An efficient single-switch quasi-active PFC converter with continuous input current and low DC-bus voltage stress

This paper proposes a novel single-switch quasi-active power factor correction (PFC) converter based on two flyback dc/dc modules. To achieve a high efficiency, part of the input power is directly transferred to the load by the first dc/dc module. The rest of the input power is stored in the dc-bus capacitor and reprocessed by the second dc/dc module. Together, the dc-bus capacitor and the second dc/dc module also serve as a regenerative snubber. Furthermore, a quasi-active PFC circuit is provided to improve the power factor and to ensure the continuous current mode (CCM) operation of the input inductor without the need for sophisticated feedforward sensing and control mechanism. The quasi-active PFC circuit is driven by a magnetic switch, through the tertiary winding of the transformer of the first flyback module. The input current harmonics of the proposed converter meet the IEC 61000-3-2 (Classes A, C, and D) requirements. The dc-bus capacitor voltage is always less than the input voltage regardless of the load condition and is fairly invariant to large variations of the input voltages. High power factor with CCM operation and fast output voltage regulation have been achieved through a single-loop controller. Operating principles, analysis, and experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter. © 2013 IEEE