Integrated power factor compensator without load current measurement

A simple strategy and low cost control for the switching mode rectifier to work simultaneously as a power factor corrector and an active power filter (APF) to reduce current harmonics drawn from the nonlinear load are analysed and presented in this paper. The principal component of the control circuit is an Intel 80196MC microcontroller that performs the dc bus voltage and line current control. The sliding mode control is used in the current loop to achieve fast line current dynamics. The source currents only are measured in the proposed control scheme instead of both the source and load currents needed in the conventional control approach. A simple proportional-integral control is adopted in the voltage loop to achieve slow dc bus dynamics. The proposed control strategy can achieve a high power factor and low current harmonics. No dedicated APF is needed in the proposed control strategy. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated power factor compensator for elimination of reactive power and current harmonics, software simulation and hardware tests are performed.