Summary
This work proposes the conception of a nonisolated direct current (DC)‐DC buck‐boost converter employing the three‐state switching cell. Similarly to interleaving, it is possible to achieve higher power levels than that regarding the classical buck‐boost converter, but prominent advantages over the interleaved approach result, ie, the input current is continuous for duty ratios higher than 0.5; good current sharing is achieved without the need of special control schemes; and the active switches are connected to the same reference node as the input voltage source, as there is no need to use isolated drive circuitry. A thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis is carried for the entire range of the duty cycle D, considering that the proposed converter presents distinct behaviors for D < 0.5 and D > 0.5. An experimental prototype is developed and evaluated, while the results are discussed in detail.