Investigation of coupled inductors in a phase interleaved boost Module-Integrated-Converter

The application of coupled vs. non-coupled inductors in a phase-interleaved PV boost module-integrated-(MIC) converter is investigated in terms of inductor size, output voltage ripple and circuit efficiency. Reduced circuit size is the main motivation in this case whereby inductors currently dominate MIC size. Interleaved inductors provide one step towards size reduction by enabling current ripple cancellation at the converter input and output, so that the size of capacitors is significantly reduced. Further reduction in inductor size is demonstrated through the application of coupled inductors, in which two-phase inductors share the same core, to provide the same effective inductance as two larger non-coupled phase inductors.