Analysis and Experimental Validation of Single-Phase Cascaded Boost AC-AC Converter with High Voltage Gain

This article presents a single-phase cascaded AC-AC converter with boosting capability for power-quality issues. A high voltage gain can be obtained based on the number of cascaded units. The basic construction of one unit in the cascaded connection requires only two four-quadrant switches with a low-voltage rating. The performance features for the topology are a unity power factor that is close to unity on the input side, high steady-state performance, and fast dynamic response. The operation modes and mathematical model for the topology are presented. An appropriate PI-based control method/strategy is created, so the converter may continue to run while attaining the desired voltage gain, even if one of the cascaded units fails. The control circuit's ability to maintain the continuity of matching the input current waveform with the input voltage waveform allows a decrease in the THD with different operating conditions. Moreover, the ability to solve a dead time problem carried out by the control circuit leads to a reduction in voltage stress. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed technique were demonstrated via a computer simulation using MATLAB/Simulink. Moreover, an experimental setup for the system was built in the laboratory to validate the practicability of the system, which was tested under different conditions. The good agreement obtained between the theoretical and experimental results endorses the validity of the designed circuit.