AN AC/DC CONVERTER WITH HIGH POWER FACTOR

Masashi OCHIAI
,
, Hirofumi MATSUO
Toshiba Corporation, Digital Media Network Company
Division of Systems Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Nagasaki University
Abstract
As the spread of the electronic equipment mains harmonics are increasing in the commercial ac line year by
year. It causes a break down of the power capacitor and an increase in the voltage distortion. Under such
situation, the guide lines on the maximum limit of the harmonic distortion to suppress harmonics is
indicated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan. The television receiver often
employs the capacitor input type rectifier. In this case, it is regulated by the limit of class D. This paper
presents a novel ringing choke converter type switching regulator, which has the function as an active filter.
The proposed circuit features a simple circuit configuration and cost performance. The high power factor of
about 0.95 could be obtained and harmonic currents (3
rd
, 5
th
, 7
th
) contained in the alternating input current were
reduced to less than 40% of the limit for class D by the proposed converter.
1. INTRODUCTION
As the spread of the electronic equipment mains
harmonics are increasing in the commercial ac line
year by year. It causes a break down of the power
capacitor and an increase in the voltage distortion [1],
[2]. Under such situation, the guide lines on the
maximum limit of the harmonic distortion to suppress
harmonics is indicated by the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry of Japan[3]. The television
receiver often employs the capacitor input type
rectifier. In this case, it is regulated by the limit of
class D. Insertion of a choke coil in the ac line is the
simplest method to suppress harmonic currents.
However, inductance of several mH is needed to
reduce harmonic currents to below the limit for class
D. This increases the physical size of equipment
configuration and new ideas are needed, such as
decreasing leakage magnetic flux to avoid influence
on the screen [4]. The active filter system has
problems such as a large number of components and
high price. For these reasons, power supply circuit
with few components, low cost, less harmonic
currents and high power factor is strongly required.
The power supply circuit [5], [6] proposed in this
paper has the function as an active filter to suppress
harmonic currents by improving a switching regulator
which is ringing choke converter widely used in
television receivers and other equipment. Ripple
voltage of a frequency twice the commercial power
frequency is included in the output voltage and this
sometimes causes problems such as shaking of the
screen. Therefore, a new method has to be devised
to apply this circuit in television receiver [7].
However, the proposed circuit features a simple circuit
configuration and cost performance. This paper
describes operating principles, operation
characteristics and effects of suppressing harmonic
currents.
2. CIRCUIT CONFIGURATION AND STATES
OF BEHAVIOR
2.1 Circuit configuration
Fig. 1 shows the ringing choke converter with the
function to suppress harmonic currents proposed in
this paper. The area enclosed by a broken line shows
a circuit to generate a reference voltage, which has
been used to operate the circuit as a dc/dc converter,
and a drive circuit of the output transistor Q
1
. A
detailed description of these circuits is omitted. T
1
is
a transformer. The secondary winding L
s
is provided
with the diode D
10
and capacitor C
5
, which
respectively perform rectification and smoothing of
the dc output voltage E. The smoothing capacitor C
1
is connected between one end of the primary winding
L
p
and the ground. The converter output transistor
Q
1
is connected between the other end of the winding
and the ground. The diodes D
1
, D
2
, D
3
and D
4
comprise a bridge rectifier of the input ac voltage e.
R
1
is a resistor to prevent an inrush current. R
2
is a
startup resistor for the output transistor Q
1
.

These
circuits are conventional circuits. The following new
circuits are added to the circuit configuration proposed
in this paper, to suppress harmonic currents. A serial
circuit comprising the coil L
1
and diode D
5
is inserted
between the output terminal of the bridge rectifier and
the connection point between the primary winding L
p

of the transformer T
1
and collector of the output
transistor Q
1
. A serial circuit comprising

the coil L
2
and diode D
6
is inserted to the connection point of the
coil L
1
and diode D
5
and smoothing capacitor C
1
.
The capacitor C
2
is inserted between the output
terminal of the bridge rectifier and the ground.
This new circuit configuration expands the conduction
period of the bridge rectifier and suppress harmonic
currents contained in the alternating input current.
2.2 States of behavior
The basic circuit is the self-driving ringing choke
converter, which functions as a dc/dc converter while
the bridge rectifier is turned off, to stabilize the output
voltage E. When the output voltage E fluctuates, the
duty ratio of Q
1
varies in accordance with this
fluctuation, thereby making the output voltage steady.
While the bridge rectifier is turned on, the new and
improved circuit comprising L
1
, L
2
, C
1
, D
5
and D
6
and
the switching function of the switch Q
1
expand the
conduction period of the bridge rectifier. State 1 and
2 shown in Fig. 2 are the equivalent circuits when the
bridge rectifier is turned off. State 3 and 4 are the
equivalent circuits when the bridge rectifier is turned
on. Waveforms 1 shown in Fig. 3 show operating
waveforms when the bridge rectifier is turned off.
Waveforms 2 show operating waveforms when the
bridge rectifier is turned on.
The basic operation in a single period is divided into
two operations when the output transistor Q
1
is turned
on and off, respectively. These operations vary when
the bridge rectifier is in on and off states and can
finally be divided into four states as shown in Table 1
and Fig. 2.
State 1 (Period between t
0
and t
1
shown in Fig. 3(a))
The output transistor Q
1
is turned on and the current i
p
,
which increases linearly in proportion to time, flows
through the primary winding of the transformer T
1
.
Since the bridge rectifier is turned off, charges are
supplied at this time from the voltage source E
i
, which
consists of the smoothing capacitor C
1
with a
sufficiently large capacity. When Time t
1
arrives, the
collector current (i
p
) increases relative to the steady
base current and Q
1
no longer can maintain an on
state and turns off.

State 2 (Period between t
1
and T

shown in Fig. 3(a))
Q
1
is turned off and the electromagnetic energy stored
in the transformer T
1
in the preceding State 1 is
released as the secondary-side current i
s
, charging the
output voltage E in the smoothing capacitor C
5
. i
s
a
current that decreases linearly in proportion to time
and reaches zero at Time T. T (= T
ON
+ T
OFF
) is the
single switching period of Q
1
. When i
s
reduced to
Table1 States of behavior
zero, Q
1
is again turned on by the ringing voltage
generated in the drive winding of the transformer T
1
,
thereby returning to State 1.
State
Bridge
rectifier
Q
1
1 off on
2 off off
3 on on
4 on off
+
L
1
D
1
R
9
R
8
T
1
L
2
R
7
R
6
R
5
R
4
R
3
R
2
D9
D
8
D
7
Q
3
Q
2
Q
1
D
6
D
5
C
4
C
3
C
2
C
1
D
4
D
3
D
2
R
1
e
L
P
+
D
10
R
C
5
+
E
+
+
Q
1
E
i
(a) State
i
P
L
P
Q
1
E
i
() State
T
1
i
S
+
D
10
R
C
5
E
Fig.1 Ringing choke converter with the function as
an active filter.
Fig.2 Equivalent circuits for states of behavior.
()
()
i
P
D
4 D
2
R
1

D
1
D
3
L
2
L
P
i
2
i
1
L
1
Q
1
D
6
D
5
E
i
+ V
P
E
i
D
4
D
3
D
2
R
1

D
1
V
1
L
2
i
2
i
1
L
1
Q
1
D
6
D
5
i
P
T
1
i
S
D
10
R
C
5
E
+

State 3 (Period between t
0
and t
1
shown in Fig. 3(b))
The bridge rectifier and output transistor Q
1
are turned
on and the current i
p
, which linearly increases in
proportion to time, flows through the primary winding
of the transformer T
1
as in State 1. At the same time,
the current i
1
, which linearly increases in proportion to
time, flows through the coil L
1
also. The current i
2
flowing by virtue of the energy that is stored in the
coil L
2
till Time t
0
linearly decreases, because it charge
the voltage source E
i
which consists of the capacitor
C
1
and anode voltage of the diode D
5
is zero since Q
1
is in an on state. Reaching Time t
1
, the collector
current (i
p
+ i
1
) of Q
1
increases and Q
1
turns off, no
longer capable of maintaining an on state.
State 4 (Period between t
1
and T

shown in Fig. 3(b))
The bridge rectifier is in an on state, while Q
1
is in an
off state. As in State 2, the electromagnetic energy
stored in the transformer T
1
in the preceding State 3 is
released to the rectifier circuit as the secondary-side
current i
s
. The electromagnetic energy stored in the
coil L
1
is released as the current i
2
flowing through the
coil L
2
and as the current i
p
flowing through the
primary winding of T
1
, thereby charging the
smoothing capacitor C
1
. When i
s
reaches zero at
Time T, Q
1
again turns on by virtue of the ringing
voltage generated on the drive winding of T
1
,
thereafter returning to State 3.
Cases of the phase for the input ac voltage e becoming
0 to are explained above. When the phase for e
varies to to 2, the diodes D
1
and D
2
shown in Figs.
2 (c) and (d) are merely switched to a conduction state
in place of the bridge rectifying diodes D
3
and D
4
.
The same discussion also applies to the conditions in
Fig. 3.
3. OPERATING PRINCIPLES
3.1 Suppress of harmonic current

Operation of the load circuit needs to be approached
to that of a pure resistance load as much as possible to
improve the power factor and to minimize harmonic
currents in power supply circuits. The input current
from the ac power source is required to flow over a
period and the waveform has to be a sine waveform.
The proposed circuit adds a coil L
1
, coil L
2
, diode D
5
and diode D
6
to the conventional ringing choke
converter and the connection position of the
smoothing capacitor C
1
is changed, to achieve these
tasks. The output terminal of the bridge rectifier is
connected to the collector of the output transistor Q
1
through a serial circuit comprising the coil L
1
and
diode D
5
. By turning on the output transistor Q
1
, the
input current is flowed from the ac power source
through the coil L
1
. After the output transistor Q
1
turns off, the electromagnetic energy stored in the coil
L
1
during the preceding operation is released as the
current i
2
that flows through the coil L
2
and as i
p
that
flows through the primary winding of the transformer
T
1
. The released current is rectified by the diodes D
5
and D
6
and charges the smoothing capacitor C
1
. The
output transistor Q
1
switches over the entire period of
the commercial power source at several ten kHz so
that the input current waveform from the ac power
source becomes the mean value for each period of the
current i
1
, which flows the through coil L
1
, thereby
approaching a sine wave. This operation enhances
the power factor and reduces harmonic currents.
3.2 Voltage E
i
across smoothing capacitor C
1
In State 4 (Period between t
1
and T) illustrated in Fig.
3 (b), assuming the voltage generated in the coil L
1
to
be V
1
and voltage generated in the primary winding of
the transformer T
1
, V
p
, the voltage E
i
of C
1
equals the
maximum value of (V
1
- V
p
). In Figs. 2 (c) and (d),
ignoring impacts of a loss by R
1
, the maximum
V
cp

T
on
: On interval of

T
off
: Off interval of

Waveforms 1

1
t
0 T
Q
1
T
on T
off
i
P
i
S

T+
1

T
off
: Off interval of

i
2
i
1
Q
1
T
on
T
off
i
P

1
t
0
T
i
S

T+
1
T
on
: On interval of

bWaveforms 2
V
cp

Fig.3 Waveforms for a single period.

voltage V
1MAX
generated in the coil L
1
can be shown as
follows [8]:

m
OFF
MAX
E
T
T
V =
1
(1)
Based on Figs. 2 (a) and (b) the relationship E
i
T
ON
=
V
p
T
OFF
can be obtained, and V
p
can be calculated by
Eq. (2) as follows:

i
OFF
ON
P
E
T
T
V = (2)
In accordance with equations (1) and (2), E
i
will
become as follows:

i
OFF
ON
m
OFF
P MAX i
E
T
T
E
T
T
V V E = =
1
(3)
Based on Eq. (3), the following expression (4) can be
obtained:

m i
E E = (4)
Throughout Eqs. (1) to (4), T
ON
shows an on period
and T
OFF
, an off period of the output transistor Q
1
.
Assuming the transformer winding ratio to be n (n =
N
1
/N
2
), efficiency, , output voltage, E, and output
current, I, T
ON
and T
OFF
can be calculated as follows
using Eqs (5) and (6)[9].

2
/ 2
i
i P
ON
E
n E E I L
T
+
=

(5)

i
i P
OFF
E
n E E
E
n I L
T
/ / 2 +
=

(6)
The foregoing discussions are preconditioned on the
assumptions that the capacity of the smoothing
capacitor C
1
is sufficiently large and that it can be
expressed by the dc voltage source as in Figs. 2 (c)
and (d). If the capacity of C
1
is limited and
considering impacts of the load current, the voltage
across C
1
lowers because C
1
releases charges
corresponding to the load current, thereby resulting in
E
i
< E
m
. Assuming the mean value of the discharge
current flowing from C
1
as the load current to be I
D
,
the voltage E
i
* across C
1
at this time can be calculated
as follows:

1
*
/ C T I E E
A D m i
= (7)
where T
A
is single period of commercial power
source.
Eqs. (4) and (7) show that the voltage E
i
or E
i
* of C
1
does not increase higher than E
m
. In States 3 and 4,
the diodes D
5
and D
6
are conducted. This expands
the conduction period of the bridge rectifier and
suppress harmonic currents contained in the
alternating input current. In this case, by suitably
selecting the value of C
1
in Eq. (7), the voltage drop of
E
i
* relative to the load current is regulated.
4. OPERATION CHARACTERISTICS
Fig. 4(a) shows the alternating input current waveform
of the conventional circuit. Figs. 4(b), 5 and 6 show
alternating input current waveform and power factor
when the ringing choke converter proposed in this
proposal is employed in a 25-inch color television
receiver, as well as the amount of harmonic currents
using L
1
as a parameter. The principal circuit
constants and measurement conditions in this case are
as follows:
The input voltage=100Vac,C
1
= 680F,Lp of T
1
=
250H, Winding ratio n = N1/N2 = 27t/24t,Core
size: EE37, line diameter: Primary winding 0.2 x 7,
secondary winding 0.2 x 7,L
1
core size: EI24, line
diameter: 0.45, number of windings N = 150t (L=
2mH),L
2
core size: EI24, line diameter: 0. 5,
number of windings N = 65t (L = 500H),
CTV power consumption = 112.4W
Converter output: E = 125V, I = 0.73A
In the conventional choke system, the 3
rd
order
harmonic current is largest, and inductance of about
5mH or greater is needed to reduce them to below the
limit of class D. The power factor at this time is
about 0.73 and shows an improvement compared with
the power factor of 0.63 before inserting the choke.
However, the rate of improvement is small. As in Fig.
6 and Table 2, the 3
rd
and the 5
th
order harmonic
currents are sufficiently small in the proposed circuit
compared with the limit value for class D. The
amount of the 9
th
order harmonic current is largest.
The 9
th
order harmonic current can be reduced below
the limit by reducing the inductance of the coil L
2
below 500H. A power factor of about 0.95 can be
obtained at this time. Table 3 compares the
conventional bridge rectifying circuit of the capacitor
input type and the new circuit in terms of harmonic
currents generated. Harmonic currents of all order
with the exception of the 13
th
order are decreasing and
the 5
th
order harmonic current shows the largest
decrease.
Fig. 7 plots the voltage E
i
across the capacitor C
1
in
the proposed circuit. In the conventional choke
system, the charging current to C
1
is restricted and E
i
Table 2 Amount of mains harmonic current for the
limit of class D (L
1
=1mH and L
2
=500 H)
Harmonic
order
3 5 7 9 11 13
A: Mains
harmonic
current (A)
0.348 0.052 0.103 0.117 0.055 0.037
B: Limit of
class D (A) 0.879 0.491 0.259 0.129 0.091 0.077
Ratio(%)
(A/B)100 39.6 10.6 39.8 90.7 60.4 48.1

Table 3 Comparison in amount of mains harmonic
current (L
1
=1mH and L
2
=500 H in the
proposed circuit)

lowers, so that the operating range of the regulator in
the second stage has to be reviewed. In the proposed
circuit, however, the conduction period of the bride
rectifier is expanded and E
i
increases. This increase
is only several volts and the rated voltage across the
smoothing capacitor C
1
or the output transistor Q
1
does
not have to be increased. PWM control of the
regulator presents no problem.
On the other hand, as in Fig. 8, the ripple voltage of a
frequency twice the frequency of commercial ac
Fig.6 Amount of mains harmonic current.
Harmonic
order
3 5 7 9 11 13
A: Proposed
circuit (A)
0.348 0.052 0.103 0.117 0.055 0.037
C:
Conventional
circuit (A)
0.989 0.77 0.516 0.275 0.089 0.034
Ratio (%)
(A/C)100
35.2 6.75 20.0 42.5 61.8 108.8
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

L
2
(H)
(a) L
1
=0.75mH




0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

L
2
(H)
() L
1
=mH




0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

L
2'
(H)
() L
1
=mH




0.7
0.8
0.9
1
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Fig.5 Power factor in case of using the

proposed circuit.

AC voltage Horizontal:2.5ms/div.
-150
0
(V)
150
Alternating input current
(b) Proposed circuit at L
1
=1mH and L
2
=375H
0
-2
(A)
2
Alternating input current
(a) Conventional circuit
0
-5
5
(A)
Fig.4 Waveforms of the alternating
input current.

voltage contained in the output voltage E increases
when the inductance of the coil L
2
is small, thereby
sometimes causing a practical problem. This is
caused by part of the rectifying current flowing to the
smoothing capacitor C
1
through the primary-winding
inductance L
p
while the output transistor Q
1
is turned
off. Electronic equipment that cannot accept this
ripple voltage needs a series regulator on the
secondary side or any improvement.
5. CONCLUSION
The proposed circuit has proven that harmonic
currents greatly decrease below the limit value for
class D when it is employed in a television receiver.
The high power factor about 0.95 could be obtained.
The voltage across the smoothing capacitor C
1
did not
show large variations and the components used in the
conventional ringing choke converter could be used as
they were. However, ripple voltage contained in the
output voltage E slightly increased and problems such
as shaking of the picture sometimes occurred when the
circuit was employed in television receivers. This is
a future research task to be tackled [7].
6.REFERENCES
[1] Federation of Electric Power Companies, 1998
Measurement of Harmonic Distortions in Electric
Power Systems, March 1999.
[2] Federation of Electric Power Companies, 1997
Report on Faults by Equipment Type, March
1999.
[3] Agency of Natural Resources and Energy,
Ministry of International Trade and Industry,
Guidelines for Measures to Suppress Harmonic
Current in Electric Appliances and General-
Purpose Equipment, 1997.
[4] Committee for Research and Study of Harmonic
Current in Input Current to Electronic Ballasts for
Illumination, The Illuminating Engineering
Institute of Japan, Study of Harmonic Current in
Input Current to Electronic Ballasts for
Illumination, pp. 29-38, May 1999.
[5] Masashi Ochiai and Hirofumi Matsuo, Ringing
Choke Converter with the Function as an Active
Filter, Technical Report of Institute of Electronics,
Information and Communication Engineers of
Japan, Vol. 98, No. 132, pp. 51-58, EE98-8, June
1998.
[6] Masashi Ochiai: Circuit for improving power
efficiency of an AC/DC Converter,
USP5,581,451, December 1996.
[7] Masashi Ochiai and Hirofumi Matsuo, High
Power Factor Ringing Choke Converter,
Technical Report of Institute of Electronics,
Information and Communication Engineers of
Japan, Vol. 99, No. 327, pp. 25-32, EE99-24, Sept.
1999.
[8] Hirofumi Matsuo and Kosuke Harada, Dynamic
Characteristics of DC-DC Power Converter of
TRC System, Transactions of Institute of
Electronics, Information and Communication
Engineers of Japan, Vol.93-C, No. 6, pp. 123-130,
June 1973.
[9] Masashi Ochiai and Hirofumi Matsuo, Ringing
Choke Converter with the Function as an Active
Filter, Transactions of Institute of Electronics,
Information and Communication Engineers of
Japan, Vol.J83-B, No. 11, pp.1520-1527, Nov.
2000.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Fig. 7 Voltage across C

1
.
Fig.8 Ripple characteristics of the output
voltage.