Global Journal of Researches in Engineering

This paper proposes a novel dc-dc converter called the dc-dc multilevel voltage multiplier (mvm). In general, an nx mvm can be built by using two switches, 2n-2 diodes and 2n-2 capacitors, free of magnetic components. It is based on the multilevel converters principle and designed for unidirectional power transfer applications. Each device blocks one voltage level, therefore high voltage converters can be synthesized with low voltage devices. The main advantage of this topology is the reduced number of transistors and gate drives. Possible applications have a wide range from low power silicon-based voltage multipliers to medium power level dc links for multilevel inverters based distributed generation (dg) systems, where a capacitor's voltage balancing is a challenge for more than three levels. Experimental results prove the principle of such converters.Index terms – dc-dc converter, multilevel converter, voltage multiplier.