In this competition of Experimenting with Magnetic Components, I want to experiment with EMI Filter,  DC-DC buck converter, and Interleaved boost converter.

What is Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)?

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a disturbance caused by an electromagnetic field that impedes the proper performance of an electrical device. Any device that has electronic circuitry can be susceptible to EMI. With the ever-increasing use of the electromagnetic spectrum and the more complex and sophisticated electronic devices, issues of EMI are attracting attention. EMI can come from man-made or natural sources such as the sun or the Earth’s magnetic fields. But most of the EMI which causes trouble for precision research applications is caused by stray magnetic or electrical fields generated by machinery or electrical equipment.

What is a Buck Converter?

A buck or step-down converter is a DC/DC switch-mode power supply that is intended to buck (or lower) the input voltage of an unregulated DC supply to a stabilized lower output voltage. Buck converters are, especially compared to traditional voltage regulators, widely valued for their extremely high efficiencies which can easily exceed 95%.

What is a Boost Converter

A boost or step-up DC-DC converter is a power converter that has a higher DC voltage at the output than at the input. The basic DC-DC boost converter is preferred for PV applications. This is due to the topology of this converter. The inductor in the input side reduces the ripple in the current drawn from PV and hence its losses. Moreover, the diode in the basic cell protects the PV module from reverse current. However, for a reduced ripple level in the PV current, a volumetric inductor has to be used. Owing to the large ripple content in the current, conventional boost converters are incompatible in applications involving high power and sophisticated low power application. Rather, the interleaved boost converter is suited for high power application due to lower ripple content in current.

What is Interleaved Boost Converter (IBC)

Multiple identical step-up converters having the same phase shift and the switching frequency are assembled parallelly to construct an interleaved boost converter. IBC has a lower ripple in input-output current and voltage waveforms. It can operate on a higher switching frequency and thus reduces loss and scale down the converter. The converter has also a lower Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). Interleaved boost converter may have multiple phases and the performance depends on the number of phases. Usually the input and output ripple of the converter decrease with the increase of phase. But at the same time, the complexity and the cost of the converter increase also increase. It is advantageous to use multi-phase IBC when the difference between input and output voltage is huge. For a typical photovoltaic application, the output voltage may be two or three times the input voltage.

What I am Going to do?

First I will design an EMI filter using the common mode chokes provided with the kits. I will test it and explain the findings. Then I will make a high voltage DC to very low voltage DC (300 V to 5 V) buck converter using the radial inductor. I will also use the previously made EMI filter with the buck converter and observe the result and will present it in my blog. Finally I will made an interleaved boost converter with multiple inductors and observe the result. For both buck and boost converters, I will try to find the effect of the inductor's value on the output voltage and current.

Who am I?

I am an electrical engineer and currently working as an assistant professor at the University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka, Bangladesh in the department of electrical and electronics engineering. I have more than 10 years of experience in the field of electronics. I have made and published many open-source electronic projects on the internet.