Power Factor Corrected Zeta Converter Based Improved Power Quality Switched Mode Power Supply

Multiple-output Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPSs) for personal computers (PCs) normally depict extremely bad power quality indices at the utility interface such as total harmonic distortion of the input current being more than 80%, power factor being lower than 0.5 and output voltage regulation being very poor. They violate the limits of harmonic emissions set by international power quality standards. In this paper, a nonisolated power factor corrected (PFC) converter is being proposed to be used at the front end to improve the power quality of an SMPS for a PC. The front-end converter is able to reduce the 100-Hz ripple in its output that is being fed to the second stage isolated converter. The performance of the front-end Zeta converter is evaluated in three different operating conditions to select the best operating condition for the proposed SMPS system. The performance of the proposed SMPS is simulated and a laboratory prototype is developed to validate its performance. Test results are found to be in line with the simulated performance under varying input voltages and loading conditions and all the results demonstrate its enhanced performance.