Power Electronics for Renewable Energy Systems, Transportation and Industrial Applications

Chapter 16Boost Preregulators for Power Factor Correction in Single-Phase Rectifiers

Hadi Y. Kanaan¹ and Kamal Al-Haddad²

¹Department of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Saint-Joseph University – ESIB, Mar Roukoz, Lebanon

²Department of Electrical Engineering, Ecole de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal, Canada

16.1 Introduction

In most industrial and domestic applications, the electrical source is a single-phase alternative application. In this perspective, and more especially in the power supply and telecommunications fields, single-phase rectifiers represent nowadays one of the major equipments used for electrical energy conversion. Due to their inherent nonlinearity, these electronic interfaces generally cause power quality degradation, which is materialized by the creation of undesirable current and, consequently, voltage harmonics into the mains.

The presence of such harmonics may increase the losses in the power flow network and cause over-voltages in some parts of it. Furthermore, high-order harmonics may induce the electro-magnetic interference (EMI) phenomenon that could disturb the operation of electronic equipment located nearby. In order to avoid these problems and thus increase the reliability and efficiency of the power network, these power electronics devices should comply with international standards [1–8]. This can be achieved by integrating power factor correction (PFC) circuits or preregulators into the basic rectifier topology, in order to emulate a ...