Analysis of a single-phase AC-DC PFC boost converter with fast dynamic response

Buck-buck/Boost power factor correction (PFC) converter is a great choice to compensate the inherent dead zones in the input current of buck PFC converter. However, whether the converter operates with traditional constant on-time control in critical conduction mode (CRM) or with conventional constant duty-cycle control in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), the power factor (PF) is low, especially at low input voltage. Therefore, fixed on-time ratio control (FOTRC) and fixed duty-cycle ratio control (FDCRC) are proposed for CRM/DCM buck-buck/boost PFC converter to achieve high PF, respectively. Both control methods maximize PF over wide input voltage range by adjusting on-time or duty-cycle of buck/boost mode and buck mode. Compared with the traditional controls, the proposed control methods also have advantage of increasing efficiency. Furthermore, for improving dynamic response performance, smooth and rapid dynamic response control (SRDRC) is put forward, which can reduce the regulation time and output voltage overshoot/undershoot when the load or input voltage changes abruptly. In addition, the implementation circuits combining FOTRC/FDCRC and SRDRC are designed. Two prototypes have been built and tested in the lab to demonstrate the validity of the theoretical analysis.

Power Factor Correction (PFC) converter is a key component in modern switching power supplies, while high efficiency and high power density are the main goals of PFC converter. In this paper, taking a single-phase Boost circuit as an example, a PFC converter with 300 kHz switching frequency and 1 kW output power which is based on continuous inductor current (CCM) mode is designed to reduce the volume of the core component and improve the power density of the converter. The paper includes the detailed design of the boost inductor, the analysis of the loss of the inductor at high frequency operation and the loss of the PFC converter. Finite element analysis is used to verify that the winding loss can be reduced by taking multi-strand wire winding. New semiconductor devices CoolMOS and SiC are employed which can reduce the loss effectively. The experimental results are provided which demonstrate that the employ of SiC diode and multi-strand wire winding can enable enhanced performance on efficiency.

In this paper, a series-capacitor-based interleaving buck power factor correction (PFC) converter is proposed, the intermediate energy storage capacitance of which is operated at discontinuous capacitor voltage mode (DCVM), and automatic power factor (PF) correction for this converter is obtained. Moreover, the voltage across the series capacitor of the proposed PFC converter is clamped at the input voltage, and thus peak voltage stress existed in the traditional DCVM buck PFC could be relieved. By effectively regulating the charge/discharge time for the series capacitor, ultrahigh step-down conversion ratio of the proposed converter is achieved, the conversion ratio of which is independent of the duty cycle and only related to the switching frequency and circuit parameters. Therefore, high PF can be obtained due to very narrow deadtime of the input current. Meanwhile, the proposed PFC converter can realize the soft turn- on of part power switch and soft turn- off of part power diodes. In addition, comparing with the traditional discontinuous inductor current mode PFC, the input current of the proposed PFC converter is continuous so that the peak value and root-mean-square value of input current can be reduced. The operational principle, performance analysis, and parameter design principle are given in this paper. The analysis results show that the PF and total harmonic distortion are also independent of the duty cycle. Finally, a 220-Vac input, 60 W/15 V output experimental prototype is built to verify the validity of the theoretical analysis.

This study aims to investigate the frequency spectral characteristics of a simplified active power factor correction (APFC) converter. The proposed model is developed to predict harmonics present in both common mode and differential mode of the APFC converter up to 150 kHz. The proposed model is verified through simulation in MATLAB/Simulink. Both simulation and model are validated by experiments. The findings in this study can contribute significantly to understand the behavior of both harmonics and supraharmonics in APFC systems and aid in designing effective filters for mitigating their negative effects on both low frequency and high frequency power quality.

This manuscript deals about the configuration of a power factor correction (PFC) converter feeding a drive of brushless DC (BLDC) motor for medium and low power equipment. The front-end PFC converter working in discontinuous inductor current mode (DICM) is applied for regulating the DC link voltage and PFC is achieved inherently. The BLDC motor speed is adjusted by regulating the DC link voltage of voltage source inverter (VSI) feeding to motor. The DC link voltage of drive system is maintained by a single DC voltage actuator. A prototype is developed for evaluating the performances of anticipated drive for the speed control over a broad range. The performance of anticipated drive is also validated for its function at varying AC mains voltages (90V–265V). Test results for power quality (PQ) parameters are compared with restrictions of power quality standard IEC 61000-3-2.

The operation of the two-phase interleaved CRM Boost power factor correction (PFC) converter with coupled inductors is analyzed in this paper. Since the equivalent inductance varies with the switching mode and duty cycle, the current mode control method should be adopted to achieve PFC rather than the voltage mode control. The switching frequency is derived, and the self inductance is discussed in term of the minimum switching frequency, which should be higher than 20 kHz to avoid acoustic noise. The design methodology of the coupled inductors is presented as well. Compared to the discrete inductors, the coupled inductor has small size and low copper usage, so the power density of the PFC converter can be increased.

These A novel power factor correction (PFC) Converter employing zero voltage transition (ZVT) technique based boost topology is proposed in this paper. It operates at a fixed frequency while achieving zero voltage turn-on of the main switch and zero current turn-off of the boost diode. This is accomplished by employing resonant operation only during switch transitions. During the rest of the cycle, the resonant network is essentially removed from the circuit and converter operation is identical to its non-resonant counterpart. This technique increases the efficiency to 95% and power factor to 0.99. Soft switching of the diode also reduces EMI, an important system consideration.The principle of operation, theoretical analysis, simulation results and experimental results are presented. A prototype of 500 W is built to test the proposed topology. The input voltage is from 170 V rms to 230 V rms. The output voltage is 400 V. The operation frequency is 100 KHz.

In order to further increase the power density of power factor correction (PFC) converter, a structure of passive integration is proposed by combining EMI filter and Boost inductor in one magnetic component for PFC converters in this paper.

This work proposes a novel approach for managing the output DC link voltage of a single-phase power factor correction (PFC) converter for electric vehicle (EV) charging without using a DC voltage sensor. The inputs and outputs of conventional boost PFC converters normally use several expensive sensors such as input voltage, input current, and output voltage. These sensors are employed to maintain system stability and control the quality of the power. A DC voltage sensorless control utilizing an estimator is used to lower the cost and hardware complexity of the power converter. The output DC link voltage is predicted using the available input voltage and current signals. For a high power factor, the controller follows the reference sine wave signal. Additionally, the converter exhibits extremely steady performance under transient fluctuations in load for a typical 1kW PFC converter. A novel Simplified Optimum Intelligent PID (SOI-PID) controller is designed for a 2.4kW, 400V output voltage, and 6A rated load, based on the second order transfer function of the system, both designs are analyzed, simulated, and compared for the same circuit parameters and loading conditions. The novel SOI-PID controller has shown advantageous performance in both transient and steady-state periods including lower rise and settling times, lower maximum overshoot, fast response to load variation, and lower stress on switching element which leads to better efficiency and lower fixed cost of the overall system.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">As light electric vehicles (LEVs) gain popularity, the development of efficient and compact on-board chargers (OBCs) has become a critical area of focus in power electronics. Conventional AC-DC topologies often face challenges, including high inrush currents during startup, which can stress components and affect system reliability. Furthermore, DC-DC converters often have a limited soft-switching range under light load conditions, leading to increased switching losses and reduced efficiency. This paper proposes a novel 6.6 kW on-board charger architecture comprising a bridgeless totem-pole power factor correction (PFC) stage and an isolated LLC resonant DC-DC converter. The main contribution lies in the specific focus on enhancing startup behavior and switching performance. In PFC converters, limiting inrush current during startup is crucial, especially with fast-switching wide-bandgap devices like SiC or GaN. Conventional soft-start techniques fall short in of ensuring smooth voltage transitions. Moreover, maintaining stable operation across a universal input voltage range and achieving a high-power factor under light load conditions remain persistent challenges. Although resonant converters are widely used for their natural soft-switching ability, achieving zero voltage switching (ZVS) over a wide range of loads, especially at light load conditions, is still a technical challenge. Existing solutions rely on complex control strategies or hardware modifications, which increase cost and design complexity. The proposed architecture was modeled and simulated using MATLAB/Simscape to assess dynamic and steady-state behavior under a range of operating conditions. Results demonstrated high input power factor, line/load regulation, and switch-node waveforms to confirm ZVS operation. Additionally, the proposed charger exhibits low harmonic distortion, ensuring compliance with IEC 61000-3-2 power quality standards. These findings confirm the topology’s effectiveness for high-performance LEV charging and set a strong foundation for future experimental validation and hardware development.</div></div>

This paper aims at the application of a half bridge DC-DC converter as a power factor correction (PFC) converter for a permanent magnet brushless DC motor (PMBLDCM) driven air conditioner. This PFC converter is fed from singlephase AC mains through diode bridge rectifier (DBR) and connected to a voltage source inverter (VSI) feeding the PMBLDCM. The proposed PFC half-bridge converter based PMBLDCM drive is controlled to have the variable speed operation of the compressor for efficiency improvement of the air conditioning system. The control scheme for the PFC converter based PMBLDCM drive is designed, modeled and its simulation is carried out in Matlab-Simulink environment for an air conditioner compressor driven through a 1.5 kW, 1500 rpm PMBLDC motor. The obtained results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed adjustable speed drive in wide range of the speed and an AC input voltage. An improved power quality is observed with almost unity power factor and improved efficiency of the drive in a wide range of the speed and an AC input voltage.

Dynamic response of boost power factor correction (PFC) converter operating in continuous-conduction mode (CCM) is heavily influenced by low-bandwidth of voltage control loop. A novel tri-state boost PFC converter operating in pseudo-continuous-conduction mode (PCCM) is proposed in this paper. An additional degree of control-freedom introduced by a freewheeling switching control interval helps to achieve PFC control. A simple and fast voltage control loop can be used to maintain a constant output voltage. Furthermore, compared with boost PFC converter operating in conventional discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM), boost PFC converter operating in PCCM demonstrates greatly improved current handling capability with reduced current and voltage ripples. Analytical and simulation results of the tri-state boost PFC converter have been presented and compared with those of the boost PFC converter operating in conventional CCM and DCM. Simulation results show excellent dynamic performance of the tri-state boost PFC converter.

In this paper, an improved Zero-Voltage-Transition (ZVT) two-cell interleaved boost Power Factor Correction (PFC) converter is proposed and investigated. A new auxiliary circuit is designed and added to two-cell interleaved boost converter to reduce the switching losses. Only one auxiliary switch is used in the active soft switching auxiliary circuit. The main advantage of this auxiliary circuit is that it not only provides ZVT in the boost switches but also provides soft switching in the auxiliary switch and passive diodes. Therefore, the switching losses of the converter can be reduced. Compared to the previous published soft switching interleaved boost converters, only one auxiliary switch is needed in the auxiliary unit, so the auxiliary unit and control circuit are simple. A 1kW, 50 kHz two-cell interleaved boost PFC converter with an improved ZVT auxiliary circuit has been simulated using average current control method and the results are presented. Simulation results show that the main switches, the auxiliary switch and passive diodes are operating under soft switching mode.

The high frequency capability and low on-state losses of Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors offer the potential to increase converter efficiency and/or reduce heatsink and passive component size. This paper investigates the use of GaN technology to enhance the performance of power factor correction (PFC) and LLC converters for battery charging applications. First the efficiency performance of non-isolated PFC converters using GaN transistors is compared by simulation, the asymmetric bridgeless PFC converter is shown to achieve the best efficiency, with a predicted figure of 99% in a 1MHz, 200W design. The predictions are validated by an experimental prototype using a GS66502B, GaN Systems E-mode GaN transistor. Then the efficiency comparison of the PFC and LLC converter using GaN devices for battery charging applications is included in the paper. The experimental results of the PFC converter with GaN devices are also included. Additionally, this paper includes the analysis and design of a common mode input filter for the GaN-based high frequency converters for battery charging application. The size of both the converters using GaN devices is reduced by 40% than the converters based on Si devices. The switching loss comparison of GaN and Si devices are also included in the paper.

The use of power factor correction (PFC) converters is widely discussed and considered for most off-line power supplies. For low power applications, boost PFC converters operated in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) or boundary conduction mode (BCM) mode are usually employed. The main advantage of BCM mode is the reduction of reversal recovery loss of diode and simple control, especially at the high-line light-load condition. In this paper, a digital-controlled method for boost PFC operating under boundary conduction mode without input voltage sensing is proposed. The digital PI controller voltage is used to determine the constant on-time period and the comparator block inside the DSP controller is employed to detect the zero-crossing of inductor current for turning on the main switch. Therefore, the size and cost are reduced significantly. A 200W boost PFC prototype is implemented and tested to verify the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.