The post explains a voltage high current doubler circuit which will almost double the voltage that's been applied at the input (up to 15V max), and also it becomes specifically useful since it allows higher current loads to be used at the output, in the order 10 amps.
Since the voltage doubler circuit explained here is able to handle high current loads, the design becomes ideally applicable for raising solar panel voltages when there's no adequate amount of sun light incident on the panels.
Simulation and Working
Looking at the given circuit diagram, let's assume we apply a 12V at the input of the circuit, the output would generate a potential of around 22V.
The circuit initiates its functioning when IC1a, R2 and C2 starts generating rectangular waves.
This signal also reaches at the output of IC1d, albeit in an inverted mode.
The presence of R2, C2 delays the output of IC1a which causes the output of IC1b to attain less than 0.5 duty factor, resulting in a waveform where the negative half may be shorter than the positive half).
The above also becomes true at the output of IC1c, were the input data is delayed with the help of C7, R5.
The output from IC1c which is in an inverted form is further buffered thrice via IC3f, IC3a and the gates in parallel IC3b-----IC3c.
The output from the above is finally used for driving the power mosfets.
The transistor T1 is driven from the output of IC1b..... when T1 is ON, the point between R6, R7 attains a 2V potential, however since IC2a requires a 11 to 22V input, the negative potential for this chip is plucked from the positive of the input voltage, because the supply voltage and the collector of T1 is already subjected with the doubled voltage.
D1 is introduced to guarantee that the input to IC2a never drops below 10.5 V.
During the conduction periods of T1, T2 and T3 conduct alternately.
When T2 is switched ON, C10 gets charged with voltage equal to the input supply voltage through T3 and D3.
When T2 is turned OFF, and T3 gets ON, C9 goes through identical process as C10 above. However C10 holds the charge due to the presence of D3 which stops it from discharging.
Because the two capacitors are in series, the net voltage now attains a level that's almost twice that of the applied input voltage.
One interesting thing here is, since the circuit involves many inverting stages and also a few delay networks, the output mosfets can NEVER conduct together which makes the circuit extremely safe with the operations.
C1 buffers the input applied voltage in order to load the input with constant power irrespective of the varying current parameters across the output.
The components which are marked with dashed circles need to be appropriately cooled by adding large heatsinks to them.
Pat McGuire says
Swagatam
Thanks for posting this design. I am interested in using it to overdrive a 12v nominal permanent magnet motor to increase speed. Only need it to run for 10-15 seconds. But need 10 amps.
Two questions:
How will it behave driving an inductive load?
Do you have a parts list?
Thx
Pat
Swag says
Hi Pat, sorry this type of voltage doublers won’t be able to handle even anything near 1 amp, so 10 amp may be out of question, however you can try the following option which could fulfill your requirement
https://homemade-circuits.com/simple-dc-to-dc-high-current-voltage/
Q2Driver says
12VDC to 18VDC high current amplifier with 80 Amp output – Do you have a high current circuit in the range of 20 to 80 Amps?
We are in the design choice phase of this project, so a couple of possibilities are;
1) The application could be driven by a 6 volt battery in series with the 12 volt vehicle battery/alternator. A grouping of 6 volt lithium-type batteries could be dynamically switched (regrouped) to 12 volts for recharging from the 12 volt vehicle alternator and then, "on demand", used in series with the vehicle 12 volt vehicle battery to supply the required 18 volts, or preferably,
2) Use a 12 to 18 volt "charge pump" converter that would eliminate the need for the extra batteries and complex switching circuitry. Multiple circuits in parallel could be used to generate the 80 Amps.
The 12 volt supply is a single mobile vehicle battery with a conventional alternator keeping the 12 volt battery charged. We appreciate that this current draw is beyond the capacity of the alternator to "keep up" during the short-term demand, but that is acceptable since this demand will be infrequent so the main 12 volt battery won't become discharged.
Swagatam says
You can probably do it with the first circuit shown in the following article
https://homemade-circuits.com/2015/10/calculating-inductor-value-in-smps.html
for the inductor you can use just a few turns may be 3 to 4 turns by winding many thin enameled copper wires together over a ferrite rod.
the 0.6 ohm and the BC547 can be eliminated.
the TIP122 will need to be replaced with any 30V/100amp mosfet N-channel.
the frequency and the PWM may be tweaked for getting the best possible outcome as suggest in the article.
the mosfet will require a large heatsink
DeEpak says
deepakrajbar241@gmail.com
if u have a 24 volt 35 amp. to step up the dc voltage
DC-DC voltage doubler 24v- 48v
35 amp.
Swag says
when you boost voltage the current will drop, so it cannot be 48V 35 amp, it will be 48V, 17 amp
Sadiqul Alam says
Dear Mr. Swagatam,
Your circuit is great, but I need a booster circuit which can give me 5v and at least 1A current from a Li-ion batt (3.7v 2200 ma). Would you please give me any suggestion to make that circuit?
Swagatam says
Dear Sadiqul,
you can try the first circuit from the following link:
https://homemade-circuits.com/2015/11/make-this-power-bank-circuit-using-37v.html
a2b2 says
Hi Swagatam,
Is there a way to modify existing laptop AC>DC charger so that it will have input 12DC (tobe use in car)? FYI laptop model HP EliteBook 2530p, charger output 18.5V 3.5A, 65W. Thanks.
Swagatam says
Hi a2b2,
Sorry there's no way to modify the charger, rather you can use or make a 12V to 220V inverter circuit and then use its output to feed the charger input
Fukin Blac Itai says
part number of components used?
Justin Fortin says
Thank you for the great circuit. I have a 12v 10A power supply that I need to get a little more voltage out of it. I would like to use the entire 10A however. Would this circuit be possible to modify to make 15 or 16v output from 12v? Thanks!
Swagatam says
Sorry that isn't feasible with any circuit. A higher voltage from a lower voltage source can be acquired only by sacrificing a proportionate amount of current such that the V x I value always remains equal.
Anonymous says
thanks for your time and effort that you have put so far
i want to know if the circuit can actually increase the power output from the panel or just simply increase voltage while the current drops.
If the power remains the same, don't you think that the charging rate of the panel will remain the same irrespective of the voltage that is boosted because charging is done by both current and voltage and not just voltage. which i think is power
Swagatam says
power will always remien same for input and output, so here the current is dropped for boosting voltage.
If the current level after the drop matches the battery charging rate, then it will charge the battery optimally.
Anonymous says
You should give credit to the original author. I saw that circuit published in a Elektor electronics book. Even worst you added your watermark !
Swagatam says
Nowhere I have mentioned that's it's my creation, in fact there are quite a few diagrams which I have borrowed from Elektor electronics and I have expressed it in those particular articles.
All explanations are completely mine though, so may be while writing the post I missed the credit completely, because for me making the new hobbyists learn about any concept is too important and folks here are appreciating me a lot for that.
I have added the water mark so that others do not pick it from here easily, because already hundreds of my original creations have been scraped online by different spam sites.
If you have the name of the author you can provide it to me I will make sure it gets credited appropriately.
Jad Issa says
Sorry for the length.
Hello Swagatam, I want to make a circuit in which I have a solar panel, a 12v rechargeable battery, and LED lights. LEDs should light up when there is no light in the room. Before you read my idea try to make a circuit that gives this service.
My idea(very long! :D. Sorry I can't add an image)
I tried to make a circuit where the positive end of the solar panel is connected to a diode then to the positive end of the battery but the negative end of it is connected directly to the battery, after I had connected the positive end of the battery to some sort of voltage divider where the second resistor would be a photodiode and then I connected to the wire that joins the first resistor (1 kohm) with the photodiode the LEDs. The negative node of the LEDs was connected to the negative end of the battery and the same thing was to the the phototdiode. Then I realised that I am wasting energy even when the LEDs are off.
Can you help me! Please!
Swagatam says
Thanks Jad!
I think the following circuit would fit your requirement:
https://homemade-circuits.com/2013/03/simplest-automatic-led-solar-light.html
Jad Issa says
Thanks a lot mister Swagatam. 🙂
Jad Issa says
Here the transistor should be a field effect transistor. Right?
Swagatam says
Right.
sampath p says
Hi
Can you give give me a circuit diagram of a booster circuit with DC i/p voltage varying from 1.5v to 3.3 volts 0.5amps to DC o/p of 9v 0.5 amps
Swagatam says
Hi, boosted voltage with same current output is never possible…
sampath p says
ok!!can you tell me the variation in current when we have the same i/p as mentioned above??
Swagatam says
you may calculate the output current by dividing the input wattage by output voltage…it would be a little less than the calculated result.
sampath p says
thanks for the reply!!But can i have a basic circuit diagram of the booster circuit???it would be really helpful…
Swagatam says
you may refer to the following circuit, you may have to modify the output winding for getting the specified output:
https://homemade-circuits.com/2012/10/1-watt-led-driver-using-joule-thief.html
Arun says
Hi swagatam i want to drive 25 3.4 20 ma leds in series with 6 v sla please post the circuit
Swagatam says
Hi Arun,
For driving 25 nos leds would require a boost converter which would be unnecessarily complicated. instead you may connect all of them in parallel with 120 ohm resistor with each led.
Vaibhao Ingle says
hi, this circuit can give constant voltage and current?
Swagatam says
It will depend on the input voltage, if it changes then the output would also change.