A novel interleaved Zeta–Cuk converter for microgrid and electric vehicle applications

DC-DC converters, which are an integral part of modern electric power systems, have a quintessential role as power regulators that enhance the functioning of microgrids, PV systems and EVs. Hence, this work proposes an interleaved DC-DC converter design along with a robust MPPT technique to increase power quantity harvested from PV systems. The proposed IZCC inherits the continuous input current property from Cuk converter and non-inverted voltage polarity from Zeta converter. Moreover, the proposed IZCC operates with high voltage gain and minimum input current ripples. The converter operation is improved further using Cascaded RBFNN-based MPPT technique. The simulation model of the proposed IZCC and Cascaded RBFNN MPPT is developed in MATLAB and is verified for its accountability under operating conditions variations. Additionally, 1 kW FPGA Spartan 6E controller-based prototype of IZCC is also designed and executed to ascertain the credibility of the proposed approach. On studying the results and comparative analysis, it is noted that the proposed IZCC functions with an outstanding power conversion efficiency of 97.80%.