Autotuning digital controller for current sensorless power factor corrector stage in continuous conduction mode

A circuit that compensates the volt-seconds error across the inductor in current sensorless digital control for continuous conduction mode power factor correction (PFC) stage is presented. Low cost ad-hoc sigma-delta analog to digital converters (ΣΔ ADCs) are used to sample the PFC input and output voltage. Instead of being measured, the input current is estimated in a digital circuit to be used in the current loop. A nonlinear carrier control is implemented in the digital controller in order to obtain the power factor correction. Drive signal delays cause differences between the digital current and the real current, producing that volt-seconds error. The control algorithm is compensated taking into account the delays. The influence of a wrong compensation is presented. Experimental results show power factor values and harmonic content within the IEC 61000-3-2 Class C standard in different operation conditions. Furthermore, the use of this PFC stage for electronic ballasts to compensate the effect of the utility voltage fluctuation in HID lamps is also verified taking advantage of the digital device capabilities.