PFC-control for improved inductor utilization

Inductors are one of the major cost and volume driving components in PFC rectifiers. Inductors are designed for a particular inductance, RMS-current and peak current. This paper presents a method to minimize the peak current up to 20%. This is done by adding a suitable harmonic content to the inductor current which barely modifies its RMS-value. Using the proposed method, a smaller, more efficient or a cheaper inductor can be designed. Further, the presented method fully satisfies the harmonic standard EN-61000-3-2.