[kwantam]

Yes, dc/dc conversion is definitely applicable in high-power applications. As one example, high-voltage DC power transmission [1] is in widespread use globally, and always requires a dc/dc conversion step for connection to local grids. In addition to dc/dc conversion during transmission, converting from DC to AC (known as inversion) uses essentially the same techniques.

To answer your question more directly: stepping a battery's output to 10 kV is a good example of an application that would almost always be done with a dc/dc converter in an industrial application.

(Aside: "without an AC step" is slightly tricky. If by AC you mean 50 or 60 Hz, definitely can and should be avoided. But AC is generally used to refer to any non-constant voltage or current, and if that's what you mean then the answer is no since a dc/dc converter works by switching, which by definition means there's some sinusoidal voltage somewhere in the circuit.)

(Source: I used to design integrated circuits for industrial control.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current

[algo_trader]

> almost always be done with a dc/dc converter in an industrial application.

thanks. lots of good details in this thread.

> if by AC you mean 50 or 60 Hz, definitely can and should be avoided.

Yes, i meant avoiding the maintenance and losses of an actual transformer