A Low-Distortion Self-Oscillating Power Factor Correction Circuit for Low-Cost Applications

Self-oscillating converters operating in the critical conduction mode are popular in low power applications because of their simplicity and low cost. However, these converters are not suited for Power Factor Correction (PFC) because the peak switch current is controlled to regulate the output voltage and does not follow the shape of the line voltage waveform. A new control circuit implementation is proposed for a self-oscillating boost converter to achieve power factor correction. A full featured design example is provided which can be simplified for use in various cost sensitive applications such as electronic lighting, etc. This wide input voltage range self-oscillating PFC prototype achieves less than 10 percent line current distortion in the defined load range (10 W to 40 W).