Co-Design of the Control and Power Stages of a Boost-Based Rectifier with Power Factor Correction Depending on Performance Criteria

Abstract

Rectifiers with power factor correction are key devices to supply DC loads from AC sources, guaranteeing a power factor close to one and low total harmonic distortion. Boost-based power factor correction rectifiers are the most widely used topology and they are formed by a power stage (diode bridge and Boost converter) and a control system. However, there is a relevant control problem, because controllers are designed with linearized models of the converters for a specific operating point; consequently, the required dynamic performance and stability of the whole system for different operating points are not guaranteed. Another weak and common practice is to design the power and control stages independently. This paper proposes a co-design procedure for both the power stage and the control system of a Boost-based PFC rectifier, which is focused on guaranteeing the system’s stability in any operating conditions. Moreover, the design procedure assures a maximum switching frequency and the fulfillment of different design requirements for the output voltage: maximum overshoot and settling time before load disturbances, maximum ripple, and the desired damping ratio. The proposed control has a cascade structure, where the inner loop is a sliding-mode controller (SMC) to track the inductor current reference, and the outer loop is an adaptive PI regulator of the output voltage, which manipulates the amplitude of the inductor current reference. The paper includes the stability analysis of the SMC, the design procedure of the inductor to guarantee the system stability, and the design of the adaptive PI controller parameters and the capacitor to achieve the desired dynamic performance of the output voltage. The proposed rectifier is simulated in PSIM and the results validate the co-design procedures and show that the proposed system is stable for any operating conditions and satisfies the design requirements.