In this paper, a new active snubber circuit is developed for PFC converter. This active snubber circuit provides zero voltage transition (ZVT) turn on and zero current transition (ZCT) turn off for the main switch without any extra current or voltage stresses. Auxiliary switch turns on and off with zero current switching (ZCS) without voltage stress. Although there is a current stress on the auxiliary switch, it is decreased by diverting it to the output side with coupling inductance. The proposed PFC converter controls output current and voltage in very wide line and load range. This PFC converter has simple structure, low cost and ease of control as well. In this study, a detailed steady state analysis of the new converter is presented, and the theoretical analysis is verified exactly by 100 kHz and 300 W prototype. This prototype has 98% total efficiency and 0.99 power factor with sinusoidal current shape.

1. ACEEE Int. J. on Control System and Instrumentation, Vol. 02, No. 02, June 2011
A New Active Snubber Circuit for PFC Converter
Burak Akýn
Yildiz Technical University/Electrical Engineering Department, Istanbul, TURKEY
Email: bakin@yildiz.edu.tr
A BSTRACT —In this paper, a new active snubber circuit is be completely destroyed or is diverted to entry or exit [10]. In
developed for PFC converter. This active snubber circuit this study, to eliminate drawbacks of the PFC converters, the
provides zero voltage transition (ZVT) turn on and zero current new active snubber circuit is proposed. The proposed circuit
transition (ZCT) turn off for the main switch without any provides perfectly ZVT turn on and ZCT turn off together for
extra current or voltage stresses. Auxiliary switch turns on
the main switch, and ZCS turn on and turn off for the auxiliary
and off with zero current switching (ZCS) without voltage
switch without an important increase in the cost and
stress. Although there is a current stress on the auxiliary
switch, it is decreased by diverting it to the output side with complexity of the converter. There are no additional current
coupling inductance. The proposed PFC converter controls or voltage stresses on the main switch. A part of the current
output current and voltage in very wide line and load range. of the auxiliary switch is diverted to the output with the
This PFC converter has simple structure, low cost and ease of coupling inductance, so better soft switching condition is
control as well. In this study, a detailed steady state analysis provided for the auxiliary switch. Serially added D2 diode to
of the new converter is presented, and the theoretical analysis the auxiliary switch path prevents extra current stress for the
is verified exactly by 100 kHz and 300 W prototype. This main switch. The aim of this proposed converter is to achieve
prototype has 98% total efficiency and 0.99 power factor with
high efficiency and high switching frequency PFC converter
sinusoidal current shape.
with sinusoidal current shape and unity power factor at
Index Terms— Power factor correction (PFC), soft switching universal input. The steady state operation of the new
(SS), ZCS, ZCT, and ZVT. converter is analyzed in detail, and this theoretical analysis
is verified exactly by a prototype of a 300 W and 100 kHz
I. INTRODUCTION boost converter.
In recent years, the power electronic systems and devices, II. OPERATION PRINCIPLES AND ANALYSIS
which are used more frequently, create harmonic currents
and pollute the electricity network. Harmonics have a Definitions and Assumptions
negative effect on the operation of the receiver, who is feeding The circuit scheme of the new PFC converter is given in
from the same network. Some sensitive equipments cannot Fig. 1. In this circuit, Vi is input voltage source, Vo is output
work right. Nowadays, designers provide all the electronic voltage, LF is the main inductor, Co is output capacitor, R is
devices to meet the harmonic content requirements. AC-DC output load, S1 is the main switch, S2 is the auxiliary switch
converters have drawbacks of poor power quality in terms of and DF is the main diode. The main switch consists of a main
injected current harmonics, which cause voltage distortion switch S1 and its body diode DS1. LR1 and LR2 are upper and
and poor power factor at input ac mains and slow varying lower snubber inductances, CR is snubber capacitor, and D1,
ripples at dc output load, low efficiency and large size of ac D2, D3 and D4 are the auxiliary diodes. Lm is the magnetization
and dc filters [8]. These converters are required to operate inductance; Lil and Lol are the input and output leakage
with high switching frequencies due to demands for small inductances of the transformer respectively. Air gap and
converter size and high power density. High switching leakage inductance ratings are assumed sufficiently big
frequency operation, however, results in higher switching enough. CS is the equivalent parasitic capacitor of the main
losses, increased electromagnetic interference (EMI), and switch, so it is not an additional component to this converter.
reduced converter efficiency [13]. To overcome these For one switching cycle, the following assumptions are made
drawbacks, low harmonic and high power factor converters in order to simplify the steady state analysis of the circuit
are used with soft switching techniques. High switching shown in Fig. 1.
frequency with soft switching provides high power density,
less volumes and lowered ratings for the components, high
reliability and efficiency [1-3], [7], [10], [12], [13], [16]. In
principle, the switching power losses consist of the current
and voltage overlap loss during the switching period, power
diode’s reverse recovery loss and discharge energy loss of
the main switch parasitic capacitance. Soft switching with
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control has four main groups
as zero voltage switching (ZVS), zero current switching (ZCS),
zero voltage transition (ZVT) and zero current switching
(ZCT). ZVS and ZCS provides a soft switching, but ZVT and
ZCT techniques are advanced, so switching power loss can
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2. ACEEE Int. J. on Control System and Instrumentation, Vol. 02, No. 02, June 2011
put voltage Vo and input current Ii are constant for one Stage 5 [t5<t<t6 : Fig.2(e) ]
switching cycle, and all semiconductor devices and resonant
circuits are ideal. Furthermore, the reverse recovery times of During this period, the main switch S1 conducts input current
all diodes are not taken into account. Ii and the snubber circuit is not active. The duration of this
interval is a large part of the on state duration of the standart
A. Operation Stages PWM boost converter and is determined by the PWM control
Twelve stages occur over one switching cycle in the steady to provide PFC.
state operation of the proposed converter. The equivalent circuit Stage 6 [ t6<t<t8 : Fig.2(f) ]
schemes of the operation stages are given in Fig. 2 (a)-(l)
respectively. The key waveforms concerning the operation At t=t6, when the control signal of the auxiliary switch S2 is
modes are shown in Fig. 3. The detailed analysis of every mode applied, a new resonance starts between snubber inductance
of this converter is presented below. LR2 and snubber capacitor CR through CR-LR2-S2-S1.
Stage 1 [ t0<t<t1 : Fig.2(a) ]
The auxiliary switch S2 turned on with ZCS through LR2. The
First of all, S1 and S2 switches are in the off state. Ii input auxiliary switch current rises and the main switch current
current passes through the DF main diode at this stage. At falls due to the resonance. At t=t7, when the S2 current reaches
t=t0, iS1=0, iS2=0, iDF=Ii, iLR1=0, iLR2=0 and vCR=0 are valid. When input current level, the main switch current becomes zero.
the gate signal is applied to the S2, a resonance starts between After S1 current falls to zero DS1 is turned on with ZCS. There
LR1, LR2 and CR. Then, S2 current rises meanwhile DF current is zero current and zero voltage on the main switch S1. So it is
falls. LR2 snubber inductance provides turn on switching with time to cut off the gate signal of S1 to provide ZCT. A new
ZCS of S2, D1 and D2. resonance occurs through the way of C R-LR2-S2-DS1. DS1
In this interval, depending on transformator conversion ratio, conducts the excess of iLR2 from the input current. At t=t8, vCR
input and output currents of transformator rise and DF current falls to zero and iLR2 current reaches its maximum levels and
falls. At t=t1, the sum of the input and output currents of this interval ends.
transformator reaches to Ii input current and then, DF current Stage 7 [ t8<t<t9 : Fig.2(g) ]
falls to zero and DF turns off with ZCS. At t=t8, while vCR voltage starts to be positive, D1 diode is
Stage 2 [ t1<t<t2 : Fig.2(b) ] turned on. A resonance starts between LR2, LR1 and CR. LR2
The main switch S1 and the main diode DF are in off state and current falls again to Ii and DS1 current becomes zero. At t=t9,
S2 is in on state. At t=t1 a resonance starts between CS-LR1- the diode DS1 turns off with ZCS. The duration of the on time
LR2-CR. The main switch’s parasitic capacitor CS discharges, of the DS1 is equal to the ZCT time.
at the same time the energy in LR2 is transferred to the output
side by the coupling inductance. At t=t2, VCS voltage becomes
zero and DS1 turns on with ZVS, meanwhile D4 turns off and
this interval ends.
Stage 3 [ t2<t<t4 : Fig.2(c) ]
DS1 is turned on at t 2. The resonant between LR1-LR2-CR
continues. After this stage LR2 inductance value is equal to
the sum of Lil and Lm.
In this stage, DS1 diode conducts the excess of LR2 current
from the input current. The interval of this stage is time for
the main switch S1 to turn on with zero voltage transation
(ZVT). During this zero voltage transition time, gate signal
must be applied to the main switch S1. So S1 can be turned on
with both ZVS and ZCS by ZVT. At t=t3, LR2 current drops to
the input current, so DS1 turns off with ZCS and S1 turns on
with ZVT. The main switch current starts to rise. At t=t4 S1
current reaches to the input current level and LR2 current
becomes zero. When the auxiliary switch current becomes
zero, it is time to cut off the gate signal of S2. So, the auxiliary
switch S2 perfectly turns off with ZCS.
Stage 4 [ t2<t<t4 : Fig.2(d) ]
This interval starts at t=t4 when S2 switch is turned off. While S1
conducts input current Ii, a resonance occurs through LR1-CR-
D1. The energy in LR1 is transferred to the CR with this resonant.
At t=t5, this stage ends when LR1 current is equal to zero and CR
voltage reaches its maximum level.
Figure 2. Equivalent circuit schemes of the operation modes
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3. ACEEE Int. J. on Control System and Instrumentation, Vol. 02, No. 02, June 2011
CR capacitor voltage falls to zero and DF diode is turned on
with ZVS.
Stage 12 [ t13<t<t14: Fig.2(l) ]
During this stage, the main diode DF conducts input current
Ii and the snubber circuit is not active. This time period is
determined by the PWM control and large part of the off
state of the converter. Finally, at t=t14=t0, one switching period
is completed and then next switching period starts.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A prototype of a 300 W and 100 kHz PFC converter is
shown in Fig. 4 to verify the predicted analysis of the
proposed converter. The PFC converter is obtained by adding
ZVT-ZCT-PWM active snubber circuit to the boost converter,
which is fed by universal input AC line. The boost converter
consists of the main inductance LF, the main switch S1 with
the antiparallel diode DS1 and the main diode DF. The active
snubber circuit consists of the auxiliary switch S 2, four
auxiliary diodes D1, D2, D3,and D4, the snubber inductances
LR1 and LR2 with the coupling inductance and the snubber
capacitor CR. For output receiver, resistive load is aplied to
the output of the converter.
Figure 3. Key waveforms of the operation stages The value of 200 V AC is applied to the input of the con-
verter. Then, AC volatage is rectified to DC voltage for the
Stage 8 [ t9<t<t10 : Fig.2(h) ]
boost converter. For the PFC converter, input bulk filter ca-
At t=t9, because iLR2 current falls to Ii, a resonance occurs pacitor is not used after rectifier. This is because to control
between CS-LR1-LR2-CR with this current. iLR2 current falls, and the line current to follow sinuzoidal current for PFC. The LF
at t=t10, when iLR2 current is equal to zero, S2 can be turned main inductance is calculated to process continues current
off. So the auxiliary switch S2 is turned off perfectly under mode (CCM) for the input line. The LR1 snubber inductance
ZCS. of the snubber circuit was chosen as 5 µH, the LR2 snubber
Stage 9 [ t10<t<t11 : Fig.2(i) ] inductance as 2 µH, Lol the coupling inductance as 3 µH and
the CR snubber capacitor as 4.7 nF. Input inductance LF was
There are two different closed circuits for this interval. For choosen as 750 µH to shape input current as sinusoidal and
the first closed circuit, CS capacitor is charged linearly with Ii output capacitor Co as 330 µF to have constant output volt-
and for the second closed circuit, a resonance occurs through age. In the Fig. 5 (a), the control signals of the main and the
LR1-CR-D1. At t=t11 the sum of vCS and vCR voltages is equal to auxiliary switchs are shown. The auxiliary switch operates
Vo, so D3 diode can be turned on. twice in one switching cycle of the main switch and the main
Stage 10 [t11<t<t12 : Fig.2(j) ] switch operates at 100 kHz. In Fig. 5 (b), it can be seen that S1
A new resonance occurs through LR1, CS and CR with Ii input is operated under soft switching, for both turn on and turn off
current. At t=t12, iLR1 current falls to zero, so this interval processes. Also, there are no overlap between voltage and
ends. The energy stored in LR1 inductance is transferred to current waveforms for the main switch S1. During the turn on
the capacitors and load completely. and turn off processes of the main switch S1, its body diode is
turned on. Therefore, ZVT turn on and ZCT turn off pro-
Stage 11 [ t12<t<t13
: Fig.2(k) ] cesses are perfectly realized for the main switch S1. Further-
CS is charged linearly with constant Ii current and CR is more, from the voltage waveform, there is no any additional
discharged. At t=t13, when CS capacitor voltage reaches to Vo, voltage stress on the main switch. In the current waveform,
there is a rising current to provide CCM for PFC converter.
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4. ACEEE Int. J. on Control System and Instrumentation, Vol. 02, No. 02, June 2011
In Fig. 5(c) the voltage and current waveforms of the auxiliary CONCLUSIONS
switch are shown. The auxiliary switch is operated in both
In this study, advanced and modern active snubber circuit
ZVT and ZCT processes of the main switch S1 so, the auxiliary
is used for the new PFC converter. For this purpose, only one
switch is operated at 200 kHz. Both ZVT and ZCT operations
auxiliary switch and one resonant circuit is used. ZVT and
of the main switch, the conduction time of the auxiliary switch
ZCT techniques provide soft switching for the main switch
is very short. The auxiliary switch is turned on and off under
and also for the other semiconductors. This new active
ZCS. Because the loss of the resonance circuit, the peak
snubber circuit is applied to the boost converter which is fed
current of S2 in the ZCT interval is lower than the ZVT interval.
by rectified universal input AC line. As a result, the new PFC
And also the coupling inductance transfers the resonance
converter was carried out. This new PFC converter is realized
energy to the output load for better efficieny. However, there
with 200 V AC input mains, to provide 400 V DC output. The
are no additional voltage stresses on the semiconductors
new PFC converter works with 100 kHz for 300 W output
while the active snubber circuit operates under soft switching.
load. Oscilloscope and other measurement results are carried
The main diode is turned on under ZVS and turned off under
out briefly in this paper. The main switch turns on with ZVT
ZCS and ZVS. It can be seen in Fig. 5(d), there are no additional
and turns off with ZCT, the auxiliary switch turns on and
voltage and current stresses on the main diode. For the main
turns off with ZCS. Also, other semiconductors process with
and the auxiliary diodes, Silicone Carbide (SIC) diodes are
soft switching even at light load conditions. By the coupling
used. SIC diodes have greater reverse recovery time with 10
inductance, current stress on the auxiliary switch is
ns.
transferred to the output load to improve efficiency of the
converter. The serially added diode to the auxiliary switch
path prevents the incoming current stresses from the resonant
circuit to the main switch. There are absolutely no current or
voltage stresses on the main switch. Although there is no
voltage stress on the auxiliary switch, the current stress is
reduced by transferring this energy to the output load by the
coupling inductance. Finally, at full load 98% efficiency is
achieved.As a result, this new PFC converter has many desired
features of the ZVT and ZCT converters and also it solves
many drawbacks of the PFC converters. It was observed that
the operation principles and the theoretical analysis of the
new PFC converter were exactly verified by a 300 W and 100
Figure 5. Some oscillograms of the PFC converter. a) Control kHz prototype. Additionally, at full output load, the new PFC
signals of S1 and S2. b) Voltage and current of S1. c) Voltage and
converter reaches % 98 total efficieny and 0.99 power factor
current of S2. d)Voltage and current of D F .
with sinuzoidal current shape.
Input AC current and voltage waveforms can be seen in Fig.
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