Ultraflat Interleaved Triangular Current Mode (TCM) Single-Phase PFC Rectifier

This paper presents the analysis and realization of a topology suitable to realize a power factor correction (PFC) rectifier with a thickness of only a few millimeters. The low height of the converter requires all components to be integrated into the printed circuit board (PCB). Still reasonable dimensions of the converter PCB are feasible (221 mm x 157 mm for a 200 W PFC rectifier), since PCB-integrated inductors and capacitors allow for high energy densities due to their large surface area which facilitates a low thermal resistance to ambient. A multicell totem-pole PFC rectifier employing a soft-switching modulation scheme over the complete mains period is identified as an adequate topology. The mode of operation is entitled triangular current mode (TCM) due to the triangular-shaped inductor currents. The modulation technique requires a reliable description of the switching transition of a half-bridge in order to provide accurate timing parameters. For this purpose, a simplified model of the nonlinear MOSFETs' output capacitances facilitates closed-form analytical expressions for duty cycle and switching frequency. Furthermore, this paper details the control of three interleaved converter cells which yields a reduction of the input current ripple. A 200 W TCM PFC rectifier with a low height of 5 mm has been realized and measurement results are provided in order to validate the theoretical considerations. The presented TCM PFC rectifier achieves an efficiency of 94.6% and a power factor of 99.3% at nominal power.