DESIGN OF SINGLE PHASE BOOST POWER FACTOR

CORRECTION CIRCUIT AND CONTROLLER APPLIED IN

ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING SYSTEM

by

Ziyong Liu

A Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty

of the

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of Master of Science

in

Electrical and Computer Engineering

June 2016

APPROVED:

Dr. Alexander Emanuel, Major Advisor

Dr. Xinming Huang, Professor of Electrical & Computer Department

 ABSTRACT

In this thesis, based on the existing researches on power factor correction technology, I

analyze, design and study the Boost type power factor correction technology, which is

applied in the in-board two-stage battery charger.

First I analyzed the basic working principle of the active power factor corrector. By

comparing several different topologies of PFC converter main circuit and control

methods, I specified the research object to be the average current control (ACM) boost

power factor corrector.

Then I calculated and designed the PFC circuit and the ACM controller applied in the

first level charging of EVs. And I run the design in Simulink and study the important

features like power factor, the input current waveform and the output DC voltage and the

THD and odd harmonic magnitude.

i
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Project Background ............................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Disadvantage due to Harmonic Current in Power Grid .................................................. 3

1.3 PFC in EV Front-End AC-DC Converter Applied in Charger ...................................... 4

1.4 The Main Content of the Research .................................................................................... 5

Chapter 2: Single Phase APFC’s Main Power Topology and Its Control Strategy ... 6

2.1 Active Power Factor Correction(APFC) ........................................................................... 7

2.1.1 The definition of AC-DC converter power factor and its relationship with harmonic

waves ....................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.2 Basic principle of APFC ................................................................................................ 9

2.2 The Topology Structure of APFC .................................................................................... 11

2.2.1 Several typical topologies of APFC ............................................................................. 11

2.2.2 Several topologies of modified single phase PFC........................................................ 15

2.3 Typical Control Strategy of APFC .................................................................................. 20

2.3.1 Discontinuous conduction mode .................................................................................. 21

2.3.2 Continuous conduction mode (CCM) .......................................................................... 24

2.4 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Boost APFC ...................................................... 32

2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 33

Chapter 3: Design and simulation of the PFC boost converter .................................. 34

3.1 System Main Circuit Design ............................................................................................. 34

3.1.1 Specifications ............................................................................................................... 34

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 3.1.2 Input filter capacitor selection ...................................................................................... 35

3.1.3 Boost inductor selection ............................................................................................... 35

3.1.4 Output capacitor selection ............................................................................................ 37

3.1.5 Current sensing resistor selection................................................................................. 38

3.1.6 Power switch transistor and diodes selection ............................................................... 38

3.2 APFC Control Circuit Design .......................................................................................... 39

3.2.1 Current control loop design for PFC circuit ................................................................. 40

3.2.2 Voltage control loop design for PFC circuit ................................................................ 45

3.3 System Simulation and Results Analysis ......................................................................... 50

3.4 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 60

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 61

References ........................................................................................................................ 63

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 Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Project Background

With the high modernization and electrification of industry, people now have a higher

requirement for the power quality. For instance, personal computers, electronic devices,

cell phones, they each has a basic requirement for power quality. Bad power quality may

cause the electronic devices not working properly or even not working. For power

quality, power factor is a significant factor, which impacts power quality directly. Small

power factor will cause many negative effects, such as power grid waveform distortion

and large line loss, which may reduce the service time of power devices.

As electricity gets more and more important in people’s life, there are increasing

number of power devices with different features. The power we get from national grid is

110V and 60 Hz. But most of the power devices require a different input from what we

get from national grid, so we have to make some conversion of the voltage and current.

There are 4 kinds of conversion circuits as below: AC-DC circuit, DC-DC circuit, DC-

AC circuit and AC-AC circuit. AC-DC conversion circuit, which converts current to

direct current, is most used in industry nowadays. And we call this kind of circuit rectifier

circuit. Rectifier circuit has many applications, such as appliances like uninterrupted

power supply(UPS). Rectifier circuit can act as interface circuit between power grid and

power electronic devices, composing DC regulated power supply, and supplying high

quality power for power electronic devices.

1
 Power factor is a significant qualification of power system. With the wide application

of power electronic in industry, switching devices are widely used in different power

conversion devices. The introducing of switching devices improved the devices’

efficiency of power conversion but brought problems like harmonic pollution and low

power factor. In order to eliminate harmonic and improve power factor, people bring a

new technology which is called power factor correction. Because people now are trying

to get high quality power, power factor correction is in leading edge of power electronics

research.

Power factor correction is very important because low power factor brings lots of

problems to our circuits and power devices. The key point to improve the power factor of

power devices is the research of topology structure of power factor correction circuit and

integrated circuit of power factor correction. There are several popular chips used to

achieve power factor correction, like L4981, UC3842-UC3855A series, KA7534 and

TDA4814. [1]

Boost circuit is a basic DC-DC conversion circuit. Boost circuit has many advantages

like continuous inductor current, less distortion of current waveform and less RFI and

EMI noise, so boost circuit is widely used in different power design. But for basic boost

circuit, there are some perspectives we can improve such as power factor and circuit

transmission efficiency.

Because of the wide application of power electronic devices, there are reactive power

and harmonics in the power grid. One of the method to solve this problem is to apply

active power factor correction technique. This technique brings active switch into

2
conversion circuit, through the control of on and off of active switch, we can make input

current follow the input voltage. So we can make a sinusoids shape input current and a

power factor which approaches 1. The main research content of this paper is the design of

boost power factor correction circuit and design of its control system.

1.2 Disadvantage due to Harmonic Current in Power Grid [2]

In fact, the decrease of power factor caused by harmonic current already exists for a

long time. People don’t pay much attention because the use of switching devices is not

widely used and people know little about the disadvantage of harmonic current.

Generally speaking, there are always harmonics wherever there are switching devices.

The existence of harmonics will lead to decrease of power factor. In earlier years, people

use thermistor and rectifier diodes a lot, so there are problems like harmonic current and

low power factor in power electronic devices.

Impulse shaped AC input current waveform contains a lot of harmonic current

components. These Harmonic current components will pollute power grid. Harmonics in

an electric power system are a result of non-linear electric loads. It will produce current

in a different frequency from its original frequency. Harmonic current has following

disadvantages:

(1) The ‘secondary effect’ of harmonic current, which is, when harmonic current passes

the loads, it will cause harmonic voltage which will distort the voltage of power grid,

so there will be overcurrent or overvoltage.

(2) It will increase the extra loss of the circuit, and decrease the efficiency of the power

3
 generation equipment and power transmission equipment.

(3) It will make power devices (such as transformer, capacitor and electric motor) work

abnormally, accelerate the insulation aging and abbreviate the devices’ service life.

(4) It will make relay protection, automatic devices and computer system work abnormally

or even don’t work.

(5) It will make measuring equipment or instrumentation not able to measure.

(6) It will interfere communication systems, decrease the transmission quality of signal, or

even damage the communication devices.

So we can conclude that the existence of harmonic current pollute power grid so much

and we have to take some actions to eliminate or restrain harmonic current. There are two

ways to restrain harmonic current, the first is to use reactive power compensation device

to produce harmonic which has the same frequency but opposite phase. The second way

is to produce some devices which doesn’t produce harmonic current.

1.3 PFC in EV Front-End AC-DC Converter Applied in Charger

In the EV charging system, the front-end AC-DC converter is very important and

should meet the requirements of the efficiency and power density. And this thesis focuses

on the AC/DC PFC boost converter component and the its controller. The system block

diagram of a universal in-board two-stage battery charger in Fig.1.1 [3] [4].

4
 Fig.1.1 Simplified system block diagram of a universal in-board two-stage battery

charger

1.4 The Main Content of the Research

a. Learn the control strategy of power factor correct circuit.

b. Learn the principle and basic control strategy of boost converter power factor

correction circuit.

c. Simulate the boost converter power factor correction circuit applied in EV level 1

charger.

5
 Chapter 2: Single Phase APFC’s Main Power Topology and Its Control

Strategy

The main contents of this chapter are as follows:

(1) Activate power factor correction.

(2) The main power topology structure of APFC and its modified topology structures.

(3) The typical control strategy of APFC.

(4) The advantages and disadvantages of Boost APFC.

The basic idea of PFC is using power conversion of high frequency switching mode to

make the shape of input current close to sinusoidal wave. One of the popular ways is to

have a value which is in proportion to the input voltage to be the reference of the current.

For this way, we just assume that the harmonic of the input voltage is small and can’t

effect the control of harmonic current. In most cases, the correction of power factor is

achieved by an an independent part which is called PFC (power factor corrector). The

input of the PFC is usually power grid, and the output is usually a DC voltage. The DC

voltage will be the input of DC-DC converter or DC-AC current and provides a stable

output for the next converter, making the DC-DC converter or DC-AC converter

becomes an optimal design.

6
2.1 Active Power Factor Correction(APFC)

2.1.1 The definition of AC-DC converter power factor and its relationship with harmonic

waves [4]

In linear circuit, we use cosj to express power factor, of which j is the phase

difference of sinusoidal voltage and sinusoidal current. Because diodes in the rectifier

circuit is not linear, although the input voltage is sinusoidal, the rectified current is non-

sinusoidal. So the power factor calculation in linear circuit is no longer valid in AC-DC

converter. We use PF to express power factor here.

Fig.2.1 Rectifier circuit and its input voltage and current waveform

The definition is PF=active power/apparent power=P/V•I.

In the equation above, V and I here are the rms voltage and rms current.

We assume the input voltage vi (rms value is V) is sinusoidal, and input current is not

sinusoidal, the rms of current is shown as follow:

𝐼= 𝐼#$ + 𝐼$$ + ⋯ + 𝐼'$ + ⋯ (2.1)

7
 In this equation, I1, I2, ..., In are respectively the fundamental component, second

harmonic, …, and Nth harmonic.

Because the input current has a terrible distortion and phase change, the definition of

the power factor used in linear systems is not available anymore in switching power

systems. We assume that i1 lags vi by phase 𝛼, as shown the figure below:

Fig.2.2 The Vi, il waveform

𝑃 = 𝑉𝐼# cos 𝛼 (2.2)

𝑃𝐹 = 𝑉𝐼# cos 𝛼 𝑉𝐼 = 𝐼# cos 𝛼 𝐼 (2.3)

And we know that,

𝐼# 𝐼 = 𝐼# 𝐼#$ + 𝐼$$ + ⋯ + 𝐼'$ + ⋯ (2.4)

I1, I2, ..., In are rms value of the fundamental component, second harmonic, …, and Nth

harmonic. The equation above describes the relative magnitude of the fundamental

current, which is called distortion factor. And cosα is called displacement factor, and the

power factor equals the distortion factor times the displacement factor. When α=0,

PF=I1/I.

We call the total harmonic distortion THD, so

𝑇𝐻𝐷 = 𝐼2 𝐼# = (𝐼$$ + 𝐼4$ + ⋯ + 𝐼'$ + ⋯ ) 𝐼#$ (2.5)

8
 Ih is the rms value of all the harmonic currents.

So we can get the equation of distortion factor:

𝐼# 𝐼 = 1 1 + 𝑇𝐻𝐷$ (2.6)

And when α=0,

𝑃𝐹 = 𝐼# 𝐼 = 1 1 + 𝑇𝐻𝐷$ (2.7)

2.1.2 Basic principle of APFC [5]

The circuit of APFC contains two parts, one is the main circuit and the other is the

control circuit. We take boost PFC circuit as an example. From Fig.2.3 [6] we can see,

the main circuit consists of a single-phase bridge rectifier and DC-DC converter. And for

control circuit, we have reference voltage (Vo, ref), voltage error amplifier (VA),

multiplier (M), current error amplifier (CA) and pulse width modulator (PWM).

Fig.2.3 Simple schematic of the boost APFC under ACM control

Now we discuss the principle of PFC. After comparing the output voltage with the

reference voltage, the result goes through the voltage error amplifier. The output of

voltage error amplifier and rectified input voltage together go to multiplier and we set the

output of the multiplier as the reference of current feedback control. After comparing the

reference current with the input detected current, the result goes into the current error

amplifier and control the on and off of the switch S. So we can make the input current

and the rectifier input voltage be at almost the same phase, and there is less harmonic

current, that we can increase the power factor and make the output voltage stable.

10
2.2 The Topology Structure of APFC

2.2.1 Several typical topologies of APFC

There are many kinds of topologies of APFC, the typical topologies of APFC are

Boost, Buck, Boost-Buck, Ćuk and flyback converters. Boost converter is most used

because it has several advantages against other APFC circuits. Boost and Buck converters

have the most basic topology structures among all APFC circuits and other structures are

developed from these two structures. Now we simply talk about the features of Boost,

Buck, Boost-Buck and Ćuk converters.

(a) Buck PFC

11


(b) Boost PFC

(c) Buck-boost PFC

12


(d) Ćuk PFC

Fig.2.4 Several topology structure of PFC

a. Buck converter:

(1) Buck converter can only buck the voltage because when the switch is on, the inductor

L and conductor C are in series connection.

(2) The input current of the source is discontinuous because when the switch S is off, Vac

and inductor L, conductor C are insulated. So it restricts the efficiency of the converter

and leads to high ripples of the input current.

(3) When switch is on, the source voltage is Vd. But when switch is off, the source voltage

is 0. So when the input voltage is high, we need a specific floating drive for the switch

since the source voltage is float. As a result, it makes the design of circuit more

complicated.

(4) Because buck the converter can only be used to buck voltage, we cannot use it for APFC

13
 directly, because the source voltage Vd is a half sinusoidal waveform after rectified by

the full bridge rectify. So for 110VAC source, the variation range of Vd is from 0 to

155.56V. And when Vd is smaller than the output voltage Vo, the converter can’t work,

which restricts the increase of the power factor.

b. Boost converter:

(1) When boost converter is the main circuit of PFC, it can only boost the voltage so that

this circuit is working stably. The inductor L is charged when switch S is on and when

switch S is off, L is discharged.

(2) The AC input current is always the same with inductor current, so that input current is

continuous. When implementing large power DC-DC converting and power factor

correction, the continuous input current has its own advantage. At the same time, the

ripple current is small when input current is continuous, so it reduces the processing

requirements for the filter circuit.

(3) Because the source voltage of the switch is always 0, it’s easy to control the switch.

c. Buck-Boost converter:

(1) When we take Buck-Boost converter as the main PFC circuit, we can either buck

voltage or boost the voltage, which can get over some disadvantages of the

circumstances that we have only boost converter or buck converter.

(2) The input current of the source is discontinuous, which is the same with the Buck

converter because the input itself is a Buck converter. So it increased the requirements

for the filter circuit.

(3) When we use Buck-Boost converter as the main PFC circuit, we need two switches

14
 (one for drive control). so the circuit is more complicated.

d. Ćuk converter:

The main idea of Ćuk converter is to have a series connection of a Boost converter and

a Buck converter.

(1) Whether the switch S is on or off, the current of inductor L1 and L2 is continuous, and

the input source current is always the same with the current in the inductor L1. And

this feature is the same with the Boost converter.

(2) When we increase the inductor L1 and L2, we can make ripple current very small. So

we don’t need extra EMI filter, and the devices can be miniaturized.

(3) Ćuk converter can either buck or boost the voltage like Buck-Boost converter.

2.2.2 Several topologies of modified single phase PFC

a. Center tapped boost inductor circuit

The center tapped boost inductor circuit is like the figure below. Through adding

several coils on the magnetic ring of the boost inductor, the drain of the MOSFET is not

connected to the boost diode directly. And we know that the inductor current cannot be

mutated so that we can restrain the large instantaneous current caused by backward

recovery of the boost diode D1. And we can restrain the overheat caused by the large

opening loss. The main disadvantage of this circuit is the ripple noise of output voltage

caused by the backward recovery of D1. So we have to add a LC filter at the output to

eliminate the ripple.

15


Fig.2.5 Center tapped boost inductor circuit

b. Series inductor and RCD snubber circuit and clamp circuit

As shown in Fig.2.6 and Fig.2.7, through increasing L2 we can restrain the impulse

current caused by the backward recovery of D1. But when the MOSFET is cut off, we

have to solve the problem of overvoltage generated by L2 on the switch.

In the upper figure, we use D2, C2 and R1 to compose RCD snubber circuit. Because

capacitor voltage cannot be mutated, and we can use that to restrain the overvoltage

caused on L2 by cutting off of the MOSFET. The overvoltage on the capacitor is released

to the 400V output, so we can protect the switch from the overvoltage.

In the lower figure, R1, C1 and D2 composed clamp circuit. Because in PFC circuit,

we tend to use a large electrolytic capacitor filter at the output, we can hold up the output

16
voltage at 400V. So we can use the clamp characteristics to restrain the switch voltage in

the rated voltage range across the transistor switch.

Fig.2.6 Series inductor and RCD snubber circuit

17


Fig.2.7 Series inductor and clamp circuit

c. Series inductor and lossless snubber circuit

In this circuit, we add C1 and D3 to be the snubber circuit of diode D1. When the

switch is off, the current flow through L2 and charge the snubber capacitor C2 and the

junction capacitance of switch. Because we added snubber capacitor, the rising speed of

the voltage will be slowed, so that we achieve the shutdown buffer. In addition, the series

connection of D2, D and D3 can restrain the impulse current of the switch.

18


Fig.2.8 Series inductor and no loss snubber circuit

d. Series Schottky diodes circuit

In Fig.2.9, D1, D2 and D3 are all Schottky diodes. Since the backward recovery time

of Schottky diode is very small (less than 10ns), we can use Schottky diode to restrain the

impulse current. Schottky diode has small withstand voltage, so we just apply series

structures of D1, D2 and D3. This series connection will also decrease the impulse

current of the switch. But this circuit has high requirements for the withstand voltage and

the consistency of the dynamic and static characteristics of Schottky diode.

19


Fig.2.9 Series Schottky diode circuit

2.3 Typical Control Strategy of APFC

In practical applications, we have different control strategies for different APFC

topologies. No matter what APFC topology we use, in order to achieve PFC, we have to

take control of two variables:

a. Output voltage, that we have to make sure is stable DC voltage.

b. Input current, that we have to make to follow the input voltage at the same frequency

and the same phase, and make the input port to be pure resistance.

Therefore, for APFC, we usually apply Voltage-Current double-loop feedback control

strategy. In some cases, it will make the PFC circuit more complicated. Because Boost

converter has many advantages, like it is easy to control, and it has continuous input

20
current and small ripple current, it is widely used in industry. So we take Boost converter

as an example to analyze the control strategy.

There are two goals we need to achieve for APFC strategy, which are stabling the

output voltage and realizing unit input power factor. And there are many different control

schemes presented by many scholars to fulfill the different requirements in different

circumstance. We can divide APFC into two types according to whether the inductance

current is continuous. One is DCM (Discontinuous Conduction Mode) and the other is

CCM (Continuous Conduction Mode) [7] [8]. In CCM, we can achieve PFC using

multiplier. While in DCM, we realize PFC using voltage follower. Under CCM, the

control strategy is furtherly divided into two methods according to whether we use the

instantaneous inductor current as feedback. Direct current control adds the current

feedback. And for Indirect current control, current feedback is not added.

2.3.1 Discontinuous conduction mode

We call Discontinuous Conduction Mode as Voltage-follower Control. There are two

control modes, one is constant frequency mode and the other is variable frequency mode

[9]. In order to get steady output voltage, we need output voltage closed loop feedback

control, of which the switch is controlled by the output voltage error signal. During one

switching circle, the mean value of the inductor current is in proportion to the output

voltage, so that the input current follows the input voltage automatically.

a. Constant frequency mode

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 Fig.2.10 shows the DCM control strategy of Boost circuit. We set the frequency

bandwidth of voltage regulator at 10-20Hz, so that the duty circle is steady during half of

the frequency period. In constant frequency mode, the switching frequency stays constant

and the inductor current is discontinuous. And the average inductor current during a

switching cycle is written as below [10]:

:; <=> (<=> ?<;=> )
𝐼789 = (2.8)
$@<A

Vd is the rectified voltage, Ton is the conducting time when the switch S is on, Tdon is

the freewheeling time of the diode VD and Ts is the switching cycle.

In the equation, we assume Tdon is constant and we take the input port of DC-DC

converter as pure resistance. So for the AC side, the voltage and the current are of the

same phase. Actually, Tdon is not constant so there is some degree of distortion of the

average input current. The greater the ratio of the output voltage over the peak of the

input voltage, the smaller the distortion will be [11].

22


Fig.2.10 DCM mode of boost circuit

b. Variable frequency mode

In the equation (2.7), if Ts=Ton+Tdon, the average input current is only related to the

time when the switch is on. So if Ton is constant, there should be no distortion on input

current, and this is how the variable frequency mode works. When the duty circle and the

switching frequency is constant, the average input current is in proportion to the input

voltage. So we don’t have to regulate the current, and the average input current is

following input voltage automatically.

• Advantages of DCM mode:

(1) The circuit structure is simple, and it is not necessary to add multiplier.

(2) The input current follows the input voltage automatically.

(3) The diode won’t suffer the impulse current caused by backward recovery.

23
 • Disadvantages of DCM mode:

(1) The inductor current is discontinuous so there is large ripple current, and the filter need

to satisfy high requirements [12].

(2) The output contains the second harmonic, and the power devices take a little bit large

current stress.

(3) The power of the single phase PFC is usually smaller than 200W.

2.3.2 Continuous conduction mode (CCM)

We can divide CCM into two control mode, one is indirect current control, and the

other is direct current control.

a. Indirect current control mode

For indirect current control, it’s also known as phase amplitude control. It is a control

mode which is based on steady frequency. Through regulating the input voltage of the

rectifier, making it at specific phase and amplitude related with source voltage, we can

regulate the AC input current to be sinusoidal wave, and also at the same phase with the

input voltage. The advantage of this control mode is that its structure is clean and easy to

build [13]. And there are also some disadvantages of this circuit. It can’t limit the current,

so we have to add an overcurrent protection circuit. Furthermore, in transition from a

steady state to another, there will be DC component in current wave. In addition, the

dynamic response of this system is slow.

b. Direct current control mode [4] [14]

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 In direct current control mode, the circuit contains multipliers so it is also called

multiplier approach control. The basic idea of this control mode is to feed the input

voltage signal and the output voltage signal into the multiplier, and then make the output

signal of multiplier as reference current signal of current controller. The current

controller will control the input current to vary and follow the reference signal. The

disadvantage of this circuit is that the circuit is kind of complicated compared to indirect

current control. In this control mode, we sometimes need to add a current loop

compensation network; the output contains second harmonic; the dynamic response is

also very slow; and the nonlinear distortion of multiplier will increase the harmonic in the

current. Because the input current always contains ripple of switching frequency, we have

to decide which current should be the feedback. So there are three kind of control mode.

The first one is peak current mode control. The second one is hysteresis current mode

control and the last one is average current mode control. These three control modes are

widely used in APFC.

Now we take Boost PFC circuit as an example to introduce the principle of these three

control modes. And we assume they all work as CCM.

(1) Peak current mode control

Fig.2.11(a)-(b) shows the schematic diagram of peak current mode control. The

switching period is T and stays constant. We multiply the input voltage signal with the

feedback signal of the output voltage, and we can get a current control reference signal

which is the same phase and same frequency with input voltage. When the switch is on

and inductor L is getting charged, we compare the inductor current with the current

25
control reference signal. When the inductor current rises to the reference signal, the

switch is shut down by logical control. Then the inductor starts discharging, and after a

switching cycle the switch is closed again. Fig.2.11(b) shows the inductor current iL and

switch control voltage Vg.

As the peak of inductor current increased sinusoidal, the duty circle of control

waveform will vary from a large value to a small one. During half of the switching cycle,

the duty cycle is sometimes greater than 0.5 and sometimes smaller than 0.5. When the

duty cycle is larger than 0.5, the outside interference will be amplified, and the system

current is not convergent, which may lead to sub-harmonic oscillation. So it is necessary

to add a slope compensation or a ramp. Under this condition, the circuit will work well

and stable when the duty circle changes [4] [11].

The main problem of Peak Current Mode Control is that we are trying to control the

peak of inductor current, but we cannot ensure that average input current is in proportion

to input current. And in some cases, it will generate a large error, so there might be large

distortion which we don’t expect. On the other hand, the peak current is very sensitive to

noise. So in PFC circuit, we don’t tend to use peak current mode control anymore.

26
 Fig.2.11(a) Peak current mode control PFC

Fig.2.11(b) Peak current mode control inductor current waveform

27
(2) Hysteresis current control [15] [16]

Fig.2.12(a)-(b) shows the hysteresis current control Boost PFC circuit and the control

waveform of switch S and inductor current iL in half of the switching circle. Different

from peak current control mode, the variable we take control in this control mode is the

range of the inductor current. We multiply the input voltage signal with the feedback

signal of the output voltage, then we will have two different current control reference

signals which are same phase and same frequency with the input voltage. We call larger

signal upper bound reference current loop signal and the smaller one lower bound

reference current loop signal. We detect the inductor current and compare it with the two

reference current signals. The control strategy is as follows:

• When the switch S is on, the inductor L will be charged, and the detected inductor

current is compared with the upper bound reference current loop signal. And when

the inductor current rises to the upper bound, the trigger logic control will cut off

the switch S and the inductor starts discharging.

• When the inductor current falls to lower bound, the trigger logic control will turn

on the switch and the inductor L gets charged.

In this control mode, the conducting time of switch S is constant, but the shutdown

time varies. So the switching cycle is not constant. The bandwidth of hysteresis decides

the size of the ripple, which can be constant or in proportion to instantaneous average

current.

28


Fig.2.12(a) Hysteresis current control PFC

For Boost PFC, hysteresis current control is a simple control mode, because we have

no extra modulation signal. And we can get wide current bandwidth and fast dynamic

response. The disadvantage of this circuit is very obvious, that is, the load has large

effects on the switch, so when we design the filter we need to consider the lowest

switching frequency. Also the hysteresis bandwidth has large effect on switching

frequency and system performance. Moreover, when source voltage approaches zero the

difference between two reference signals is very small, so we always need some

compensation for this circuit.

29


Fig.2.12(b) Hysteresis current control inductor current waveform

(3) Average current mode control

Fig.2.13(a) shows the schematic diagram of average current mode control. This kind of

circuit is most widely used in PFC, and the inductor current waveform is shown in

Fig.2.13(b). We multiply the rectified input voltage with amplified error signal of output

voltage, and take the result as the reference signal. Through current loop regulation, we

can control the average current and make it same phase with the input voltage. We detect

the input current directly and then compare it with the reference current, and then the

high frequency components will be average processed by the current error amplifier.

Then we compare the amplified average current error with the sawtooth wave ramp and

generate the switch driving signal, which decides the duty circle. So the current error will

be eliminated in a fast speed [17].

30


Fig.2.13(a) Average current mode control PFC

The advantage of average current mode control is that the variable is the average of

input current, so the THD and EMI is small; it is not sensitive to noise; it can work under

both CCM and DCM mode; and the switching frequency is constant so it is good for high

power applications. And this is the most widely used control mode in PFC.

31


Fig.2.13(b) Average current mode control inductor current waveform

2.4 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Boost APFC

Advantages:

(1) The input current is continuous, and the EMI as well as the THD are small.

(2) It contains the input inductor, so there is less requirement for input filter. The input

inductor can protect the main circuit from the high frequency transient impulse coming

from power grid.

(3) The output voltage is larger than the peak of input voltage.

(4) The maximum voltage across the transistor switch S is smaller than the output voltage.

(5) It’s easy to control the switch and the potential of the source is zero.

(6) It can work properly under a wide range of voltage and frequency.

Disadvantages:

32
(1) There is no insulation between the input and the output.

(2) If there is stray inductance in the loop composed by the switch S, diode D and the output

capacitor C, there will be an overvoltage in the condition of 25-100KHz PWM

frequency. So it is not safe for switch S.

Normally, boost APFC circuit is used for hundreds of watts to several kilowatts.

2.5 Summary

• In this chapter, the definition of power factor and the relationship between power factor

and harmonic are described.

• Several common APFC main circuit topologies are listed, and their characteristics are

compared and analyzed.

• The main circuit topology of several improved single-phase power factor correction is

introduced, and the function of the circuit is analyzed.

• In this chapter, the control method of power factor correction technology is analyzed in

detail, the principle of work is analyzed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each

method and its application are pointed out.

• In the end, the advantages of APFC type Boost circuit are summarized.

33
 Chapter 3: Design and simulation of the PFC boost converter

The design is based on the two-stage level 1 charging system in electric and hybrid

electric vehicles. And the PFC circuit in the system is to correct the power factor and

stabilize the voltage to the DC/DC stage. And the load is set as an equivalent resistor in

this design. And there are several PFC topologies used in the market these days, but this

design is based on conventional PFC circuit. And the main circuit is shown in Fig.3.1.

Fig.3.1 Conventional boost PFC circuit

3.1 System Main Circuit Design

3.1.1 Specifications

Determine the Operating Requirements for the Active Power Factor Corrector.

a. Rated output power Po: 1.5kW

34
b. AC input voltage range: 85-140VAC

c. Grid frequency range: 60±1Hz

d. Output DC voltage Uo: 400V

e. Switch frequency fsw: 50kHz

f. Efficiency h: >94%

3.1.2 Input filter capacitor selection [18]

The input filter capacitor is required to withstand input transient voltage as well as the

superposition of the ripple voltage. The maximum high frequency ripple voltage ratio

r=∆VL/VL≈0.02~0.08, when considering the worst condition is the minimum input

voltage. ∆VL is the ripple voltage across the inductor, and VL is the inductor voltage.

The formula for calculating the input filter capacitor is:

EFGA •IF
𝐶C' ≥ (3.1)
:FGA(GJ>) •K•LA

Kr is the ripple current coefficient, fs is the switch frequency and ws=2πfs, Vrms(min) is

the minimum input voltage, Irms is the rms value of the input current. Set Kr=0.2, r=0.05,

fs=50kHz, and we can get Cin≥2.64µF. We select 3µF as the input filter capacitor.

3.1.3 Boost inductor selection [1]

The inductor is composed of a winding and a magnetic core, which plays the role of

energy transfer, storage and filtering, and determines the magnitude of the high frequency

ripple in the input current. The design of the inductor is crucial to the performance,

35
efficiency and function of the circuit, and whether the effect of the inductor can be

satisfied.

When it is the minimum input current, current ripple is the maximum. In order to

guarantee that the input current ripple meets the requirement in that situation, we need to

calculate the inductor when the it is the minimum input voltage [19] [20].
∆EO
𝐿 = 𝑉C' (3.2)
P<A

:J> P<A :J> P

𝐿= = (3.3)
∆EO QA ∆EO

In equations (3.2) and (3.3), L is the inductance, ∆IL is the inductor ripple current, Ts is

the switching period and D is the duty cycle.

a. Calculate the peak of the maximum input current:

$RJ> $×#TUU
𝐼RI = = = 24.96 𝐴 (3.4)
:J>(GJ>) VT

In equation (3.4), Pin is the input power.

b. The maximum inductor current ripple ∆𝐼@ allowed is normally set as 20% of the

maximum peak inductor current:

∆𝐼@ = 0.2𝐼RI = 0.2×24.96 = 5 𝐴 (3.5)

c. Calculate the duty cycle when the inductor current gets to the maximum peak. When

the input voltage reaches the peak, the input current reaches the peak with the

maximum ripple current. Therefore, we should calculate the duty cycle when it is the

minimum input voltage:

36
 := _ $:J>(GJ>) `UU_ $×VT
𝐷= = = 0.7 (3.6)
:= `UU

In equation (3.6), Vo is the output DC voltage.

d. At last, we can calculate the value of the boost inductor combining equation (3.3),

(3.5) and (3.6):

$:J>(GJ>) ∙P $×VT×U.c
𝐿= = = 0.44(𝑚𝐻) (3.7)
QA ∙∆EO TU×#Ud ×T

3.1.4 Output capacitor selection

When selecting the output capacitor, the second harmonic current, the switching

frequency ripple current, the DC output voltage, the output voltage ripple [21], and the

hold-up time are considered. The total current through the output capacitor is the second

harmonic of line current and the rms value of switching frequency ripple current. Usually

we choose aluminum electrolytic capacitors that have long life, low leakage resistance,

ability to resist large ripple current and work in a wide range.

There are two ways to design the output capacitance. The first one is to meet the

requirement of the output ripple voltage, and the second one is to satisfy the hold-up

time. In this design, we directly use the second method. And we set the hold-up time as

35ms and minimum output DC voltage as 350V [22].

$R= •∆g $×#TUU×4T×#Ujd

𝐶f = i = = 2.8(𝑚𝐹) (3.8)
h=i _h=(GJ>) `UUi _4TUi

In equation (3.8), Po is the output power, ∆t is the hold-up time, Uo(min) is the minimum

output DC voltage.

37
3.1.5 Current sensing resistor selection

Normally there are two methods to sense the current, connecting a resistor in series in

the line or using current transformer. Using sensing resistor will be cheaper than the other

method, and it is mainly applied in low power and low current situations. So in this

design, we use sensing resistor to detect the input current. The voltage across the sensing

resistor will be modulated by the current loop and force the input current to be sinusoidal.

The dissipation power on sensing resistor should be below 10W, we set the power as

5W [18].
RA RA T
𝑅m = i = = = 0.016(𝛺) (3.9)
En(nop) (Eqr $)i ($`.st $)i

In equation (3.9), Ps is the power dissipated on the sensing resistor, and IR(RMS) is the

rms value of the current through the sensing resistor. For convenience, we select Rs to be

0.02Ω [22].

3.1.6 Power switch transistor and diodes selection [18]

When the switch transistor turns on, the diode reverse cutoff and the current flowing

through the transistor is the inductor current, and the reverse voltage across the diode is

output voltage. When the switch transistor turns off, the diode conducts forward. The

voltage across the switch transistor is the output voltage, and the current flowing through

the diode is the inductor current.

38
 So, when selecting power switch transistor and diodes, the rated voltage must be

greater than the output voltage, and the rated current must be greater than the maximum

inductor current. We take the safety margin of voltage and current to be 1.2 and 1.5.

VK7gwx ≥ 1.2𝑉f = 1.2×400 = 480 𝑉 (3.10)

𝐼K7gwx ≥ 1.5𝐼@(y7z) = 1.5𝐼RI = 1.5×24.96 = 37.44 𝐴 (3.11)

3.2 APFC Control Circuit Design

PFC circuit has the both the function of rectification and voltage stabilization, that is,

the rectification requires the input power factor to be 1, and the voltage stabilization

requires stable output voltage. Therefore, PFC circuit must be applied voltage feedback

and current feedback simultaneously to form a dual loop control system. The outer loop

is to keep the output voltage stable, and the inner loop shape the input current to make it a

standard sinusoidal waveform with the same phase of the input voltage.

Ui Boost Power Uo
Stage IL
PWM
Input Modulator
Current Inductor
Detection Current Output
Current Voltage
Detection
Regulator Detection

Voltage Voltage
Regulator Multiplier Regulator

Fig.3.2 Control structure block diagram of PFC circuit

39
 According to the above ideas, the control circuit of PFC can be drawn, and the control

structure diagram is shown in Fig.3.2. In the figure, the boost power level represents the

main circuit boost converter of PFC, of which the power device is controlled by the

output signal conduction ratio (D) of the current controller, and operates in switch mode

and achieve input current shaping and output voltage stabling.

Voltage regulator is used to improve the dynamic characteristics of the PFC output

voltage. Its output signal Ue is multiplied by the instantaneously detected input voltage

signal in the multiplier, and then divided by square of the input voltage rms value, then

we constitute the reference current signal. After that, the reference current is compared

with the instantaneously detected input current signal, and the result is processed by the

PWM technology to achieve input current control to drive the switch.

3.2.1 Current control loop design for PFC circuit [1]

Current loop is the inner loop, which modulates the duty cycle of the power switch

transistor, and force the input current to track the input voltage waveform. Because the

input voltage is full-wave rectified waveform and contains rich harmonics, the current

control loop must have enough bandwidth. While designing current control loop, we

suppose the output voltage fully tracks the reference voltage, which is a constant value.

40
 We can draw the ACM controlled current control loop as Fig.3.3. It consists of the

current error amplifier, the pulse width modulator (PWM) and the power stage. In this

figure, GCEA(s) represents the transfer function of the current error amplifier; GPWM(s)

represents the transfer function of the pulse width modulator; and GP(s) represents the

transfer function that the voltage across the sensing resistor Rs is controlled by the duty

cycle D.

iref iL
GCEA(s) GPWM(s) GP(s)

Fig.3.3 Current control loop structure

a. Power stage

In one switch cycle, the inductor voltage is:

xCO
𝐿 = 𝑈C , 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑛 (3.12)
xg

xCO
𝐿 = 𝑈C − 𝑈f , 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓𝑓 (3.13)
xg

According to the state space averaging technic, we can get:

:= •P(m)
𝐼@ 𝑠 = (3.14)
‰•@

And we can calculate the power stage transfer function:

:A (m) ‹A •EO (m) ‹A •:=

𝐺R 𝑠 = = = (3.15)
P(m) P(m) m•@

b. Pulse width modulator

The principle of the PWM generator is shown as Fig.3.4.

41
 V

ON OFF

Fig.3.4 Pulse width modulator

The peak-peak voltage Vr of the sawtooth signal is set as 2.5V [23]. And the duty

cycle is get from the calculation of Vr minus the output signal of the current error

amplifier Vc. So we can get the transfer function:

∆P #
𝐺RŒ• 𝑠 = = (3.16)
∆:Ž :F

c. Current error amplifier

We use a PI controller to achieve the function of the current error amplifier [24]:
•JŽ
𝐺••‘ 𝑠 = 𝑘“” + (3.17)
m

So the open loop transfer function of the current loop is:

𝐺C 𝑠 = 𝐺••‘ 𝑠 • 𝐺RŒ• 𝑠 • 𝐺R 𝑠 (3.18)

In order to give the current loop enough bandwidth to track the reference current, the

open loop crossover frequency of the current loop is set 5kHz. And to make the system

stable and have a proper respond speed, the phase margin is set 45˚ [25]. So we could

write the two functions as below:

G— s = G˜™š s • G›œ• s • G› s =1 (3.19)

42
 ∠G— s = −180˚ + 45˚ (3.20)

So we can calculate the parameters of the current loop PI controller, kpc=2.16 and

kic=6.79×104. And we can write the transfer function of the current error amplifier and

the current control loop:

t.cs×#U
G˜™š s = 2.16 + (3.21)
¡

‹A •:= •JŽ U.U$×`UU t.cs×#U #c.$Vm?T.`4$×#U¢

𝐺C 𝑠 = 𝑘“” + = 2.16 + = (3.22)
m•@•:F m m×U.``×#Ujd ×$.T m U.UU##m i

Fig.3.5 Bode diagram of the power stage

43
 Fig.3.6 Bode diagram of the current error amplifier

Fig.3.7 Bode diagram of the current open loop

44
 From the simulation of MATLAB in Fig.3.5-3.7, we can see that when the |Gp(s)|=1,

the crossover frequency of the power stage is around 2.86KHz. So the bandwidth of the

power stage is too small and needs to be compensated, and it should be improved to

around 5KHz. And after the signal going through the current error amplifier as designed,

the magnitude of the current open loop |Gi(s)|=1 at 4.8KHz. So the design meets the

requirement of the compensation and keeps the system stable.

3.2.2 Voltage control loop design for PFC circuit [1]

Voltage control loop is the outer loop, which provides the reference current signal for

the inner current control loop, and stable the output DC voltage of the PFC system by

modulate the magnitude of the reference current signal. In the study of the voltage control

loop, we could ignore the input voltage ripple in one switch cycle because the speed of

the outer loop is much slower than the inner loop. And to simplify the analysis, we

suppose that inductor current fully tracts the reference current, that is the inner closed

current control loop is ideal, and also we suppose the output power is constant and the

input average power equals the output average power.

The voltage control loop can be drawn as Fig.3.8, and it includes the voltage error

amplifier, the closed current control loop and the boost stage. In the figure below,

GVEA(s) represents the transfer function of the voltage error amplifier; the constant 1

represents the inner closed current control loop; and Gbst(s) represents the transfer

function of the boost stage.

45
 Vref Vo
GVEA(s) 1 Gbst(s)

Fig.3.8 Voltage control loop structure

a. Boost stage

The function of the iref can be write as below [25]:

IG •IJ> •:£ • 8J IG •IJ> •:£ •:J FGA • mC'Lg

𝑖KwQ = i = 2 i (3.23)
:¤¤ :¤¤

In the function, Km is the current control loop coefficient and equals to constant 1; Kin

is the input voltage sampling coefficient and is set 1/80 [23]; Vi(rms) is the rms value of the

input voltage; Vv is the output signal of the voltage error amplifier; Vff is the feedforward
$
voltage, and the denominator 𝑉QQ of the equation makes the input power not vary with the

change of the input voltage.

And we also have the equation of the inductor current iL:

IJ •RJ • mC'Lg
𝑖@ = 2 (3.24)
:J(FGA)

Ki is the input current sampling coefficient; Pi is the input average power. And then we

have:

𝑃C = 𝑃f = 𝑉f • 𝐼f (3.25)

Po is the output average power; Vo and Io are the steady state components of the output

voltage and current.

Then according to the equations above, we have:

46
 IG •IJ> •:£ :J FGA $
𝑉f • 𝐼f = ( ) = 𝐾¦mg • 𝑉8 (3.26)
IJ :¤¤

IG •IJ> :J FGA $
𝐾¦mg = ( ) (3.27)
IJ :¤¤

Kbst is a constant, and Vo, Io and Vv are DC operating points of the voltage loop.

Considering the output of the PFC circuit, we have:

R= x§=
𝑖f = +𝐶 (3.28)
§= xg

Because Po is assumed constant, we solve the equation in small-signal analysis

method:

I¨A© •§£ x§=

=𝐶 (3.29)
:= xg

In the equation above, 𝑢f and 𝑢8 are small-signal perturbations. So using Laplace

transformation we can get the transfer function of the voltage control boost stage:

§= I¨A©
𝐺¦mg 𝑠 = = (3.30)
§£ ••:= •m

b. Voltage error amplifier

The input frequency of the system is 60Hz, so the second harmonic output voltage

ripple is at 120Hz. In order to restrain the affection of the second harmonic output voltage

ripple to the current control loop, the voltage open loop crossover frequency is normally

set 1/10 of the second harmonic frequency. So in this design, the crossover frequency is

set 12Hz.

And the transfer function of the voltage error amplifier is written as [18]:
•£
𝐺:•‘ = (3.31)
#?m LŽ£

47
 So the open loop transfer function of the voltage loop is:

𝐺8 𝑠 = 𝐾8m • 𝐺:•‘ 𝑠 • 𝐺¦mg 𝑠 (3.32)

Kvs is the output voltage sampling coefficient and is set 1/80 [23].

Also to make the system stable and well responded, the phase margin of the open

voltage loop is set 45˚ [25]. Therefore, we can get:

𝐺8 𝑠 = 𝐾8m • 𝐺:•‘ 𝑠 • 𝐺¦mg 𝑠 =1 (3.33)

∠𝐺8 𝑠 = −180˚ + 45˚ (3.34)

Then we calculate the parameters of the voltage error amplifier, and get kv=2.8149 and

# VU
wcv=75.4 rad/s. After calculation we also get Kbst= ( 2π 4)$ =4840. And we can
U.U$

write the transfer function of the voltage error amplifier and the voltage control loop:
$.V#`s
𝐺:•‘ = (3.35)
#?m cT.`

# •£ I¨A© # $.V#`s `V`U #.4t×#U

𝐺8 𝑠 = • • = • • = (3.36)
VU #?m LŽ£ ••:= •m VU #?m cT.` $.V×#Ujd ×`UUm Vs.tm?#.#VVm i

48
 Fig.3.9 Bode diagram of the boost stage

Fig.3.10 Bode diagram of the voltage error amplifier

49
 Fig.3.11 Bode diagram of the voltage open loop

According to the simulation results of MATLAB in Fig.3.9-3.11, we can get that when

the |Gbst(s)|=1, the crossover frequency of the boost stage is around 340Hz. So the

bandwidth of the voltage loop is too large and needs to be compensated, and it should be

improved to around 12Hz. Then taking the designed current error amplifier into the

voltage loop, the magnitude of the voltage open loop |Gv(s)|=1 at around 13Hz. So the

design meets the requirement of the compensation and stabilizes the system.

3.3 System Simulation and Results Analysis

According to the calculations above, I use Simulink to build the circuit and run the

simulation. The circuit consists of an internal current loop and an external voltage loop,

and the two loops are connected together by a multiplier. There are two input ports of the

50
multiplier. One is the AC sinusoidal half wave signal, which is the rectified given AC

sinusoidal wave signal; the other one is the difference of the output DC bus sampling

voltage and the reference voltage, and the difference will go through a first order process

and the amplitude will be limited. The output of the multiplier is also an AC sinusoidal

half wave signal, whose amplitude is regulated by the output DC bus voltage. The

multiplier output works as the reference value of the current loop, and it is compared with

the inductor sampling current and outputs the result to the PI controller and get adjusted,

and at last PWM drive signal can be generated and control the operation of the MOSFET.

Fig.3.12 APFC simulation mode schematic in Simulink

The parameters applied in the simulation: input AC voltage is 110V/60Hz, the boost

inductor L=0.44mH, the output filter capacitor C=2.8mF, and the load resistor RL=106Ω.

51
 Fig.3.13 shows the contrast diagram of the input AC current and the input AC voltage

waveforms. The input voltage signal is scaled by 1/15 so that it is easier to compare.

From the figure we can obvious see that the input current waveform is standard

sinusoidal waveform and is nearly the same phase with the input voltage waveform. The

input current peak value is around 20A, and the current ripple peak-to-peak value is

below 5A, which satisfy the design objective.

Fig.3.14 shows the output DC voltage waveform. The average value of the output

voltage is about 393.5V, and the voltage ripple peak-to-peak value is below 4V, which

meets the requirements of the design.

Through the output power calculating component that I designed in the Simulink, it is

shown that the output power is 1461W, which is very close to the design goal. And

through the power factor calculating component that I designed in the Simulink, the

power factor is shown as 99.74%, which means the PFC circuit greatly improves the

power factor of the boost circuit. The frequency spectrum diagram is shown in Fig.3.15,

and the THD of the input current is 7.05%, which is largely reduced.

52
 30 30

iin iin
20 20

10 10

0 0
vin vin
-10 -10

-20 -20

1.3 1.305 1.31 1.315 1.32 1.325 t(s) 1.3 1.301 1.303 1.305 1.307 t(s)

(a) (b)

Fig.3.13 Input current and input voltage waves

400 396

395.5
350
395
300
394.5
250 394

200 393.5

393
150
392.5
100 392

50 391.5

0 0.2 0.6 0.8 t(s) 1.29 1.3 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 t(s)
0.4 1 1.2

(a) (b)

Fig.3.14 Output DC voltage wave

53
 0.1
0.14

0.12 0.09

0.1
0.08
Mag(A)

0.08
0.07
0.06
0.06
0.04

0.05
0.02
0 0.04
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Harmonic order 0.85 0.9 0.95

(a) (b)

Fig.3.15 Diagram of the input current (a) frequency spectrum, (b) THD

Fig.3.16-3.19 shows the input voltage and input current waveforms and frequency

spectrum of a group of different input voltage. Through the figures we can see that the

input current waveforms are standard sinusoidal waveforms and are strictly the same

phase with the input voltage waves.

30
0.14

20
iin
0.12

10 0.1

0.08
Mag(A)

0
0.06
-10
vin
0.04
20
0.02
-30
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0.675 0.68 0.685 0.69 0.695 0.7 0.705 t(s) Harmonic order

Fig.3.16 When the input voltage is 90V, the diagram of (a) the input voltage and

current (b) frequency spectrum

54
 20 iin
15 0.12
10
0.1
5

Mag(A)
0.08
0
0.06
-5 vin
0.04
-10

-15 0.02

-20 0
2 4 6 8 10 12
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 t(s) Harmonic order

Fig.3.17 When the input voltage is 120V, the diagram of (a) the input voltage and

current (b) frequency spectrum

20
iin
0.12
15

10 0.1

5 0.08
Mag(A)

-5
vin 0.06

0.04
10

-15 0.02

-20 0
2 4 6 8 10 12
0.73 0.735 0.74 0.745 0.75 0.755 t(s) Harmonic order

Fig.3.18 When the input voltage is 130V, the diagram of (a) the input voltage and

current (b) frequency spectrum

55
 20
iin
0.12

15
0.1
10
0.08
5

Mag(A)
0 0.06
vin
-5
0.04
10
0.02
-15
0
-20 4 6 8 10
2 12
0.73 0.735 0.74 0.745 0.75 0.755 t(s) Harmonic order

Fig.3.19 When the input voltage is 140V, the diagram of (a) the input voltage and

current (b) frequency spectrum

Table 3.1-3.4 shows the output DC voltage, PF value and harmonic currents in the

range of AC input voltage at 1500W as well as in 110VAC input voltage at different

input power. We can see that when the input power is too small (below 1kW), the THD is

too large and the system is not working in the perfect status. And in other conditions, the

magnitude of the harmonic currents satisfies the requirement. And the result of the power

factor correction is pretty good.

Table 3.1: Output DC voltage and PF value in the range of AC input voltage at 1500W

Output DC
Input voltage Input current Power Factor Input power
voltage

(V) (A) (%) (W)

(V)

90 17.38 393.5 99.66 1460

56
 110 14.15 393.5 99.74 1461

120 12.96 393.6 99.67 1462

130 11.94 393.5 99.58 1461

140 11.08 393.5 99.48 1461

Table 3.2: Odd harmonic current values in the range of AC input voltage at 1500W

Input 3rd harmonic 5th harmonic 7th harmonic 9th harmonic

THD
current component component component component
(%)
(A) (A) (A) (A) (A)

17.38 0.13 0.01 0.04 0.02 5.25

14.15 0.13 0.03 0.02 0.04 7.05

12.96 0.13 0.02 0.03 0.02 8.01

11.94 0.12 0.02 0.04 0.01 9.04

11.08 0.11 0.04 0.01 0.04 9.95

57
 Table 3.3: Output DC voltage and PF value in 110VAC input voltage at different input

power

Input voltage Input current Output DC Power Factor Input power

(V) (A) voltage (%) (W)

(V)

110 5.21 402 98.13 506.71

110 7.04 400.7 98.96 702.8

110 9.72 398 99.46 990.03

110 14.15 393.5 99.74 1461

110 16.6 391 99.81 1720

110 18.25 389.2 99.84 1895

110 22.29 385.3 99.89 2318

110 26.19 381.2 99.92 2725

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 Table 3.4: Odd harmonic current values in 110VAC input voltage at different input

power

Input 3rd harmonic 5th harmonic 7th harmonic 9th harmonic

THD
current component component component component
(%)
(A) (A) (A)
(A) (A)

5.21 0.07 0.04 0.03 0.04 19.33

7.04 0.07 0.03 0.02 0.03 14.30

9.72 0.1 0.03 0.02 0.03 10.28

14.15 0.13 0.03 0.02 0.04 7.05

16.6 0.15 0.03 0.02 0.04 6.00

18.25 0.17 0.04 0.02 0.04 5.45

22.29 0.2 0.03 0.02 0.05 4.49

26.19 0.23 0.04 0.02 0.05 3.88

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3.4 Summary

The boost PFC circuit can work properly for the first level charging of electric vehicle.

It can operate in a range of input voltage and input power. And it achieves the shaping of

the input current waveform and stabilizing the output voltage. The input voltage range is

85-140 VAC, the input power range is 1-3kW, the power factor stays more than 99%, and

THD stays below 10%.

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 Conclusion

The power factor and harmonic pollution influence to the grid from the power

electronic devices is an increasingly prominent problem. For the research and design of

power electronic devices, it has been more and more focused on the whole operation

characteristics of the system other than only considering the output characteristics of the

system. To build the PFC circuit in EV charging system, not only we need to consider the

output voltage, current features and adaptability to load, but also we should take into

account the input features to reduce adverse effects.

In my design, the PFC circuit is applied in EV first level two-stage charging system,

which is mostly operated in the common house hold circuit. Therefore, I set the rated

output power 1.5kW, output DC voltage around 400V, frequency 60±1Hz. And also I set

AC input voltage range 85-140VAC, and the available output power range around 1-

3kW. First I calculated and designed the main circuit of the PFC system, which will meet

the requirements of the input and output voltage as well as output power. After that I

successively designed the inner current control loop and the outer voltage control loop.

To complete the design of the dual-loop controller, I calculated the transfer functions of

each loop and discussed the magnitude of the open loop transfer function and the phase

margin of each loop. Then, I run the complete system in Simulink and got figures and

data of some signals and do the comparison and analysis. Finally, through the research of

the results of the simulation, I verified that this PFC system works in the specified

conditions properly. In the results, we can see that under the first level charging

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specifications, the PFC system will offer more than 99% PF for the circuit, and reduce

the THD to less than 10%. It totally achieves the goal of rectifying, high input power

factor, boosting voltage, stabilizing the output voltage and small ripples. Therefore, this

design could be applied in the EV first level charging.

Still, there are things to be improved. Adding soft switch technology will do good to

this PFC system, which can make it a very simple, efficient, high efficiency, high

reliability way to achieve the transformation of electrical energy.

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