38

POWER FACTOR CORRECTION USING SINGLE PHASE

BIDIRECTIONAL-HYBRID RECTIFIER
Naci GENÇ, İres İSKENDER
Department of Electrical-Electronics Engineering
Gazi University, ANKARA/TURKEY
nacigenc@gazi.edu.tr iresis@gazi.edu.tr

Keywords; Power factor correction, single phase hybrid rectifier.

Abstract: This paper presents a single-phase bidirectional hybrid rectifier topology for power
factor correction (PFC) suitable for medium and high power applications. The topology is
composed of a diode bridge rectifier and a boost type PWM rectifier. Using appropriate control
technique the total power can be shared between two rectifiers. The proposed rectifier is capable
of providing sinusoidal input current with low harmonic distortion compared to the conventional
boost type PFC converter and dc output voltage regulation. The rectifier topology, principle of
operation, control method and simulation results are described in the paper.

1. INTRODUCTION values components as inductors, capacitors, and

Since a low power factor operation reduces the
power available from the utility grid and a high
harmonic distortion of the line current causes EMI
problems, governments and international
organizations have introduced the IEEE 519 and IEC
switch of the converter. For this reason, in this
study, the conventional boost type topology and
PWM rectifier are used together to share the
power and to meet the standard conditions. Fig. 1
shows the proposed hybrid rectifier.
Lb1 Db1

Ioa
61000-3-2-/-3-4 standards. For this reason, the
D1 D3
attention devoted to the Power Factor Correction is Q1
D5
Q3
D7
Iob

(PFC) has been increased. An ideal PFC should ia

Lf1

emulate a resistor on the supply side while Vs ib Qb Co Ro

maintaining a fairly regulated output voltage [1].

Boost converters have been usually used for power Q4
D8
Q2
D6

factor correction. Although the conventional boost D4 D2

type topology has some drawbacks, they are suitable
for low power applications. Interleaved techniques or
bidirectional boost rectifiers are widely used in high
power applications for power factor correction and
their advantages over the conventional boost type is
low number switches conducting at any time [2].
Using interleaved technique in high power
applications can reduces the power rating of the
switches but the current sharing between inductors in
transient time needs an advanced control technique.
In high power applications using single-
phase systems the conventional type boost
converter may provide the requirements. For
these types of applications we need high rating
ISSN – 1453 – 1119
Lb2 Db2
Figure 1. The proposed single phase hybrid rectifier.
The basic idea of the hybrid rectifiers is
that they are generated by the connection of an
uncontrolled rectifier with a controlled
rectifier[3,4]. While the uncontrolled rectifier
operates with low frequency and it handles the
higher output rating, the controlled rectifier
operates with high switching frequency and
small power rating. Therefore, the efficiency of
the system will increase. In addition, the power
rating can be shared by controlling the duty ratio
of the boost side. If the output power is shared
 Naci GENÇ, İres İSKENDER – Power Factor Correction Using Single Phase Bidirectional-Hybrid Rectifier 39

between two rectifiers, the rating of switches

used in the rectifiers can be decreased. For this
reason, this topology is suitable for high power
applications where single phase system is
needed.
Section II of this paper presents the
principle of operation and the analysis of the
topology. Section III includes the control
strategy of the topology. Finally, the simulation
results are presented in Section IV. Ip/2

2. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION -Ip/2

The line current (is) of the single phase t

bidirectional hybrid rectifier (Fig. 1) is the sum 1

of currents ia and ib. ia is the current drawn from

the diode bridge rectifier and ib is the current
drawn from the PWM rectifier. Similarly, at the 0

output, the load current, Io is the sum of Ioa and

Iob. The line current shape is controlled by
adjusting ia and ib to obtain high power factor -1
t

operation.
In addition, by controlling the duty cycle
of the Qb, the output power can be shared
between the two converters. This is another
advantage of this topology. The power level
processed by each rectifier is related with the
currents peak values. Therefore, power can be
shared between the converters by controlling the
peak values of the currents.
The shape of current ia is affected by the
inductor and controlled by the boost switch. For
the case when the boost converter operates at
CCM and the inductor current follows a constant
reference the ia can be controlled. The input line
current which is composed of ia and ib can be
shaped as a sinusoidal wave by adjusting these
two currents.
Fig. 2 shows two different cases related to
current shapes drawn by each converter. As it is
shown, when the inductor current is nearly equal
to the peak value of the desired supply current
the power transferred from the PWM rectifier
will be very low with respect to the that of diode
bridge. In this case, the PWM rectifier operates
only for power factor correction and its power
rating will be very low. When the inductor
current is halved, the PWM rectifier both
corrects power factor and shares the load power.
Therefore, this topology can be used for two
different goals.
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Figure 2. The converter current waveforms for two
different cases.
It is assumed that the supply current is
sinusoidal without distortion and the current
drawn by the diode bridge rectifier is same as the
shape shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, the input
voltage and current are given by (1) and (2)
respectively.
v s (t ) = Vm sin ωt (1)
i s (t ) = I m sin ωt (2)
where,
Vm is the peak value of the supply voltage
Im is the peak value of the supply current
Using these equations, the instantaneous input
power can be defined as,
pi (t ) = v s (t ) ⋅ i s (t ) (3)
Since the supply current is is the sum of
currents ia and ib , it is defined as,
is (t ) = ia (t ) + ib (t ) (4)
From equations (3) and (4), the input
power and converter’s power can be defined as,
pi (t ) = v s (t ) ⋅ [ia (t ) + ib (t )] (5)
p a (t ) = v s (t ) ⋅ ia (t ) (6)
pb (t ) = v s (t ) ⋅ ib (t ) (7)
40 UNIVERSITY OF PITESTI – ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTERS SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN, No. 8, Vol. 1, 2008

Where, pa is the instantaneous power This expression is very important to define

processed by the diode bridge rectifier and pb is the active power sharing between the converters.
the instantaneous power processed by the PWM In this limit the PWM rectifier makes the input
rectifier. current shape as a sinusoidal and provides the
The input active power Pin, and converters PFC. When the output power is drawn on the
active powers are defined as follows PWM rectifier over this limit the input current
respectively, will be distorted. Using appropriate control
method, this topology can be used for two
1
T
Vm ⋅ I m different aims.
Pin =
T ∫ p (t ) =
0
i
2
(8)

1
T
3Vm ⋅ I ma 3. CONTROL METHOD
Pa = ∫
T 0
p a (t ) =
π
(9)
The control strategy is based on obtaining
Pb = Pin − Pa (10) the sinusoidal input current and regulated output
voltage. To regulate the output voltage, a single
Where, Ima is the peak value of the voltage control loop is used. As it is shown in
fundamental current drawn by the diode bridge Fig. 3, the output voltage is compared with a
rectifier and it is assumed in phase with supply constant reference and the error signal is applied
voltage. The relationship between the active to the voltage compensator.
power processed by each rectifier and input To obtain the supply current with a
active power are obtained from equations (8), sinusoidal shape without distortion, the supply
(9), (10) and presented in (11) and (12). current must be sensed. The sampled supply
current is compared with its respective sinusoidal
reference and this reference signal should be
Pa 2 3 ⋅ I ma synchronized with the supply voltage to obtain
= (11)
Pin π ⋅ Im unity power factor.
The boost inductor current is also sampled
and compared with a constant reference to
Pb 2 3 ⋅ I ma generate the gate signal of the boost switch.
= 1− (12)
Pin π ⋅ Im The errors produced by the comparisons
between the sampled signal and reference signal
As seen from the equations, the power are compared with a 10 kHz triangular wave to
processed by each rectifier is dependent of the obtain the PWM signals for switches. Therefore,
peak current value of the diode bridge rectifier. both the boost switch and the PWM rectifier
Therefore, controlling this current also controls switches are operated with a 10 kHz switching
the shared power between the converters. frequency.
Since this is a ac/dc converter, the output As seen from Fig. 3, the PWM rectifier
power can be defined with equation (13). current (ib) is controlled indirectly by sensing
and controlling the input current.
Po = Vo ⋅ I o (13) The power sharing between the converters
depends on the controlling of boost inductor
The operation principle of the converter
current. This is guaranteed by the gains k1 and k2
can be thought in two modes. In the first mode
that must be settled to satisfy the expression (14)
the output power is drawn by the diode bridge
[5].
and the boost cell. In the second mode, the PWM
rectifier and diode bridge rectifier supply the
output power. Therefore, operation of the boost k2
0≤ ≤ 0 .5 (15)
cell limits the power supplied by the PWM k1
rectifier [3, 5]. This limit is given in equation
(14).
Pb ≤ 0.448 Po (14)
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 Naci GENÇ, İres İSKENDER – Power Factor Correction Using Single Phase Bidirectional-Hybrid Rectifier 41

Lb1 Db1
The output voltage is presented in Fig. 4.
Ioa It is seen that the output voltage regulation is
D1 D3
obtained with a low ripple.
Iob
is Q1 Q3 In Fig. 5, the line voltage and line current
D5 D7
ia
Lf1 are presented. It is shown that the line current is
Vs ib Qb
sinusoidal and is in phase with the input voltage.
Co Ro
The power factor value obtained from simulation
is about 0.998. The input current THD is 8.5%.
Q4 Q2
The diode bridge rectifier current and the
D8 D6
PWM rectifier current are presented in Fig. 6 and
D4 D2
Db2
7, respectively.
Lb2

Qb

SUM3 SUM2 MUL1 I_ref

Q3,Q4
TRIANG2_10kHz CONST

COMP1 H(s)
NEG
N EG

GAIN
G (s)

Vo
TRIANG1_10kHz k2
H(s) Q1,Q2 I_Lb1
H(s) G(s)

GAIN SUM5 COMP2

is GAIN CONST

SUM4
MUL2 k1 Vo_ref

sinwt

Figure 3. The control scheme.

The control can be implemented with Figure 4. The output voltage (405V)
analog multiplier approaches or by a digital
signal processing. In the study the H(s) block
represents the PI control block.

4. SIMULATION RESULTS

The SIMPLORER 6.0 program was used

for simulation. The specifications used in the
simulation are given in Table 1.

TABLE 1. Specifications used in the simulation

Vs Input voltage (50Hz) 220V_rms

Vo Output voltage 400V Figure 5. The line voltage and current (70A_max).
PWM rectifier input
Lf1 1mH
inductor The spikes on the current waveform are
Lb1, Lb2 Boost cell inductors 2 mH because of the inductors and transitions in the
input current. These spikes can be minimized by
Co Output capacitors 4700 μF using lower value of inductors. For this topology,
the boost cell must be operated in CCM.
Po Output power 10 kW Therefore, the value of inductors is related to the
output power, switching frequency and boost
fs Switching frequency 10 kHz
cell.

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42 UNIVERSITY OF PITESTI – ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTERS SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC BULLETIN,
Figure 6. The current supplied by the diode bridge.
Figure 7. The current supplied by the PWM rectifier.
The simulation has been done with
k 2 / k1 = 0.4 ratio and power sharing between
converters is determined according to this ratio.
5. CONCLUSSIONS
This study presents a hybrid
bidirectional single-phase rectifier for power
factor correction for medium and high power
applications. The structure of the topology is
composed of a diode bridge rectifier and a PWM
rectifier combined with a boost cell. The diode
bridge rectifier is responsible to process over
50% of the output power. The PWM rectifier
both corrects power factor and shares the load
power. Therefore, this topology can be used for
two different goals.
The applied control scheme regulates the
output voltage and control the input current to
achieve unity power factor.
The PWM rectifier shares the load power
related to k2/k1 ratio used in the control strategy.
ISSN – 1453 – 1119
No. 8, Vol. 1, 2008
According to simulation results when the
PWM rectifier is used for power sharing, the line
current THD increases. In this study, the PWM
rectifier shares about 40% of the output power.
For this reason the THD of the line current is
about 8.5%. If we use the PWM rectifier for only
power factor correction we can obtain the THD
below 5%. Therefore, if the PWM rectifier is
used to share the output power below %40 ratio
the topology can meet the IEEE 519 and IEC
61000-3-2-/-3-4 standards.
The number of components used in this
topology is more than the components used in
the conventional PFC circuit. But, this does not
significantly affect the volume of the topology,
because the components are chosen to transfer
the half of the load power.
The disadvantage of the system is using an
extra current sensor and a multiplier compared to
the other PFC topologies.
As a next step, the study will be simulated
for different conditions and the experimental
works are carried on in the laboratory.
REFERENCES
[1]. L. Rossetto, G. Spiazzi, P. Tenti, “Control
techniques for power factor correction
converters”, Proc. IEEE PEMC, 1994, pp 1310-
1318.
[2]. N. Genç, İ. İskender, “Power factor
correction for high power applications using
interleaved bridge boost rctifiers”, TPE-06 3rd
International Cnf., May 29-31, 2006, Ankara,
TURKEY.
[3]. C. H. Font, I. Barbi, “A new high power
factor bidirectional hybrid three-phase rectifier,”
Annual IEEE PESC, pp. 1300-1306, 2006.
[4]. B. Singh, B. N. Singh, “A review of three
phase improved power quality AC/DC
converters,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Electronics, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 641-659, June
2004.
[5]. R. L. Alves, C. H. Font, “Nowel
unidirectional hybrid three phase rectifier system
employing boost topology,” Annual IEEE PESC,
pp. 487-493, 2006.