Switching loss comparison between a tapped- and conventional boost converter

Power semiconductors have made enormous progress in recent years and the performance of power electronic converters has increased enormously. This is a necessary advance, especially for the electrification of vehicles. With WBG semiconductors, now it is possible to increase switching frequencies of the systems significantly and thus also reduce the volume of passive components. However high switching frequencies cause switching losses in the semiconductors, especially in hard-switching topologies, which reduce the performance of the overall system. In this paper, a switching loss reduction for a boost converter is discussed. In addition, high-gain conversion is possible with the topology discussed here. Numerous publications have discussed these issues already but switching usually focus on additional resonant networks that often shift the losses to another component. Topologies that produce a higher turns ratio with a lower duty cycle are also found in numerous designs. Here, both approaches are combined and the novel concept is analyzed by simulation and measurement. A significant reduction of turn-on losses is shown, followed by new challenges.