2012 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems December16-19, 2012, Bengaluru, India

Analysis of a Single-Phase AC-DC PFC boost converter with Fast Dynamic Response
M Mahesh*, A K Panda**, B K Keshavan*
*Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India. **Electrical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. E-Mail: matadamahesh1@rediffmail.com
Abstract In this study, an extended idea has been introduced to improve the dynamic response of single-phase active power factor correction (PFC) converter. A highly non-linear DC-DC converter with inherent parameter uncertainties and the harmful effects due to large disturbance in line voltage are tackled by proposed two sided latched pulse-width-modulation technique with sophisticated feedback system. The effort is made to achieve improvement in the dynamic response of active PFC converter with the primary objective of achieving nearly unity input power factor. The dynamic performance of the proposed converter is analyzed in Power Sim (PSIM) package and is exactly verified with 400 V, 500 W, and 100 kHz laboratory prototype for step change in input voltage and load current. Keywordspower factor correction; continuous conduction mode; dynamic response; unity power factor; pulse width modulation.

I. INTRODUCTION Due to the proliferation of non-linear loads in the distribution system, current and voltage harmonics are injected into the power grid. Therefore, there is a need to compensate these undesired distortions to meet international stringent standards and to minimize their effects on the distribution system. Minimization of these harmonic effects essentially improves the quality and efficiency of power grid [1]. Active power factor correction (PFC) method is the emerged technique of research to improve the quality of power in the utility grid [1], [2]. In active PFC technique, the AC-DC interface of power converter is emulated as a pure resistor and hence the input power factor of the converter reaches nearly unity [2], [3]. The boost converter is most suitable topology for PFC applications because of its inherent properties, and hence widely employed for medium as well as high power PFC applications [3], [4]. In active PFC AC-DC converters, feedback system is composed of low bandwidth voltage loop, high bandwidth current loop and feed-forward signal. Due to input power variation, output load voltage contains a ripple voltage (whose frequency is twice the line frequency) which affects the input current waveform unless the voltage loop bandwidth is held below the half of the line frequency [5], [6]. This low bandwidth in voltage loop and presence of bulk output capacitor make the active PFC converters to have sluggish transient response for step change in load current and/or input voltage [5], [7], and [8]. This sluggish transient response problem is further compounded by large voltage overshoots and voltage drops enforcing additional stress on the PFC components, as well as on its downstream switch

mode power supply load [2], [5]. Even though effective methods have been proposed for improvement of the dynamic response, the conventional low bandwidth design of the voltage loop is still predominant. The concept of improvement in the dynamic response of PFC converter can be achieved by cascading second DC-DC converter with the first converter. But in this method, the efficiency of the system depends on the efficiencies of both stages and hence obviously, the efficiency of entire system will be much lower than that of each stage [9]. In reference [10], authors have proposed novel dynamic improvement based on dual controller method. In this method, the voltage control block has two loops. One low bandwidth loop active during steady state and other is high bandwidth loop which is active during transient period of a system. However, this method results in increased component count and hence the increased complexity of the feedback controls system. In this study, two sided pulse width modulation (PWM) control technique employed for DC-DC converter reported in [11] has been applied to medium power PFC applications. This method essentially improves the dynamic response of single-phase AC-DC PFC converter with the primary objective of achieving nearly unity input power factor. II. PROPOSED TWO SIDED PWM TECHNIQUE

A. Two sided PWM technique Fig. 1 shows the difference between single-sided (conventional PWM) and two sided latch PWM techniques. In two sided modulation technique, the pulse transition from high to low is occurring at t1 which is intersection of positive ramp of triangle signal and control signal, pulse transition from low to high is happening at intersection of negative ramp of triangle signal and control signal. In case of conventional PWM technique, pulse transition from high to low is occurring at t2 the intersection of positive ramp of saw-tooth signal and control signal, transition from low to high is taking place at the instant of end period of saw-tooth signal. It can be observed that, the same number of output transitions occurs per period T in two sided PWM technique as that of single sided PWM technique, but the signal is sampled twice in two sided PWM technique. Thus the two sided PWM method stabilizes any transient responses on the load or input line earlier than conventional PWM method for properly designed control loops [11], [12].

978-1-4673-4508-8/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

T riangular signal

S aw tooth signal

C ontrol signal

Single sided PW M

T wo sided PW M
t1 t2

operating in the CCM of operation, the following equations can be obtained. sign((2n dl (n))T ) 1 = dl ( n) (1) 2 sign((2n dr (n))T ) + 1 = dr (n) 2 (2) The signal Sign is control signal which is output of a current controller. In other words, the signal Sign is obtained as the integral of the difference of the reference signal and the switching signal waveform. However, the gain of the integral is obtained using the equal slope criteria when the reference signal is half the input voltage.
Vin V 2 = 1 => T = in T i T T 2 i

nT
T

(n + 1)T

(n + 2)T

Fig. 1 Comparison of two sided and single sided PWM techniques

Fig. 2 shows a sensor-less current mode control implementation in inner current mode control of proposed two sided active PFC AC-DC boost converter. This scheme achieves modulation of both edges while maintaining fully latched operation. In this PWM scheme two comparators are used instead of one to set and to reset the switch. One comparator is used for the comparison between the feedback signal Sign and ramp to set the switch while another comparison between an offset feedback signal and ramp to reset the switch. The ramp is not a saw-tooth, which is hard to generate at high frequencies [11], but a triangular ramp wave with equal rising and falling slopes is used to stabilize the duty ratio of the switch and to set the switching frequency. The ramp amplitude is chosen to meet the equal ramp slope criteria for optimal current mode control. B. Time domain Analysis Fig. 3 shows the timing diagram of the signals in this proposed PWM scheme for active PFC AC-DC converter. The triangular ramp is compared to the feedback signal with two appropriate offsets. The resulting PWM signal is shown at the bottom of the Fig. 3. Note that the delay between consecutive rising and falling edges is T. By applying the switch set and reset criteria for a current mode control of two sided PWM technique shown in Fig. 2 and assuming that the converter is

(3) where, 1/T is the ramp slope for a ramp signal of unit amplitude and Vin is the input voltage to boost converter. Let us define, the nominal duty ratio of the converter in steady state be dnom. This term is essentially used to eliminate Vin and Vref from the duty ratio equations.
sign ((2 n + dr ( n ))T ) = sign ((2n dl ( n))T ) + (Vr Vin ) Vin T 2 [ dl ( n) dr (n )]T

also, sign((2n + dr (n))T ) = sign((2n dl (n))T ) +

(4)

(5) 2(dnom 1)[dl (n) + dr (n)] By substituting the nominal duty ratio in the above two equations and simplifying further, the value of nominal duty ratio for the two extreme cases is computed as follows.
1 dr = 1 = dnom (1 2 dnom) 2 2

(6)

or
dnom =
and or

1+ 5 = 0.809 4

(7)

1 dl = 0 = dnom (1 2 dnom)2 2

(8) (9)

dnom =

3 5 = 0.191 4

Fig. 2 Two sided PWM schematic for proposed PFC AC-DC boost converter

TABLE II COMPONENTS EMPLOYED IN PROPOSED CONVERTER

1

Value/Model Compone nt Simulati on Experimental

s ig n + 0.5 R am p
0

Bridge rectifier MOSFET

T im e

Ideal Ideal Ideal 450 F, 600 V 1 mH 5.6 H

DFB2060 (Fairchild SC) IRFP460 (International Rectifier) RHRP3060 (Fairchild SC) UNLYTIC make (UL30-series) Sendust toroid, part No. CS468125 and 32 single layer turns of 16 AWG 5.6 H

sig n - 0.5 D l(n)T D r(n )T t sw (2n - 1 )T (2n)T (2n + 1)T 2T (2n + 2 )T

Fast-recovery Diode Output capacitor Boost inductor Low line filter inductor (Lin)

Fig. 3 Theoretical timing diagram for proposed two sided latched PWM technique

It is to be noted that, this stability bound is not fundamental to this approach, however it is the result of meeting the equal slope criteria at dnom=0.5. III. DESIGN PROCEDURE Design of boost converter components follows the standard procedure reported in the literature of PFC converters. Significant focus is given to the design of voltage loop and current loop compensators reported in [5], [6], [7], and [13]. Table I shows the specification of proposed converter.
TABLE I SPECIFICATION OF PROPOSED PFC AC-DC CONVERTER Rated Output Power Universal Input Voltage Range Line Frequency Nominal Regulated Output Voltage Switching Frequency Target Efficiency Hold-Up Time Pout =500 W Vin= 85 V to 265 V (rms) fline = 47 63 Hz Vo = 400 V fs = 100 kHz 95%

thold_up = 20 ms

IV. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Based on the theoretical analysis described in above sections, the two sided PWM technique for improvement in dynamic response of PFC AC-DC converter is evaluated. A 500 W, 400 V and 100 kHz switching frequency, single-phase PFC AC-DC boost converter prototype is designed and implemented with a feedback PFC controller IC-UC3854. A separate auxiliary circuit is developed to generate triangular waveform to achieve two sided PWM technique successfully. Besides, the conventional PWM single-phase AC-DC PFC converter is implemented using identical devices with same controller IC as the bench mark.

All the converter circuit parameters are listed in Table. II. The configuration of the proposed AC-DC PFC converter is developed in association with its sophisticated feedback system and simulated in Power-Sim (PSIM) Power Electronics and Drives simulation package. The purpose of this simulation is to verify the control algorithms, design the controller parameters, and to verify static and dynamic performances of the proposed system with conventional system. Fig. 4 shows the simulated results of steady-state and transient output voltage response of proposed two sided PFC AC-DC converter as well as conventional PFC AC-DC converter. The step change in input voltage from 150 VRMS to 220 VRMS is occurring at instant 0.7 sec. It can be observed that, the two sided PWM PFC converter recovers its steady state at around 0.765 sec and that of conventional PWM PFC converter is recovering at 0.805 sec. However, the overshoot and under shoot voltage stresses on devices and output capacitor are more in case of conventional PWM PFC converter and these limits are noted and marked in Fig. 4. It can be seen from these figures that, the proposed two sided PWM technique increases the dynamic response at least by 5% under worst case condition for a large change in input voltage. The experimental results of dynamic response due to step change in input voltage from 150 VRMS to 220 VRMS have been observed, recorded by Digital Storage Oscilloscope and are shown in Fig. 5. The identical response with respect to simulation results are verified during step change in the input voltage. In experimental results, as soon as there is change in the input voltage, the peak voltage (surge) spike appears on input voltage in both cases where same response has not found in simulation results. This is because the discrete transition simulators like PSIM are incapable of showing parasitic effect processes such as surge current or voltage. It can also be observed that, the two sided PWM technique provides quick response in comparison with conventional PWM technique employed in single-phase AC-DC PFC converter. The performances of transient response for load change are obtained by simulation as well as experimental results of both the converters, which are shown in Fig. 6. The simulated

Change in step input at 0.7 sec 150 Vrms to 220 Vrms

Extreme values during transient 411 V

Conventional PWM

Reaches Steady state at 0.805 s

384 V Extreme values during transient 407 V

Proposed two sided PWM

Reaches Steady state at 0.765 s

391 V

Fig. 4 Simulated results Top: Step change in Input Voltage, Middle: Output voltage from conventional PWM technique Bottom: Output voltage from two sided PWM technique

(a)

Two sided PWM response

(b) Conventional PWM response

Fig. 5 Experimental results Top: Output voltage waveform Bottom: Input voltage and input current waveforms

output voltage waveform in transient state in which load is changed from half- load to full load for both the converters are shown in Fig. 6(a). The load change occurs at time t = 0.8 sec, and after about 20 ms, the output voltage recovers to its stable state in case of two sided PWM technique. However, the overshoot and undershoot of output voltage just after the load change are almost same in both techniques, but it can be noticed that, the output voltage in two sided technique recovers back to its stable state quicker than that of conventional PWM technique. Fig. 6(b) shows the comparison of output voltage dynamic response to a load step from 0.625 A to 1.25 A for both control schemes. It is found

by experimental result that the half load to full load response is improved by 25% in two sided PWM technique when compared with the conventional PWM control technique. V. CONCLUSION The basic and main idea of incorporation of two sided PWM technique in PFC AC-DC boost converter is to improve the dynamic response of the single-phase AC-DC PFC boost converters which are suitable for medium power PFC applications. The mathematical and time domain analysis has been described in detail. The predicted transient response, theoretical analysis and simulation results of the proposed converter is being confirmed by the comparison of

(a)

(b)

Fig. 6 Comparison of dynamic response of output voltage for step change in load from 50% to full load (a) Simulated results (b) Experimental results Top: Conventional PWM Bottom: Proposed two sided PWM [6] L. H. Dixon, Closing the feedback loop, in Unitrode Power Supply Design Seminar Manual, 1986, C1-1 to C1-7. J. P. Noon, Designing high-power factor off-line power supplies, Proc. Unitrode power Supply Des. Sem, 2003, pp. 2.1-2.35. A. Fernandez, J. Sebastian, P. Villegas, M. M. Hernando, and D. G. Lamar, Dynamic limits of a power-factor preregulators, IEEE Trans. Industrial Electron., vol. 52, no. 1, Feb. 2005, pp. 77-87. K. Viswanathan, Dynamic performance improvement in boost and buck-boost-derived power electronic converters, PhD dissertation, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 2004. M. Rathi, N. Bhiwapurkar, and N. Mohan, Dual voltage controller based power factor correction circuit for faster dynamics and zero steady state error, in Proc. IEEE-Indl. Electron., Conf. (IECON03), vol. 1, 2003, pp. 238-242. P. Midya, K. Haddad Two sided Latched Pulse Width Modulation Control, in Proc. Power Electronics Specialists Conference, (PESC00), vol. 2, 2000, pp. 628633. P. Midya, and P. T. Krein, Closed-loop noise properties of pulse-width modulated power converters, in Proc. Power Electron. Spec. Conf. (PESC95), vol. 1, 1995, pp. 15-21. M. Mahesh, A K Panda, Two sided PWM control of switching power factor correction AC-DC converter, in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, (IEEE-ICIT09), Feb. 2009, pp. 16. C. T. Philip, UC3854 Controlled power factor correction circuit design, Application note U-134, Unitrode Corporation, NA 03054, 1999, pp. 3.269 3.288.

experimental results obtained from corresponding single-phase PFC converter. In addition to this, experimental results have also shown that, the proposed technique in PFC converter is capable of operating over a wide range of load without any problem. These PFC AC-DC converters controlled by two sided PWM technique have achieved nearly unity input power factor even at light load condition with low THD. REFERENCES
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