Performance Evaluation of a Permanent Magnet Electric-Drive- Reconfigured Onboard Charger with Active Power Factor Correction

This paper presents a comprehensive charging operation for an electric-drive-reconfigured onboard charger(EDROC)with active power factor correction(APFC).The charging topology exclusively utilizes the three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor(PMSM)propulsion system as a three-channel boost-type converter in which only a contactor and a small diode bridge are added.First,the operation scenario of the EDROC is introduced.Second,the relationship between electromagnetic torque and rotor position is investigated.Third,the current ripple cancellation of the EDROC is discussed in detail.Moreover,to implement the single-phase APFC along with charging voltage/current regulation of propulsion battery,control strategies including current balancing and synchronous/interleaving PWM strategies are incorporated.Finally,200W proof-of-concept prototype-based tests are conducted under different operation scenarios.

Isolated single stage high power factor AC/DC converter

The problem of harmonic pollution has brought wide attention with the increase of power customers. The adoption of the technology of active power factor correction (APFC) with advanced high frequency power converter is a more efficient solution to the problem of harmonic pollution. A single stage isolated high power factor AC/DC converter, which features wide range DC output, high power factor, lower harmonic pollution in input current, and phase shift PWM full bridge circuit can achieve soft switching. The principle of the circuit topology and the reasons of voltage surges across the power switch are analyzed. Experiment results illustrate that this circuit has the advantages of high power factor and lower harmonic distortion.

Economic Improvement of Power Factor Correction: A Case Study

Power factor (PF) is simply an expression of energy efficiency, which is always expressed in terms of percentage. Technically, PF is a ratio of real power in Kilowatts to the apparent power, which is always expressed in kilovolts amperes. In AC power analysis, power is always expressed in three ways, the real power (P), reactive power (Q), and the apparent power (S). The real power is the work useful power, while the reactive power is the wasted power in the 3-phase AC system, and the apparent power is the vectorial sum of the two powers. The increase of reactive power will reduce the presence of real power, thus making the power to be more expensive. In this paper, we will analyze the importance of improving the power factor by applying a bank of capacitors to a case study in Lebanon. Analysis of the economic improvement in the application of power factor correction is carried out. The result shows a reduction of 12 percent in the total cost.

Design and Construction of A Single-Phase Power Factor Meter

It is known that the power consumption and efficiency of an equipment owes directly to its power factor.The lower the power factor of the equipment the more the energy consumption of such equipment and vice-versa.Hence,the need to develop an equipment to measure accurately the operating power factor of domestic and industrial equipment and appliances[1].The operating principle of this power factor meter design is based on Zero Crossing detection principle,the principle is utilized using Arduino Nano,instrument transformers,LM324 operational amplifier,generic resistor,generic XOR Gate 7488 and 2X16LCD.The input current and voltage signal is taken by the transformers and sent to the op-amp which carries out the zero crossing detection in order to get the time difference after which the microcontroller does the calculation to determine the power factor and the deficit reactive power which is then displayed on an interface[2].

Power Factor Improvement of AC-DC Converter Based on Separately Excited DC Motor Using Passive Filter

In industries DC motor drives are very essential due to their high performance applications such as its reliability, ease of control, low cost and simplicity. And speed control of these motors is very easy due to power electronic AC-DC converters. These power electronic converters are with prominent low power factor and higher Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). These converters operate only for short time resulting non-sinusoidal waveform. This problem of harmonic distortion can be mitigated by reshaping the non-sinusoidal waveform to pure sine wave. Different wave shaping techniques have been developed by using different filters among which one is tuned passive filter. This paper proposed power factor improvement and harmonic mitigation of AC-DC converters based on separately excited DC motor using tuned passive filter. In this context experimental model is designed and results are analyzed by power quality analyzer.

New DCM Operated Single Phase Bridgeless Cuk Derived Converters for Power Factor Correction

This paper presents a power factor corrected (PFC) new bridgeless (BL) Cuk Topologies for low power applications. A BL configuration of Cuk converter is proposed which eliminates the usage of diode bridge rectifier at the front end of the PFC converter, thus reducing the switching and conduction losses coupled with it. This new BL Cuk converter has two semiconductors switches. The current flow during each switching cycle interval of the converter reduces the conduction losses compared to the conventional Cuk PFC converter. It also reduces the input current ripple and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). The inrush current during the starting period is limited and the input, output currents of the converter are continuous with minimum current ripple. Hence it is preferred mostly compared to other PFC circuits. The proposed topology works in the Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM) with simple control circuitry to achieve almost a unity power factor with less distortion in the input AC current. The switching of the power switches is done under zero current. The proposed PFC topologies are theoretically investigated and performance comparisons are made with the conventional rectifiers. The proposed PFC converter is simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK with Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) and results are demonstrated to evaluate the effectiveness of the controller.

Period-doubling bifurcation in two-stage power factor correction converters using the method of incremental harmonic balance and Floquet theory

In this paper,period-doubling bifurcation in a two-stage power factor correction converter is analyzed by using the method of incremental harmonic balance (IHB) and Floquet theory.A two-stage power factor correction converter typically employs a cascade configuration of a pre-regulator boost power factor correction converter with average current mode control to achieve a near unity power factor and a tightly regulated post-regulator DC-DC Buck converter with voltage feedback control to regulate the output voltage.Based on the assumption that the tightly regulated postregulator DC-DC Buck converter is represented as a constant power sink and some other assumptions,the simplified model of the two-stage power factor correction converter is derived and its approximate periodic solution is calculated by the method of IHB.And then,the stability of the system is investigated by using Floquet theory and the stable boundaries are presented on the selected parameter spaces.Finally,some experimental results are given to confirm the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis.

A novel arc welding inverter with unit power factor based on DSP control

A novel inverter power source is developed characterized with constant output current and unit power factor input. Digital signal processor (DSP) is used to realize power factor correction and control of back-stage inverter bridge of the arc welding inverter. The fore-stage adopts double closed loop proportion and integration (PI) rectifier technique and the back-stage adopts digital pulse width modulation (PWM) technique. Simulated waves can be obtained in Matlab/Simulink and validated by experiments. Experiments of the prototype showed that the total harmonic distortion (THD) can be controlled within 10% and the power factor is approximate to 1.

Fast-scale border collision bifurcation in SEPIC power factor pre-regulators

In this paper we report a kind of fast-scale instability occurring in the single-ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC) power factor pre-regulator,which is designed to operate in discontinuous conduction mode. Main results are given by exact cycle-by-cycle computer simulations as well as theoretical analysis. It is found that the instability phenomenon manifests itself as a fast-scale bifurcation at the switching period,which implies the occurrence of border collision bifurcation,or is related to the transition of the regular operating mode of the SEPIC. According to the theoretical analysis and simulation results,the effects of parameters on system stability,and the locations of the bifurcation points are confirmed. Moreover,the effects of such an instability on power factor and switching stress are also discussed. Finally,the occurrence of the asymmetric bifurcation locations is investigated. The results show that this work provides a convenient means of predicting stability boundaries which can facilitate the selection of the practical parameters.

A new high-performance AC/DC power factor correction switching converter based on one-cycle control technology and active floating-charge technology

A new family of converters,high-performance AC/DC power factor correction(PFC) switching converters with one-cycle control technology and active floating-charge technology,was derived and experimentally verified.The topology of a single-phase CCM and DCM Boost-PFC switching converter was also analyzed.Its operating prniciples and control methods were expounded.Based on these,a new type of AC/DC switching converter circuits for PFC combined with one-cycle control technology was presented herein.The proposed AC/DC switching converter significantly helps improve the converter efficiency and its power factor value.

Unexpected low thermal conductivity and large power factor in Dirac semimetal Cd3As2

Thermoelectrics has long been considered as a promising way of power generation for the next decades. So far,extensive efforts have been devoted to the search of ideal thermoelectric materials, which require both high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity. Recently, the emerging Dirac semimetal Cd3As2, a three-dimensional analogue of graphene, has been reported to host ultra-high mobility and good electrical conductivity as metals. Here, we report the observation of unexpected low thermal conductivity in Cd3As2, one order of magnitude lower than the conventional metals or semimetals with a similar electrical conductivity, despite the semimetal band structure and high electron mobility. The power factor also reaches a large value of 1.58 m W·m-1·K-2at room temperature and remains non-saturated up to 400 K.Corroborating with the first-principles calculations, we find that the thermoelectric performance can be well-modulated by the carrier concentration in a wide range. This work demonstrates the Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 as a potential candidate of thermoelectric materials.

Intelligent power factor compensation equipment of three phase low voltage loads

An intelligent power factor correction scheme is presented for three phase low power factor loads. This new scheme is able to perform individual phase sensing of parameters by monitoring at all times to sense a change in system parameters and affects individual phase correction by applying the exact amount of reactive components needed for each phase, and can also reduce negative sequence current caused by the load to improve system balance. An optimization criterion is used for the proper calculation of reactive power steps in a power compensation installation of capacitor banks. The criterion is enabled by sampling measurements performed on the electrical plant examined within specific interval of time.

Economical Optimization of Grid Power Factor Using Predictive Data

We present an electrical grid optimization method for economical benefit. After simplifying an IEEE feeder diagram, we build a compact smart grid system including a photovoltaic-inverter system, a shunt capacitor, an on-load tapchanger(OLTC) and transmission lines. The system power factor(PF) regulation and reactive power dispatching are indispensable to improve power quality. Our control method uses predictive weather and load data to decide engaging or tripping the shunt capacitor, or reactive power injection by the photovoltaic-inverter system, ultimately to keep the system PF in a good range. From the perspective of economics, the economical model is considered as a decision maker in our predictive data control method.Capacitor-only control strategy is a common photovoltaic(PV)regulation method, which is treated as a baseline case. Simulations with GridLAB-D on profiled loads and residential loads have been carried out. The comparison results with baseline control strategy and our predictive data control method show the appreciable economical benefit of our method.

Power Factor Correction Rectifier with a Variable Frequency Voltage Source in Vehicular Application

This paper presents a PFCVF (Power Factor Correction) rectifier that uses a variable frequency source for alternators for electric and hybrid vehicles application. In such application, the frequency of the signal in the alternator changes according to the vehicle speed, more over the loading effect on the alternator introduces harmonic currents and increases the alternator apparent power requirements. To overcome these problems and aiming more stability and better design of the alternator, a new third harmonic injection technique is proposed. This technique allows to preserve a good THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) of the input source at any frequency and to decrease losses in semiconductors switches, thereby allowing more stability and reducing the apparent power requirements. A comparative study between the standard and the new technique is made and highlights the effectiveness of the new design. A detailed analysis of the proposed topology is presented and simulations as well as experimental results are shown.

Single-phase Three-level Rectifier with High Power Factor

Based on a neutral point diode clamped eight-switch configuration, a general mathematical model of single phase bi-directional three-level (TL) rectifiers is built by proposing two equivalent TL arms for topology derivation. A series of TL rectifiers are derived by using double TL and multi TL methods, and their characteristics are compared at the same time. A novel seven-switch double TL rectifier is constructed, and its operational principle and control algorithm are illustrated as well. Lastly, its waveform and harmonic spectrum are compared to those of multi TL rectifiers, and the adopted rectifier gains better performance and unit PF.

Frequency control system based on power factor control of asynchronous motor

Deduced the relationship between the power factor (PF) and the angular fre-quency according to the simplified equivalent circuit of asynchronous motor, forming a power factor auto-control system. An anti-interference circuit was also introduced in the middle voltage link of inverter to avoid the shift of the optimum PF point caused by the change of the load and the reliable run of the control system was assured. The experi-ment results show that it has a good self-adaptation in the whole scope of speed ad-justment and an obvious economization on energy while it runs under load.

Single-stage active clamp power factor correction AC/DC converter

A simple single-stage AC/DC converter circuit with active clamp is presented. The operation theory and state are analyzed. The experimental results show that the voltage across main switch can be clamped to a certain value,and zero voltage switching (ZVS) can be achieved. The voltage stress and switching loss are both decreased. In range of the whole load,power factors can be always more than 97%,and the highest efficiency can reach 88%.

Control of Unit Power Factor PWM Rectifier

To solve the problem of harmonic pollution to the power grid that caused by traditional diode rectifier and phase controlled rectifier, the unit power factor PWM rectifier is designed. The topology structure of the rectifier circuit is introduced and the double closed-loop control strategy in three-phase stationary coordinate system is analyzed. For the deficiency of control strategy, the control strategy in two-phase synchronous rotating coordinate system is proposed. This makes the independent control of active current and reactive current to be realized. The simulation model of the PWM rectifier is built and the effectiveness of the control method proposed in this paper is verified by simulation.

A High Power Factor Rectifier Based on Buck Converter Operating in Discontinuous Inductor Current Mode

By adding a suitable LC filter to the input of a Buck converter, a high-power-factor buck converter is proposed. The converter can operate in the discontinuous-output-current mode operation. A Buck converter in this operation mode features simple control as the constant duty cycle PWM used. The operation condition of the converter is studied. The validity of analysis is verified by Simulation and Experimental results.

Investigation of Power Factor Behavior in AC Railway System Based on Special Traction Transformers

The single-phase traction load has essentially an unbalance characteristic at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC), which injects harmonic into the utility grid. In this paper, the effect of harmonic distortion and unbalance loading are investigated simultaneously for electrical railway systems. Special traction transformers (i.e. single-phase, V/V, Wye-Delta, Scott, and Le Blanc) are used between the utility grid and the traction load. For analysis, different defini-tions of power factors are considered, which are presented by IEEE Std.1459. The detailed simulation study is made with MATLAB/SIMULINK program to represent the impacts of harmonic components and unbalance loading on the power factor behavior in the Electrical Railway systems.