A Sensorless Open-Circuit Fault Identification Method for Interleaved Boost Converter

The interleaved dc-dc converter is widely used for its low current ripple and voltage ripple, alongside high-energy conversion efficiency. However, open-circuit faults (OCFs) will increase current and voltage ripple while reducing energy conversion efficiency. Therefore, the OCF identification is very significant. Most current fault diagnosis methods typically depend on current sensors to obtain current information, elevating diagnostic costs. Consequently, this article introduces a cost effective, sensorless OCF identification method using the step change in output voltage at specific sampling moments in the interleaved boost converter (IBC). It is proved that the ratio of output voltage step value serves as an indicator for the phase current relationships. Therefore, the output voltage is only used to locate the OCF, avoiding any current sensor. Both simulation and hardware experiments verify the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed method.