A novel rectifier/inverter with adjustable power factor

An adjustable power-factor operation of a boost-based bidirectional AC/DC converter is described. It possesses a bi-directional power flow capability. The converter has a bias capacitor connected in series with the AC source which provides a DC voltage boost at the input. By appropriate control of the bias capacitor DC voltage, an always positive voltage is applied to the input of a boost power-factor corrector. This enables removal of a diode bridge rectifier that is commonly employed in switch-mode rectifiers. A bi-directional DC/DC boost converter allows for power factor adjustment in the full range of 0/spl deg/-360/spl deg/. Hence, the circuit can be used to compensate reactive power of other loads while either consuming active power (as in a battery charger) or providing active power (as in photovoltaic systems). The total harmonic distortion of the converter input current is less than 1.2% for any mode of operation. The operational principle of the proposed circuit was verified by Saber simulations.