A low-inductance line-frequency commutated rectifier complying with EN 61000-3-2 standards

This paper presents a high power factor rectifier, based on a modified conventional rectifier with passive L-C filter, which utilizes a line-frequency-commutated switch and a small auxiliary circuit in order to improve both harmonic content of the input current and power factor, thus allowing compliance with EN 61000-3-2 European standards. Being the switch turned on and off only twice per line period, the associated losses are very small. Moreover the limited di/dt and dv/dt considerably reduce the high-frequency noise emission, thus avoiding heavy EMI filters. The switch operation results in a boost action, which compensates for the filter inductor voltage drop, thus providing output voltage stabilization against load variations. Compared with other similar approaches, the presented topology can achieve higher power levels with a reasonable overall magnetic component size.