A power factor correction circuit capable of ultra-wide input voltage range

Abstract

This paper presents a power factor correction circuit which can handle ultra-wide input voltage range for industrial applications. The proposed solution expands the input voltage from ordinary universal range, from 85Vac to 265Vac, to ultra-wide range, from 85Vac to 520Vac. The output voltage of the PFC can be changed according to the input voltage level. After a thorough analysis among PFC circuits, it is concluded that the three-level ac/dc boost PFC circuit with range switch presents the best performance under the given specifications. Furthermore, by using three-level structure on the consecutive dc/dc stage, the whole power supply can achieve a fairly constant high efficiency curve throughout the input voltage range. A 280W, 80Vac-520Vac input, 380V and 760V output, laboratory prototype is built for experimental verification. The efficiency of the proposed PFC circuit is higher than 95% throughout the input voltage range. A good agreement is obtained between the measurement results and the theoretical prediction.