MS student Zitao Liao with advisor Pilawa-Podgurski

Figure 20: A GaN-based 7-level flying capacitor multilevel boost converter prototype

Compact high step-up dc/dc conversion to provide high dc voltage has numerous applications. A conventional boost converter has many limitations with regard to achieving high voltage gain with high power density and efficiency. The flying capacitor multilevel (FCML) converter topology has inherent advantages to overcome many of the limitations of the conventional boost converter. A GaN-based 7-level flying capacitor multilevel boost converter prototype shown in Figure 20, has been implemented and achieved 100 V to 1 kV conversion with 820 W maximum output power and 94.1 % peak efficiency within the tested load range. High power density and efficiency are achieved by optimizing flying capacitor size, diode reverse recovery loss, and so on. This research was supported by Google, Inc.