Characteristics of load resonant converters operated in a high-power factor mode

The performance of the parallel resonant power converter and the combination series/parallel resonant power converter (LCC converter) when operated above resonance in a high power factor mode are determined and compared for single phase applications. When the DC voltage applied to the input of these converters is obtained from a single phase rectifier with a small DC link capacitor, a relatively high power factor inherently results, even with no active control of the input line current. This behavior is due to the pulsating nature of the DC link and the inherent capability of the converters to boost voltage during the valleys of the input AC wave. With no active control of the input line current, the power factor depends on the ratio of operating frequency to tank resonant frequency. With active control of the input line current, near-unity power factor and low-input harmonic currents can be obtained