access icon openaccess DC–DC converter with a high step-down ratio for water desalination applications

This is an open access article published by the IET under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/)
Received 21/06/2018, Accepted 27/07/2018, Published 22/01/2019

A single-stage 600 : 1 ratio voltage step-down dc–dc converter designed to produce a voltage of between 1 and 1.5 V from a rectified single/three-phase AC supply, for application in a desalination process, is presented. A coupled-inductor design is used, and a novel snubber circuit with energy recovery manages the effects of imperfect coupling (leakage) between the coupled windings. The circuit, which is bidirectional, allows for the power devices to be rated for either high current or high voltage. This presents significant cost and performance advantages compared to a conventional single-stage buck converter where such a large step-down ratio would require a small duty ratio and components with high ratings for both voltage and current: in this case, ratings of 1200 V to withstand input dc voltage switching, and 1000 A to deliver the output current, would be required.

Inspec keywords: inductors; rectifiers; desalination; DC-DC power convertors; snubbers; switching convertors

Other keywords: desalination process; 1 ratio voltage step-down; current 1000.0 A; water desalination applications; dc–dc converter; voltage 1200.0 V; high current voltage; duty ratio; coupled windings; imperfect coupling; coupled-inductor design; high ratings; single-stage buck converter; rectified single/three-phase AC supply; high step-down ratio; voltage switching

Subjects: Power applications in water treatment and supply; AC-DC power convertors (rectifiers); DC-DC power convertors

References

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http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/joe.2018.8039
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