Design of Single Phase Active Front End Converter With Reduced Line Current Harmonics for Power Factor Improvement

Low power factor and high harmonic content are the major drawbacks of conventional front end converters. This paper is based on the difference between the performance of single phase diode bridge rectifier and the active front-end converter in terms of the %THD of the line current and power factor improvement. There are some of the major disadvantage of conventional front-end rectifiers like low power factor and high harmonic content. Hence, there is a continuous need for improvement of power factor and reduction of line current harmonics. Development of new circuit topologies and control strategies for Power Factor Correction (PFC) and harmonic reduction has become still more essential with the introduction of strong technical IEC standards. This work is basically on Power Factor improvement using phase shifted Technique in which the two single phase converters are connected in parallel to meet the load demand as well as to improve the power factor. Power factor of the source side will be maintained nearly unity. Output DC link voltage will remain constant irrespective of load variation. The control strategy for single phase front end converter consists of inner current-loop and outer voltage-loop. The proposed converter operates in forward power as well as in reverse power conditions.