Variable Load Compatible Power Factor Correction Boost Converter

Year 2025, Volume: 21 Issue: 2, 221 - 247

Özgür Çoban , Pınar Özkan

https://doi.org/10.56850/jnse.1686025

Abstract

With the increasing number of electric vehicles charging stations and the growing variety of electronic components requiring high power, the demand for boost-type converters is also on the rise. Boost converters, which are used to supply power to electronic components that require high operating voltages, have in recent years been combined with Power Factor Correction (PFC) control methods in order to minimise conversion losses and improve power factor. As a result, power factor correction boost converters have been developed. These converters, which provide both voltage boosting and power factor correction, are typically designed with a control mechanism tailored for a nominal output power and are expected to operate under that specific condition. However, considering that such converters are often used in applications like charging stations, where the output power varies depending on the battery's state of charge, it can be said that the output power is generally not fixed, but variable. This variability reduces the efficiency of the PFC controller and leads to a drop in the power factor.
In this study, a new boost-type PFC control algorithm has been designed to prevent power factor degradation in boost converters under variable load conditions. Both the newly developed control algorithm and one of the most widely adopted modern control algorithms-the Continuous Current Mode (CCM) PFC boost converter control algorithm-were simulated separately in the PSIM environment. In simulations conducted for a 400 V output under varying load conditions, it was observed that the newly developed Variable Load Compatible Power Factor Correction Boost Converter provided superior power factor correction across all load levels compared to the conventional method. It was also noted that the new method was equally effective in maintaining a stable output voltage.

Keywords

Power Factor Correction Boost Converter , Variable Load Compliance , Curve Fitting.

References

• Alam, M., Eberle, W., Deepak, S. G., & Botting, C. (2017). A soft-switching bridgeless AC–DC power factor correction converter. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 32(10), 7716–7726. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2016.2632100
• Alhasainan, F. A., & Fakhouri, M. R. (2024). Power factor correction’s effects on electric networks’ performance. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 14(11), 32–36. https://doi.org/10.9790/9622-14113236
• Adragna, C., & Gritti, G. (2024, October). Enhanced current-mode control of DCM/CCM boundary boost PFC provides low THD in DCM. In Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE). https://doi.org/10.1109/ECCE55643.2024.10861728
• Chen, J., Yang, C., Zou, J., & Chen, K. (2025). Multiplier operated controller for CCM boost PFC converter with regulated input impedance and improved power factor. IEEE Access, 13, 44750–44759. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3548096
• Chahine, K. (2023). Machine learning in active power filters: Advantages, limitations, and future directions. Electronics, 5(4), Article 119. https://doi.org/10.3390/ai5040119
• Han, J.-K. (2024). Frequency modulation scheme for CCM boost PFC converter to improve THD in light-load condition. Electronics, 13(2), 256. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13020256
• Hwang, T. S., & Park, S. Y. (2012). Seamless boost converter control under the critical boundary condition for a fuel cell power conditioning system. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 27(8), 3616–3626. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2012.2185250
• Ivaldi, J., & Park, S. Y. (2017, October). Flexible PFC control featuring adaptive gain, mode estimation, and dual feedforward compensation. In Proceedings of the IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), Cincinnati, USA. https://doi.org/10.1109/ECCE.2017.8096553
• Jeyaraj, M., & Kumar, S. (2021, April). Withdrawn: Power factor correction and THD minimization in boost converter with PID controller. Materials Today: Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.03.327
• Kim, J., Choi, H., & Won, C. Y. (2018). New modulated carrier controlled PFC. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 33(6), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2017.2737458
• Lai, Y.-S., Wu, X.-Y., & Huang, Y.-Y. (2024). New seamless switching control technique between CCM and DCM for boost PFC without additional zero crossing point sensing circuit. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 71(10), 12100–12110. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIE.2024.3360638
• Liu, C. (2024). Design of CCM boost converter using fractional-order PID and backstepping techniques for power factor correction. Journal of Advanced Science and Engineering, 28(4), Article 18. https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202504_28(4).0018
• Lu, L., Shen, G., & Xu, H. (2022). Triple-mode average current control with valley current shaping for DCM/CRM/CCM boost PFC converter. Energies, 15(19), 7319. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197319
• Naudé, J. A., & Hofsajer, I. W. (2017). Why small, cold and quiet DC-DC conversion is impossible. University of the Witwatersrand. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1706.07787
• Praneeth, A. V. J. S., & Williamson, S. S. (2019, March). A soft switched boost cascaded-by-buck power factor correction converter for on-board battery charger application. In 2019 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC). https://doi.org/10.1109/APEC.2019.8722029
• Quiroga, A., Bayona, J., & Espitia, H. (2025). Review of converter circuits with power factor correction. Technologies, 13(6), 221. https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies13060221
• Sarker, L., Nazir, M., & Razzak, M. A. (2021, November). Harmonics reduction and power factor correction for electric vehicle charging system. In Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT) (pp. 1–6). https://doi.org/10.1109/i PACT52855.2021.9696738
• Valascho, R., & Rahman, S. (2016). Digital PFC CCM boost converter 300 W design example using XMC1400 microcontroller (Application Note). Infineon Technologies.
• Zaro, F. (2023). Shunt active power filter for power quality improvement of renewable energy systems: A case study. WSEAS Transactions on Power Systems, 18, 241–247. https://doi.org/10.37394/232016.2023.18.25
• Zhang, H., Tang, L., Sun, S., & Yang, K. (2017, August 11–14). Design of single-phase converter with active power factor correction module. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS), Sydney, Australia. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICEMS.2017.8056075