A survey on voltage boosting techniques for step-up DC-DC converters

Step-up DC-DC converters are used to boost the voltage level of the input to a higher output level. Despite of its features such as simplicity of implementation, the fundamental boost DC-DC converter has shortcomings such as low boost ability and low power density. With these limitations, researches on new voltage boosting techniques are inevitable for various power converter applications. This can be achieved either by additional magnetic or by electric field storage elements with switching elements (switch and/or diode) in different configurations. Such combination of primary voltage boosting techniques and topologies are large, which at times may be confusing and difficult to follow/adapt for different applications. Considering these aspects and in order to make a clear sketch of the general law and framework of various voltage boosting techniques, this paper comprehensively reviews different voltage boosting techniques and categorizes them according to their circuit performance.