Power-Factor Correction in Bridge and Voltage-Doubler Rectifier Circuits with
Inductors and Capacitors
Richard Red1
ELFI S.A.
Derrey-la-Cabuche
CH-1756Onnens (FR)
Switzerland
Abstmd - To improve the power factor and to comply with
line-harmonics regulations, a power-factor-correction/liie-
harmonics-reduction circuit must be added to the cepadtively
flltered bridge or voltagedoublerredirk. Paesiw mlutions (ii.
cirruits using only inductors and capadtors) are *pie, reliable,
and generate no EMI. In this paper we discuss single-phase
rectifier drcuits employing an additional indudor and one or
more additional capadtom for power-factor correction.
1. INTRODUCTION
To improve the power factor and to comply with various
national and international line-harmonics regulations in line-
operated electronic equipment, an active or passive power-
factor-comtion/line-harmonics-reduction circuit must be
added to the capacitively filtered bridge or voltage-doubler
front-end rectifier. Although it is straightforward to obtain
negligible distortion (i.e. less than 5%) and high power factor
(more than 99%) with active circuits operating at high
frequency (above 20 kHz), the additional circuitry can
significantly reduce the reliability and increase the
complexity, EMI, and Cost of the equipment. Passive
solutions (circuits without controlled switches) offer an
attractive trade-off between cost and performance: they are
simple, reliable, robust, generate no EMI, and still provide
compliance with the noms. In this paper we (1) review,
evaluate and compare those bridge and voltage-doubler
rectifier configurations that use a single inductor and a single
capacitor for power-factor correction, (2) propose
improvements to some of the reviewed circuits, and (3)
present design considerations and experimental results. The
improvements are achieved by splitting capacitors, adding one
or more diodes, or using tapped or dual-winding inductors.
All circuits reported in this paper have been simulated; four
Circuits were also built and tested.
0-7803-2482-XB5 $4.000 1995 IEEE
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2. BRIDGE RECTIFIERS WITH U:POWER-
FACTOR CORRECTION
A. Topologies
Cost and size considerations require that only one inductor be
added to the redifier for power-factor correction. In a bridge
rectifier there are two logical pasitions for that inductor, (1)
in series with the line (i.e. at the ac side) or (2) in series with
the load (i.e. at the dc side). By placing the inductor at the
ac side, the distortion in the line current can be reduced by
increasing the inductance, but the output voltage, output
power and power factor will be also reduced. By placing the
inductor at the dc side, the maximum output power will be
independent from the inductance but the distortion cannot be
reduced below 48.3%. As we shall see,one or two additional
capacitors help reducing the distortion and increasing the
power factor in both cases.
As Fig. 1 shows, there are nine possible positions for an
additional capacitor in a bridge rectifier having an inductor at
the ac side, assuming we omit the parallel connection of the
additional capacitor with the storage capacitor and the series
connections with the line, load, or rectifier diodes,
+r
1 1 -
A I
Fig. 1. Possible capacitor positions in a bridge rectifier with the inductor at
the I C side.
466
 (4
Fig. 2. Bridge rectifiers with LC power-factor correction; inductor is Fig. 4. Bridge rectifiers with Lc power-factor correction; inductor is
at the ac side. at the dc side

From thaw nine pasitions, positions 2 and 9 and also 5, 6, 7, Table I1 gives the following results of the simulation: power
and 8 are equivalent. This means that there are five different factor, total harmonic distortion of the line current, and input
circuit configurations (Fig. 2). power.

Fig, 3 shows the nine positions for adding a capacitor to the

bridge rectifier with an indudor at the dc side. From those TABLE 11.
nine positions, positions 5 and 6 and also 3, 4, 8, and 9 are SIMULATION RESULTS OF BRIDGE RECTIFIERS:
POWER FACTOR, TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION, INPUT
equivalent, yielding five different circuit configurations POWER
(Fig. 4)
Circuit PF[%] "I3D[%] Ph[wl
2a 87.1 53.2 158
2b 94.8 32.9 170
2c 74.4 45.4 213
2d 91.7 35.3' 153
-
I I I

2e 98.1 18.62 230

Fig. 3. Possible capacitor positions in a bridge rectifier with the
inductor at the dc side. 4a3 87.1 53.2 158
B. Simulation Results 4b 86.7 55.64 178

The ten circuits shown in Figs. 2 and 4 were simulated with 4c 84.8 54.6 206
the same component values and with a line voltage of 230 4d 80.6 56.6 189
Vrms. L and C were selected to resonate at the third
harmonic of the 50-Hz line, i.e. at 150 Hz. Table I gives the 4e 83.4 64.6' 185
component values.
'17.7% dc component and 16.5% even harmonic distortion
TABLE I.
COMPONENT VALUES USED IN THE SIMULATION 9.1%dc component and 8.8% even harmonic distortion
'Wirb the selected component values the same behavior a s circuit 2a
COMPONENT VALUE '26.7% dc component and 47.1% even harmonic distortion
Storage capacitor 100 uF
'43.6% dc component and 60.4% even harmonic distortion
Capacitor 7.3 uF
Inductor 150 m H
Load resistor 405 ohms Fig. 5 shows the linecurrent waveforms for all ten circuits.

467
 Fig. 6. Symmetrical (split-capacitor) versions of circuits 2d, 2e, 4b, and 4e.

Table I11 shows the results of simulations for the split-

capacitor configurations.

TABLE 111.
SIMULATION RESULTS OF BRIDGE RECTIFIERS WITH SPLIT
CAPACITORS: POWER FACTOR, TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION,
INPUT POWER

Circuit PF[%] "ED[%] ptm

2d-s 92.7 32.3 152
2e-s 98.3 16.9 231
4b-s %.l 28.4 189
4e-S 87.9 46.7 154

The simulations confirm that the dc and even-harmonic

components are completely eliminated; correspondingly the
power factor has increased and the total harmonic distortion
has decreased. Fig. 7 shows the line-current waveforms of
the split-capacitor circuits.

Fig. 5. Line-current waveforms of the circuits in Figs. 2 and 4. Scales:

0.5 Ndiv., 4 msldiv.

C. Splitting Capacitors

The circuits 2d, 2e, 4b, and 4e are asymmetrical struaures,

and generate dc and even-harmonic components in the line
current. ?he circuit asymmetries can be eliminated by
splitting the waveshaping capacitor in two capacitors of equal
value and placing them in the circuits symmetrically, as
shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Line-current waveforms of the splittapacitor circuits in Fig 6.
Scales: 0.5 Ndiv., 4 ms/div.

468
D. Extending the ConductionAngle with Diode
By inserting a diode in Series with the indudom of circuits 4c
(Fig. 8a) and 4, a significant increase in the power factor
(+9% at circuit 4c) and decrease in the total harmonic
distortion (-18% at circuit 4c) can be achieved. The
improvement is due to the fact that the additional diode
prevents the recharge of the capacitor through the inductor
and thus leads to the extension of the amdudion angle of the
bridge diodes. Fig. 8b shows the typical line-current
waveform.
I
Fig. 8. Adding diode to extend the conduction angle (a); line-current
waveform 0).Scales: 0.5 Ndiv., 4 ms/div.
3. VOLTAGEDOUBLER RECTIFIERS WITH
POWER-FACTOR CORRECTION
A. Basic Topologies
Fig. 9 shows the three voltage-doubler rectifiers, which are
using a single inductor and single capacitor for power-factor
correction. Although other topologies are also conceivable
(e.g. placing the additional capacitor in parallel with a rectifier
diode), those topologies do not have any advantage and are
not considered in this paper.
Fig. 9. Voltage-doubler rectifiers with LC power-factor-correction.
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The circuits (a), (b), and (c) in Fig. 9 are close relatives of
the circuits 2a, 2b, and 2c (in Fig. Z), respectively, and the
linecurrent-waveforms are very similar. Here we present
only the power factor, the total harmonic distortion and the
input power values, obtained by simulation (Table IV). The
simulation parametem are: input voltage = 115 Vrms, 50 Hz;
inductance = 37.5 mH, storage capacitance = 2 x 200 uF;
power-factor-correction capacitance = 29.2 uF; load = 405
ohms.
TABLE IV.
SIMULATION RESULTS OF VOLTAGE-WUBLER RECTIFIERS:
POWER FACTOR, TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION, INPUT
POWER
Circuit PF[%] "HI)[%] P,,,Iwj
9a 86.7 52.1 176
9b 93.7 31.8 170
9c 70.9 42.7 213
B. Variations
Fig. 10 shows five variations that offer performance
improvements over the circuits in Fig. 9. Circuit loa is the
doubler version of circuit 2e, originally reported in [l];
circuits lob to 1Oe are novel circuits. The circuits in Fig. 10
were simulated using the parameters given in Section 3.A
above. The coupling coefficient of the tapped inductor of
circuit 1Oc and the two-winding inductor of circuit 1Od was
0.5. Due to the presence of the diodes in series with the
inductor windings, circuit 1Oe is not sensitive to the value of
the coupling coefficient, therefore in the simulation of that
circuit we used a coefficient of unity. Table V gives the
power factor, the total harmonic distortion, and the input
power; Fig. 11 gives the line-current waveforms.
D
--
- i.
Fig. 10. Voltagedoubler rectifier variations.
 shown in Section 2.C, it is easy to eliminate the asymmetry
TABLE V. by splitting the power-factor-correcting capacitor.
SIMULATION RESULTS OF VOLTAGE-M)UBLER RECTIFIER
VARIATIONS: POWER FACTOR, TOTAL, HARMONIC DISTORTION,
INPUT POWER
In several circuits (2b, 2d and 2d-s, 4b and 4b-s, 4c, 4d, 4e
and 4es, 8a, 9b, lob, lod, lOe), the instantaneous line current
shows a step change. The step cbange leads to large upper
Circuit PF[%I =[%I P,,,[wl harmonics content. 'Ihe large upper harmonics might prevent
1Oa %.6 16.4 220 the compliancewith the line-harmonics regulations, especially
in electronic ballast applications.
lob 91.2 35.6 172
1% %.l 27.2 190
B. Interaction with Line Inahctance
1Od 93.5 37.7 171
1Oe 89.7 41.3 175 In the circuits, where the instantaneous line current shows a
step change, that step change excites the resonant circuit
formed by the line inductance and the power-factor-correcting
capacitor. The result is an overshoot and ringing in the line
current. The ringing causes excessive stress and also
increases the higher-order harmonic currents.

C. Electromagnetic Interference and Susceptibility

The inductor in series with the line (in circuits 2c, 2e, 2e-s,
SC, loa, and lOc) reduces the differential-mode EM
generated by the load (e.g. a switching dddc converter). It
also provides protection against the differential-mode mains-
bome noise, including spikes and surges that could destroy
Hod) the rectifier diodes. The inductor in series with the load (in
circuits 4a, 4b, 4b-s, 4c, lod, and lOe) also provides
protection in both directions against differential-mode noise,
although it is not effective in protecting the rectifier diodes
against voltage spikes and surges. By splitting the inductor
winding in two and placing one winding in series with the
line and the other winding in series with the line return, a
common-mode inductor is created that reduces the common
mode noise.
Fig. 11. Une-current waveforms of the circuits in Fig. 10. Sales:
1 Ndiv., 4 ms/div. 'Ihose circuits where the power-factor-correcting capacitor is
connected between the line and the output (circuits 2b, 2d,2d-
s, 4d, 4e, 4e-s, 9b, lob) are especially sensitive to differential-
4. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS mode noise.

A. Harmonic Content D. Load Regulation

470
 TABLE VI.
LOAD REGULATION RATIO OF DC OUTPUT VOLTAGES AT 4.05
KOHMS AND AT 405 OHMS

Circuit Voltage
Ratio
2a 1.19
2b 1.01
2c 1.01
2d-s 1.55
2e-s 1.82
4a 1.18
4b-s 1.51
4c 1.06
4d 1.10
4e-S 1.18
8a 1.18
9a 1.12
9b 1.02
9c 1.02
loa 1.83
1Ob 1.15
1OC 1.13
1Od 1.13
1Oe 1.12

As the table shows, the circuits can be divided in two group.

In the first group, which includes circuits 2d-s, 2e-s, 4b-s, and
loa, the output voltage increases more than 50% when the
load resistance increases tenfold. In the second group (all
other circuits), the output voltage increases less than 20%
when the load resistance increases tenfold. The explanation
for the sensitivity of the first group to load changes is that
those circuits form a voltage-doubler (2d-s, 2e-s, 4b-s) or
voltage quadrupler (loa) rectifier at light load when the Fig. 12. Measured linecurrent waveforms of circuits 2b (I), 2c e),2e-s
voltage drop across the inductor becomes negligible. To (c), and 4b-s (d). Scales: 1 Ndiv., 5 ms/div.
reduce the increase of the output voltage in similar circuits,
[ 13 proposes to disconnect the power-factor-correcting
capacitor at light load. 6. SUMMARY

Power-factor-correction and the related line-harmonics

5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Several circuits were built and tested using the part values in
Table I, with the purpose of verifying the results obtained by
simulation. Figs. 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d show oscilloscope
photographs of the line-current waveforms of circuits 2b, 2c,
2e-s, and 4b-s. As can be seen, the simulated and measured
waveforms are in excellent agreement.
reduction of bridge and voltage-doubler rectifiers can be
achieved with passive means, by using only inductive and
capacitive components. The passive solutions offer simplicity,
ruggedness, reliability, and generate no EM. (In fact, in
several circuits the additional components help filtering out
the EMI generated by the load.) In this paper, we presented
all practical circuits, which use a single inductor and a single
capacitor. Some of those circuits produce dc and even-
harmonic line-current components. We showed that by

47 1
splitting the power-factororreding capacitors and REFERENCES, ADDlTIONAL READING
rearrangingthem in the the dc and even-hamonic
[I] N. fimiller, “Power factor correction circuit,’’ U S . Patent 4,855,890,
line-current components can be completely eliminated. We Aug. 8, 1989.
also discussed other improvements, including extending the
angle of me we cufcent by ad&g, a diode in [2] circuit h is discussed by A. w. Kelley and w. F. Yadusky, in
“Rectifier design for minimum line current harmonics and maximum
series with the doside inductor, and using tapped or two- power factor,” Proceedings of APEC ’89, pp. 13-22
winding indudom. All circuits were simulated; four circuits
Circuit 2b is discussed by A. R. Prasad, P. D.Zogas and S. Manias, in
were also built and tested. “he obtained results indicate that [3] “A novel passive waveshaping method for single-phase diode rectifiers,”
line-harmonics regulations can be met with low-cost passive IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 31, no. 6, Dec. 1990,
power-factor cocrector circuits. pp. 521-530.

472