Abstract--Synchronous buck converter based photo voltaic (PV)
energy system for portable applications is presented in this
paper; especially to charge the batteries used in mobile phones.
The main advantage of using synchronous buck converter is to
reduce the switching loss in the main MOSFET over conventional
dc-dc buck converter. The switching loss is minimized by
applying soft switching techniques such as zero-voltage switching
(ZVS) and zero-current switching (ZCS) in the proposed
converter. Thus the cost effective solution is obtained; especially
in the design of heat sink in the dc-dc converter circuit. The DC
power extracted from the PV energy system is synthesized and
modulated through synchronous buck converter in order to suit
the load requirements. The characteristic of PV array is studied
under different values of temperature and solar irradiation.
Further, the performance of such converter is analyzed and
compared with classical dc-dc buck converter in terms of
switching loss reduction and improved converter efficiency. The
whole system is studied in the MATLAB-Simulink environment.