New recommendations and future standards have increased the interest in power factor correction circuits. There are multiple solutions in which line current is sinusoidal. In addition, a great number of circuits have been proposed with nonsinusoidal line current. In this paper, a review of the most interesting solutions for single phase and low power applications is carried out. They are classified attending to the line current waveform, energy processing, number of switches, control loops, etc. The major advantages and disadvantages are highlighted and the field of application is found.

Single phase power factor correction: a survey

A Factorized Power Architecture (“FPA”) method and apparatus includes a front end power regulator (“PRM) which provides one or more controlled DC bus voltages which are distributed through the system and converted to the desired load voltages using one or more DC voltage transformation modules (“VTMs”) at the point of load. VTMs convert the DC bus voltage to the DC voltage required by the load using a fixed transformation ratio K=V out /V in and with a low output resistance. VTMs exhibit high power density, efficiency and, owing to their inherent simplicity and component utilization, reliability. VTMs may be paralleled and share power without dedicated protocol and control interfaces, supporting scalability and fault tolerance. Feedback may be provided from a feedback controller at the point of load to the front end or to upstream, on-board power regulator modules (“PRMs”) to achieve precise regulation.

Factorized power architecture with point of load sine amplitude converters

A new family of zero-current-transition (ZCT) pulse-width-modulated (PWM) converters are proposed. The new family of converters implements zero-current turn-off for power transistor(s) without increasing voltage/current stresses and operates at a fixed frequency. The proposed converters are deemed most suitable for high-power applications where the minority-carrier semiconductor devices (such as IGBTs, BJTs, and MCTs) are predominantly used as the power switches. Theoretical analysis is verified on a 100-kHz, 1-kW ZCT-PWM boost converter using an IGBT. >

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Novel zero-current-transition PWM converters

A review of high-performance, state-of-the-art, active power-factor-correction (PFC) techniques for high-power, single-phase applications is presented. The merits and limitations of several PFC techniques that are used in today's network-server and telecom power supplies to maximize their conversion efficiencies are discussed. These techniques include various zero-voltage-switching and zero-current-switching, active-snubber approaches employed to reduce reverse-recovery-related switching losses, as well as techniques for the minimization of the conduction losses. Finally, the effect of recent advancements in semiconductor technology, primarily silicon-carbide technology, on the performance and design considerations of PFC converters is discussed.

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State-of-the-art, single-phase, active power-factor-correction techniques for high-power applications - an overview

A novel zero-voltage and zero-current-switching (ZVZCS) full-bridge (FB) pulse-width modulated (PWM) converter is proposed. The new converter overcomes the limitations of the zero-voltage-switching (ZVS)-FB-PWM converter, such as high circulating energy, loss of duty cycle, and limited ZVS load range for the lagging-leg switches. By using the DC blocking capacitor and adding a saturable inductor, the primary current during the freewheeling period is reduced to zero, allowing the lagging-leg switches to be operated with zero-current-switching (ZCS). Meanwhile, the leading-leg switches are still operated with ZVS. The new converter is attractive for high-voltage (400-800 V), high-power (2-10 kW) applications where IGBTs are predominantly used as the power switches. The principle of operation, features, and design considerations of the new converter are described and verified on a 2-kW, 100-kHz, IGBT-based experimental circuit.

Zero-voltage and zero-current-switching full bridge PWM converter for high power applications

A class of zero voltage transition (ZVT) power converters is proposed in which both the transistor and the rectifier operate with zero voltage switching and are subjected to minimum voltage and current stresses. The boost ZVT-PWM converter is used as an example to illustrate the operation of these converters. A 300 kHz, 600 W ZVT-PWM boost, DC-DC converter, and a 100 kHz, 600 W power factor correction circuit using the ZVT-PWM technique and an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) device were breadboarded to show the operation of the proposed converters. It is shown that the circuit technology greatly improves the converter performance in terms of efficiency, switching noise, and circuit reliability. >

Novel zero-voltage-transition PWM converters

For high power switching power converters, IGBTs are more attractive than MOSFETs due to the lower conduction losses and lower cost. However, the slow turn-on and turn-off characteristics, especially the turn-off current tail of the IGBTs, cause severe switching losses, thus limiting the switching frequency. Several bridge-type converters which achieve soft-switching of IGBTs with the help of the fast-switching MOSFETs are proposed. Experimental results have verified the effectiveness of this scheme. >

Yimin Jiang

Papers

Novel zero-voltage-transition PWM converters

Novel zero-current-transition PWM converters

Soft-switching of IGBTs with the help of MOSFETs in bridge-type converters