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High voltage step-down converters are very popular in distributed power systems, voltage regular modules, automatic vehicles, etc. To avoid extreme duty cycles, a series capacitor-based buck converter with a coupled inductor is proposed in this paper. In this converter, the voltage stresses of the power switches are clamped to half of the input voltage. Thus, low voltage rating MOSFETs with a low Rds,on could be utilized to improve the performance of the proposed converter. Moreover, synchronous MOSFETs are also used to reduce the conduction losses of the switches. Zero voltage switching (ZVS) for the main power switches is achieved using the coupled-inductor technique. In addition, through adding a bypass flowing path, a negative current is established to guarantee the ZVS condition of the power switches. The operating principle of the proposed converter is described in this paper, and the DC voltage gain ratio, automatic current sharing, soft switching condition and design guideline of the critical parameters are also given. Finally, experimental results obtained from a 60 V/200 W prototype are presented to verify the analysis of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]