A voltage-sensorless PFC voltage doubler

This paper proposes a voltage-doubling rectifier, or voltage doubler, with power factor correction (PFC) function and without voltage sensors on the ac and dc sides. The rectifier only uses an ac-side current sensor. The voltage information required for the PFC control is obtained from the ac-side current and its derivative in the on and off durations of the switching devices. The control of the switching devices is based on a pulsewidth prediction technique. The power factor of the rectifier is more than 99% over a wide load range. A method for balancing the two output voltages is also considered. Furthermore, transient performance is shown and discussed for load variations. The rectifier is suitable especially for a half-bridged inverter that requires a dual power supply. The practicability of the proposed voltage-doubling rectifier is confirmed by simulation and experiment.