Multiple Input-Terminal Voltage Multiplier Circuit

Voltage multipliers (VMs) are widely used in applications with high-voltage-gain rectifiers and dc/dc converters with the capability of increasing voltage conversion ratio. Currently, all the existing VM circuits are designed with two input-terminals, while optimal design on voltage conversion ratio and voltage stress on semiconductor devices of the converters with VMs can be achieved by varying the number of basic VM units. However, as the fixed number of its input-terminals and thus the current stress on semiconductor devices are not adjustable at the design stage, such circuits have limited applications in today's high-power energy conversion systems. In order to address such drawbacks of the conventional VMs, a multiple input-terminal VM (MIVM) circuit is proposed in this paper. Analysis of the operation principles and the performance characteristics of the proposed MIVM circuit are presented in detail. As an example, the application of the MIVM with traditional boost converters is presented and discussed, and the efficacy of the theoretical analysis is validated experimentally.