ABSTRACT
Conversion technique is a major research area in the field of power electronics. The equipment for conversion techniques have applications in industry, research and development, government organizations, and daily life. The equipment can be divided in four technologies:
• AC/AC transformers • AC/DC rectifiers • DC/DC converters • DC/AC inverters
According to incomplete statistics, there have been more than 500 prototypes of DC/DC converters developed in the past six decades. All existing DC/DC converters were designed to meet the requirements of certain applications. They are usually called by their function, for example, Buck converter, Boost converter and Buck-Boost converter, and zero current switching (ZCS) and zero voltage switching (ZVS) converters. The large number of DC/DC converters had not been evolutionarily classified until 2001. The authors have systematically classified the types of converters into six generations according to their characteristics and development sequence. This classification grades all DC/DC converters and categorizes new prototypes. Since 2001, the DC/DC converter family tree has been built and this classification has been recognized worldwide. Following this principle, it is now easy to sort and allocate DC/DC converters and assess their technical features.
