Modeling and simulation of a Microcontroller based power factor correction converter

A Microcontroller based power factor correction (PFC) converter is proposed, which is not affected by harmonic distortion in current and voltage wave shapes. This paper describes the design and simulation of a single-phase PFC converter using Atmel's AVR Microcontroller. It involves sensing and measuring the power factor from the load using ADC; implementing faster algorithm to process the data using discrete time filter which requires least amount of memory; and triggering appropriate capacitors in order to compensate the excessive reactive components. A power factor near to unity is thus achieved, which results higher efficiency and low-THD AC output. A provision for measuring the power is also discussed.