Review, Comparison, and Proposal for PWM Converters Integrating Differential Power Processing Converter for Small Exploration Rovers

Masatoshi Uno, Toshiki Shinohara, Yota Saito and Akio Kukita
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Masatoshi Uno: College of Engineering, Ibaraki University, Hitachi 316-8511, Japan
Toshiki Shinohara: Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota City 471-8571, Japan
Yota Saito: College of Engineering, Ibaraki University, Hitachi 316-8511, Japan
Akio Kukita: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tsukuba 305-8505, Japan

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: Partial shading often appears on photovoltaic (PV) strings installed in small space probes, such as moon exploration rovers, due to their body structures, reducing the power yield of PV strings. Such partial shading issues can be precluded by differential power processing (DPP) converters. However, in addition to a main dc-dc converter, a DPP converter is required, increasing the system complexity and cost. In this paper, several kinds of integrated pulse width modulation (PWM) converters that can reduce the system complexity thanks to the integration are reviewed and are quantitatively compared in terms of the switch and magnetic component counts, and voltage conversion ratio. Based on the comparison and consideration from the perspectives of reliability, circuit volume, and voltage conversion requirement, a single-switch single-magnetic integrated PWM converter with a resonant voltage multiplier (RVM) was selected as the best suitable topology for small exploration rovers. Furthermore, the improved version with a non-resonant voltage multiplier (NRVM) was also proposed to achieve further circuit miniaturization and improved reliability. The experimental verification tests using the proposed integrated PWM converter were performed emulating a partial-shading condition. The maximum power yield from the PV modules was improved by 11.1% thanks to the DPP function of the proposed integrated converter.

Keywords: exploration rover; integrated converter; photovoltaic module; space probe; partial shading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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