Stress reduction non-dissipative snubber circuit for a PFC converter

This paper presents a non-dissipative snubber circuit for minimizing switching losses in a single-phase single-stage power factor correction (PFC) converter. The snubber reduces the commutation losses for a bidirectional switch, which is used in the PFC. Due to input voltage for the PFC is a sinusoidal waveform, conventional snubber circuits on the main switch, developed for typical dc-dc converters, are not appropriate. Complete explanation of the principle of operation of the snubber is presented. Mathematical analysis to determine the snubber component values are presented too. A low power prototype was implemented to demonstrate the validity of mathematical analysis. Voltage and current waveforms, and harmonic analysis results complement the work.