Passive Lossless Snubbers Using the Coupled Inductor Method for the Soft Switching Capability of Boost PFC Rectifiers

In order to minimize switching losses for high power applications, a boost PFC rectifier with a novel passive lossless snubber circuit is proposed. The proposed lossless snubber is composed of coupled inductors merged into a boost inductor. This method compared with conventional methods does not need additional inductor cores and it reduces extra costs to implement a soft switching circuit. Especially, the proposed circuit can reduce the reverse recovery current of output diode rectifiers due to the coupling effect of the inductor. During turn-on and turn-off operating modes, the proposed PFC converter operates under soft switching conditions with high power conversion efficiency. In addition, the performance improvement and analysis of the operating effects of the coupled inductors were also presented and verified with a 3.3 kW prototype rectifier.