Digital implementation of PFC boost-converter and two-switch DC-DC forward-converter for railway signaling

Railway wayside signaling is a system used to control railway traffic safely, essentially to prevent trains from colliding. Therefore it is required to have a reliable power supply to keep a healthy and sustainable rail network. The methodology to develop the power supply presented in this paper involves study and implementation of power factor correction (PFC) boost-converter integrated with two-switch DC-DC forward-converter for high voltage and high frequency application using individual digital signal processors (DSPs). The proposed method confirms the efficient and reliable operation of the integrated converters with the line side power factor maintained to near unity for various load conditions. Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in the input current is also considerably reduced in the proposed scheme. This approach not only reduces the size of magnetic components, but also makes it possible to achieve a fully-controlled AC-DC-AC converter when further integrated with single-phase inverter.