A power converter system for single cell photovoltaic modules

Generally, photovoltaic (PV) modules are very sensitive to shading, particularly in urban locations. This reality is a major barrier in today´s photovoltaic technology to achieve low cost, high efficiency, and high shade-tolerant. Therefore, a new PV module using a single cell area with an input of 2 - 2.5 V and 100 A per square meter cell is a very promising solution. This paper proposes a power converter technology to raise 2.3 V, 100 A from the voltage source to 24.6 V at the DC bus using partial segmentation and phase shifting principles. The proposed converter not only provides low ripple input current, but naturally also creates a new duty cycle and increasing duty ratio capability with low conduction loss. As verified by experimental results, the converter could raise from 2.3 V dc to 24.6 V dc with duty cycle under 50%.