter the dead-time of the switch commands along with the two duty ratios will have a direct impact on the amount of current drawn from the sources/inputs. This dead-time is used as an additional control variable apart from the switch commands to meet the control objective of meeting a constant load demand when the source currents are varying which is very common in hybrid energy systems. Theoretical derivations agree well with the simulation results. The new control method has good dynamic response and improves the speed of the system.