SWITCHING CIRCUITS FOR EXTRACTING POWER FROM AN ELECTRIC POWER SOURCE AND ASSOCIATED METHODS

摘要

An electric power system includes N electric power sources and N switching circuits, where N in an integer greater than one. Each switching circuit includes an input port electrically coupled to a respective one of the N electric power sources, an output port, and a first switching device adapted to switch between its conductive and non- conductive states to transfer power from the input port to the output port. The output ports of the N switching circuits are electrically coupled in series and to a load to establish an output circuit. Each of the N switching circuits uses an interconnection inductance of the output circuit as a primary energy storage inductance of the switching circuit.