Digital implementation of a nonlinear controller for a unity power factor rectifier: simulation and experiments

In this paper, we present a digital implementation of a single quadrant one phase unity power factor (UPF) rectifier based on a nonlinear control strategy. In a previous paper, the authors designed an adaptive control strategy to show asymptotic (exponential) stability for the phase current and output voltage tracking errors. Here, the result is first implemented in Simulink via a discrete controller acting on a continuous average model of the UPF rectifier. With a sufficiently high sampling frequency, the transient and steady state performance achieved with the continuous control strategy is reproduced. Next, we present experimental results when the controller is implemented with a rapid prototyping kit. Experimental results show low THD and near unity power factor for the input current, and excellent transient response for the output voltage. Details of the experimental setup are also provided