A Critical Comparison of the Cuk and the Sheppard–Taylor Converter

Abstract

The use of and interest in renewable energy have increased in recent years due to the environmental impact of the technologies currently used to generate electricity. Switched converters play a fundamental role in renewable energy systems. The main goal is to manipulate the output signal of the renewable energy source to meet the requirements of different loads. Therefore, the increase in research on renewable energy sources has resulted in an increase in studies on switched converters. However, many DC–DC converters can be used in a particular application, and there is no clear guidance on which converter to use. The choice of whether to use one converter over another is highly reliant on the expertise of the researcher. Two examples of DC–DC converters are the Sheppard–Taylor converter and the Cuk converter. In this work, a critical comparison is made between these converters. The parameters considered in this comparison are the number of components, gain, stress on parts, and others. The simulation results were obtained to evaluate the performance of the converters in different scenarios. Finally, we conclude that the only application for which the use of the Sheppard–Taylor converter is justified are those that require high specific power and power density.