Analysis and Design of a Novel Single-Phase PFC AC-DC Step-Up/Down Converter

Lung-Sheng Yang Tsorng-Juu Liang

Green Energy Electronics Research Center Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. E-mail: tjliang@mail.ncku.edu.tw
Abstract A novel single-phase power-factor-correction AC-DC step-up/down converter is presented in this paper. This converter is operated in discontinuous conduction mode to achieve purely sinusoidal line current, almost unity power factor, low total harmonic distortion of line current, and step-up/down DC output voltage. The proposed converter employs a coupled-inductor with same winding-turn in the primary and secondary side, which is charged in series during the switch-on period and is discharged in parallel during the switch-off period. Therefore, the discharging time can be shortened. The proposed converter can be operated in larger duty-ratio range than the conventional single-phase PFC buck-boost converter for DCM operation. Thus, the proposed converter is suitable for universal line voltage (90 264 V) and wide output-power range. Moreover, the steady-state analyses of voltage gain and the boundary operating condition are discussed in detail. The selections of coupled-inductor and output capacitor are also presented. Finally, a prototype circuit is built in the laboratory to verify the performance.

I.

INTRODUCTION

the peak value of line voltage. To avoid that the DC output voltage is too high beyond practical applications, some modulation techniques are researched [7]. The PFC buck converters with DCM operation are presented for step-down voltage conversion [8]. But, the power factor is not high and the THDi is rather high. The conventional PFC buck-boost converter with DCM operation is employed for step-up/down voltage conversion. The power factor is almost unity and the THDi is rather small [9]. However, it is not suitable for universal line voltage (90 264 V) and wide output-power range. In this paper, a novel single-phase PFC step-up/down converter with DCM operation is proposed. This converter can be operated in larger duty-ratio range than the conventional single-phase PFC buck-boost converter. The proposed converter can achieve almost unity power factor, low THDi, and adjustable step-up/down output voltage for universal line voltage and wide output-power range. II. OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLE OF PROPOSED CONVERTER The circuit configuration of the proposed single-phase PFC step-up/down converter is shown in Fig. 1. This converter is operated in DCM by using the pulse-width modulation technique. Switches, S1 and S2, are triggered with same control signal. A coupled-inductor with same winding-turn in the primary and secondary side is adopted in the proposed converter. The primary and secondary winding of the coupledinductor are charged in series from the line source during the switch-on period and are discharged in parallel during the switch-off period. Therefore, the discharged time can be shortened. The duty-ratio of the proposed converter can be operated in wide range than the conventional single-phase PFC buck-boost converter. Thus, the proposed converter can be applied for universal line voltage and wide output-power range. Some typical waveforms in a half line source period are shown in Fig. 2. Owing to the symmetrical characteristics of the single-phase system, the operating principle is analyzed for 0 < t < , where is the line angular frequency. (I) Mode I [t0, t1]: During the time interval [hTs, th1], switches, S1 and S2, are turned on. The current flow path is shown in Fig. 3(a). The primary and secondary winding of the coupledinductor are charged in series from the line source and the energy stored in output capacitor C is discharged to the load.

The DC power source is widely used in many applications, such as DC power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies, battery chargers, and inverters. Traditionally, either the diode bridge or the thyristor rectifiers are used for AC-DC power conversion. These rectifiers have some advantages, which include simple circuit configuration and low cost. But, these rectifiers will result in the power pollutions, such as pulsating line current, low power factor, and high total harmonic distortion of line current (THDi). In order to improve these problems, many power-factor-correction (PFC) power converters are presented to achieve purely sinusoidal line current, high power factor, and low THDi to comply with the 61000-3-2 requirement. For various DC-voltage applications, the PFC power converters are categorized as step-up voltage conversion [1, 2], step-down voltage conversion [3], and stepup/down voltage conversion [4, 5]. Because these converters are operated in continuous conduction mode (CCM), the control scheme is complicated and the cost is high. For cost reduction, some topologies with discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) are presented by using a simple control scheme. However, in order to avoid higher current stress on power semiconductor devices, these converters are suitable for low output-power applications. The PFC boost converters with DCM operation are used for step-up voltage conversion. However, these converters exist some issues, such as higher start-up inrush current and THDi [6]. In order to reduce the THDi, the DC output voltage must be sufficiently larger than

978-1-4244-8085-2/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

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(II) Mode II [t1, t2]: During the time interval [th1, th2], switches, S1 and S2, are turned off. The current flow path is shown in Fig. 3(b). The energies stored in the primary and secondary winding of the coupled-inductor are discharged in parallel to capacitor C and the load. (III) Mode III [t2, t3]: During the time interval [th2, (h+1)Ts], switches, S1 and S2, are still turned off. The current flow path is shown in Fig. 3(c). The energies stored in the primary and secondary winding of the coupled-inductor are released to empty at t = th2. The load is supplied from the energy stored in capacitor C. III. STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED CONVERTER Due to the symmetrical characteristics of the single-phase system, the following analysis is discussed for 0 < t < . For simplicity, the effect of input filter is neglected. The line voltage is given as
es (t ) = vs (t ) = 2Vrms sin t = Vm sin t ,

D2 S1 L1 D1 S2 D3

+
C

vs
L2

(a) Mode I
D2 L1 D1 S2 D3

S1

(1)

+
C

where Vrms and Vm are the root-mean-square value and the amplitude of the line voltage.
D2

vs
L2

(b) Mode II

is' is Lf es
Cf

vs

S1

i L1 L 1

D3

ic

io

D1

S2

D2 S1 L1 D1 S2 D3

vo R

+
C

L2

i L2

vs
L2

Figure 1. Proposed single-phase PFC step-up/down converter.

(c) Mode III Figure 3. Current flow path of the proposed converter for 0 < t < .

Since switching frequency fs (fs = 1/Ts) is much larger than line frequency f1, the line voltage can be considered as a piecewise constant during each switching period. Assuming n is the switching number within time interval [0, /], thus n is equal to fs/2f1. The following analysis is considered during the switching period [hTs, (h+1)Ts], where h = 0, 1, .., n-1. Let the inductance of the coupled-inductor L1 = L2 = L. Thus, the mutual inductance M is given by
M = k L1 L2 = kL,

(2)

where k is the coupling coefficient of the coupled-inductor. Thus, the voltages across the primary and secondary winding of the coupled-inductor are as follows:
vL1 = L1
Figure 2. Some typical waveforms of the proposed converter for 0 < t < .

diL1 di di di + M L 2 = L L1 + kL L 2 , dt dt dt dt

(3)

1471

vL 2 = M

diL1 di di di + L2 L 2 = kL L1 + L L 2 . dt dt dt dt

(4)

When S1 and S2 are turned on, the following equations are obtained as
iL1 = iL 2 ,

of the switching frequency. Thus, it is very easy to filter out the harmonic components by employing a set of input filter Lf -Cf with the cutoff frequency much lower than the switching frequency. B. Voltage Gain From Fig. 2, the average value of ic during [hTs, (h+1)Ts] can be computed as
ic ,h 1 tr ,h (2iL1 p ,h ) ioTs t i i T =2 = r ,h L1 p , h o s . Ts Ts

(5) (6)

vL1 + vL 2 = es (th ) .

Substituting (3) (5) into (6), yielding

e (t ) diL1 (t ) diL 2 (t ) = = s h , dt dt 2(1 + k ) L hTs t th1 .

(16)

(7)

Substituting (1), (9), and (14) into (16) yields

hTs t th1 .

Then, the two inductor currents, iL1 and iL2, are derived as
e (t ) diL1 (t ) diL 2 (t ) = = s h , dt dt 2(1 + k ) L

(8)

ic ,h =

2 d 2Vm Ts sin 2 th io . 4(1 + k ) Lvo

(17)

At t = th1, the two peak values of iL1 and iL2 are computed as
iL1 p , h = iL 2 p , h = es (th ) 2(1 + k ) L ton .

Thus, the average value of ic during a half line source period [0, /] is written as follows: (9)
ic ,avg =

n 1 n 1 d 2Vm2Ts sin 2 th io ]Ts . ic ,hTs = [ h =0 h =0 4(1 + k ) Lvo

(18)

where ton = dTs and d is the duty ratio. While S1 and S2 are turned off, the voltages across L1 and L2 are obtained as
vL1 = vL 2 = vo .

Due to n >> 1, the above equation can be approximated as

ic ,avg =
d 2Vm2Ts d 2Vm2Ts [ sin 2 t io ]dt = io . 0 4(1 + k ) Lvo 8(1 + k ) Lvo

(19)

(10)

Substituting (3) and (4) into (10), yielding

vo diL1 (t ) diL 2 (t ) , = = (1 + k ) L dt dt th1 t th 2 .

Then, the differential equation of output voltage is given by

2 d 1 d 2Vm Ts v vo = [ o ]. dt C 8(1 + k ) Lvo R

(11)

(20)

Solving (11), iL1 and iL2 are found as follows:

vo iL1 (t ) = iL 2 (t ) = (t th1 ) + iL1 p ,h , (1 + k ) L th1 t th 2 . (12)

Thus, the equation of DC model can be written as follows:

D 2Vm2Ts V = o. 8(1 + k ) LVo R

(21)

As iL1(th2) = iL2(th2) = 0, the two peak values of iL1 and iL2 are given by
iL1 p , h = iL 2 p ,h = vo tr , h , (1 + k ) L

where Vo and D are the DC quantities of vo and d, respectively. Next, the normalized inductor time constant is defined as

(13)

L . RTs

(22)

where tr,h = th2 th1. From (9) and (13), the time duration tr,h is obtained as follows:
tr , h = es (th ) 2vo dTs .

Substituting (22) into (21), the voltage gain is given by

G= Vo D = . Vm 8(1 + k ) L

(23)

(14)

A. Unfiltered line current is The waveform of the unfiltered line current is is shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, the average value of is in one switching period Ts can be computed as
is , avg (t ) =
'

C. Boundary Condition In order to ensure that the proposed converter is operated in DCM, iL1 and iL2 must go to zero in each switching period. From Figure 2, the time duration ts,h is obtained as follows:
ts , h = ton + tr , h = DTs (2Vo + es (th ) ) 2Vo .

(24)

toniL1 p 2Ts

d 2TsVm sin t . 4(1 + k ) L

(15)

Equation (15) indicates that the average value of is is sinusoidal and is in phase with the line voltage. Moreover, the harmonic components of is are distributed over the multiples

When the maximum of ts,h is equal to Ts and |es(th)| is equal to Vm, the proposed converter is operated in boundary conduction mode. From (24), the boundary voltage gain can be found as
Gbc = Vo D . = Vm 2(1 D )

(25)

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Using (23) and (25), the curves of voltage gain and boundary voltage gain are shown in Figure 4. It is seen that the voltage gain of the proposed converter has a linear characteristics. Moreover, the boundary normalized inductor time constant LB can be derived when the voltage gain G is equal to its boundary voltage gain Gbc. Then, LB can be obtained as
LB =
(1 D ) . 2(1 + k )
2

ic ,h = [

2 D 2Vm2 V D 2Vm o] cos 2th . 8(1 + k ) Lf sVo R 8(1 + k ) Lf sVo

(28)

Substituting (21) into (28), the following equation can be derived as

ic ,h = D 2Vm2 cos 2 th . 8(1 + k ) Lf sVo

(29)

(26)

Thus, the curve of LB is plotted in Figure 5. It is seen that the proposed converter is operated in DCM when L < LB.
G 3

From (29), the output-voltage ripple in one switching period is found as

Vo ,h = [
2 D 2Vm cos 2 th ]Ts . 8(1 + k ) LCf sVo

(30)

L = 0.005 L = 0.008
L = 0.015
D 2(1 D )

Then, the function of the output-voltage ripple during [0, /] is obtained as

Gbc =

Vo (t ) = [
0

2 2 D 2Vm D 2Vm sin 2t (31) cos 2t ' ]dt ' = . 8(1 + k ) LCf sVo 8(1 + k ) LCf sVo 2

DCM
1

From (31), the output-voltage ripple during [0, /] is given by

CCM

Vo ,ripple = 2 Vo (t ) peak =
D

D 2Vm2 . 8(1 + k ) LCf sVo

(32)

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Thus,
Vo, ripple Vo =
2 D 2Vm D2 = . 2 8(1 + k ) LCf sVo 8(1 + k ) LCf s G 2

Figure 4. Voltage gain and boundary voltage gain of the proposed converter (assuming k = 0.95).

(33)

LB
0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1

In order to meet the specification of the ripple percentage of the output voltage, output capacitor C must satisfy the following inequality.
C
CCM

D2 Vo . 8(1 + k ) Lf s G 2 Vo, ripple

(34)

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS A prototype circuit is built in the laboratory to verify the performance of the proposed converter. The circuit 0.05 specifications and components are selected as Vrms = 90 264 V (Vm = 127 373 V), Vo = 200 V, f1 = 60 Hz, fs = 36 kHz, Po 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 D = 50 250 W (R = 160 800 ), L1 = L2 = 44 H (k = 0.98), Figure 5. Boundary conditions of the proposed converter (assuming k = 0.95) C = 680 F, Lf = 1.2 mH, and Cf = 680 nF. Figs. 6 and 7 show the experimental waveforms under the IV. SELECTIONS OF COUPLED-INDUCTOR AND OUTPUT operating conditions Vrms = 115 V, Vo = 200 V, and Po = 250 W. CAPACITOR It is seen from Fig. 6 that the line current is sinusoidal and is in phase with the line voltage. The waveforms of the coupledA. Selection of Coupled-Inductor L1 and L2 In order to ensure that the proposed converter is operated in inductor currents, iL1 and iL2, are shown in Fig. 7. One can see DCM, the appropriate LB can be selected under the required that the proposed converter is operated in DCM. Moreover, the voltage gain. Therefore, L must satisfy the following inequality: measured power factor, THDi, and efficiency are shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the measured power factor is almost unity R (27) at heavy-load condition, the measured THD is less than 4.5%, L < LB . i fs and the measured efficiency is 89% 91% at heavy-load condition for universal line voltage. B. Selection of output capacitor C Using (17), the average value of ic during [hTs, (h+1)Ts] is given by
DCM

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Efficiency (%)
95

es is

90 85 80 75 70 65 Po = 250 W Po = 200 W Po = 150 W Po = 100 W Po = 50 W 115 140 165 190 215 240 264

es: 80 V/div, is: 3 A/div, Time: 5 ms/div

60 90

Vrms

Figure 6. Waveforms of line voltage and line current at 115-Vrms line voltage.

(c) Figure 8. Some experimental results. (a) Power factor, (b) THDi, (c) Efficiency.

iL1
3

VI. CONCLUSIONS This paper presents a novel single-phase PFC step-up/down converter, which is operated in DCM, to achieve almost unity power factor, low THDi, and adjustable step-up/down DC output voltage. The proposed converter is suitable for universal line voltage and wide output-power range. Moreover, the steady-state analyses of voltage gain and boundary operating condition are discussed in detail. The selections of coupledinductor, output capacitor, and input filter are presented. From the experimental results, one can see that the measured power factor is almost unity at heavy-load condition, the measured THDi is less than 4.5%, and the measured efficiency is 89% 91% at heavy-load condition for universal line voltage. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Science Council of Taiwan under project NSC 983114-E-006 -008. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] Y. K. Lo, C. T. Ho, and J. M. Wang, Elimination of the output voltage imbalance in a half-bridge boost rectifier, IEEE Trans. on Power Electron., vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1352-1360, Jul. 2007. R. Martinez and P. N. Enjeti, A high-performance single-phase rectifier with input power factor correction, IEEE Trans. on Power Electron., vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 311-317, 1996. R. Oruganti and M. Palaniapan, Inductor voltage control of buck-type single-phase AC-DC converter, IEEE Trans. on Power Electron., vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 411-417, Mar. 2000. V. F. Pires and J. F. Silva, Half-bridge single-phase buck-boost type AC-DC converter with sliding-mode control of the input source current, IEE Proc. Electric Power Appl., vol. 147, no. 1, pp. 61-67, Jan. 2000. G. K. Andersen and F. Blaabjerg Current programmed control of a single-phase two-switch buck-boost power factor correction circuit, IEEE Trans. on Ind. Electron., vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 263-271, Feb. 2006. X. Xie, Z. Zhou, J. M. Zhang, Z. Qian, and F. Z. Peng, Analysis and design of fully DCM clamped-current boost power-factor corrector with universal-input-voltage range, in Proc. IEEE PESC, pp. 1115-1119, 2002. D. Weng and S. Yuvarajan, Constant-switching-frequency AC-DC converter using second-harmonic-injected PWM, IEEE Trans. on Power Electron., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 115-121, Jan. 1996. J. M. Alonso, M. A. D. Costa, and C. Ordiz, Integrated buck-flyback converter as a high-power-factor off-line power supply, IEEE Trans. on Ind. Electron., vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 1090-1100, Mar. 2008. W. Guo and P. K. Jain, Comparison between boost and buckboost implemented PFC inverter with build-in soft switching and a unified controller, in Proc. IEEE PESC, pp. 472-477, 2001.

iL2
4

iL1, iL2: 10 A/div, Time: 5 ms/div

(a)

iL1
3

iL2
4

iL1, iL2: 10 A/div, Time: 500 s/div

(b) Figure 7. Waveforms of coupled-inductor currents at 115-Vrms line voltage. (a) iL1 and iL2, (b) Expansions of iL 1 and iL 2.
PF
1.0 0.96 0.92 0.88 0.84 0.8 90 Po = 250 W Po = 200 W Po = 150 W Po = 100 W Po = 50 W

[4] [5] [6]

Vrms
115 140 165

(a)

190

215

240

264

THDi (%)
5 Po = 250 W 4 3 2 1 Po = 200 W Po = 150 W Po = 100 W Po = 50 W

[7] [8] [9]

0 90

115

140

165

190

215

240

264

Vrms

(b)

1474