Three-phase buck/boost-type high-power-factor switching converter

The harmonic pollution caused by ac-to-dc converters has been of great concern. To overcome this problem, several power-factor-correction (PFC) converters have been developed and applied in recent years. However, several power converter systems, such as the motor drive system, with a wide V/F control range, uninterruptible power supply system and dc power supply system with universal input voltage range, require an ac-to-dc converter or an off-line converter (preregulator) with a wide output-voltage control range in order to be highly efficient. However, the most conventional PFC converters employ a voltage-fed or current-fed type topology and they have a lower or upper limitation of the output-voltage control range. Thus, they do not realize sufficiently high-system efficiency. On the other hand, a buck/boost converter has a wide control range of the output voltage and acts in PFC operation under an appropriate control technique. Thus, study of the possibility of using the buck/boost ac-to-dc converter with PFC and a wide output-voltage control range is important to the realization of harmonic-free and efficient power conversion systems. In this paper, the author proposes a three-phase bridge-type ac-to-dc converter system with a high input power factor and a wide output-voltage control range. The controller of the proposed system includes the following two new techniques. One is the pulse integral value modulation that compensates modulation errors in conventional pulse-width-modulation caused by dc current ripples or fluctuations of the current pulse amplitude. The other is a switching pulse pattern generator, using the idea of equivalent pulse current source for the bridge as a way to simplify the pulse pattern generation process. This paper describes the proposed converter system, the control and modulation principles, and experimental results that show the reliability and usefulness of the proposed buck/boost converter system. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 118 (2): 41–55, 1997