Variable Load Compatible Power Factor Correction Boost Converter

With the increasing number of electric vehicles charging stations and the growing variety of electronic components requiring high power, the demand for boost-type converters is also on the rise. Boost converters, which are used to supply power to electronic components that require high operating voltages, have in recent years been combined with Power Factor Correction (PFC) control methods in order to minimise conversion losses and improve power factor. As a result, power factor correction boost converters have been developed. These converters, which provide both voltage boosting and power factor correction, are typically designed with a control mechanism tailored for a nominal output power and are expected to operate under that specific condition. However, considering that such converters are often used in applications like charging stations, where the output power varies depending on the battery's state of charge, it can be said that the output power is generally not fixed, but variable. This variability reduces the efficiency of the PFC controller and leads to a drop in the power factor. In this study, a new boost-type PFC control algorithm has been designed to prevent power factor degradation in boost converters under variable load conditions. Both the newly developed control algorithm and one of the most widely adopted modern control algorithms-the Continuous Current Mode (CCM) PFC boost converter control algorithm-were simulated separately in the PSIM environment. In simulations conducted for a 400 V output under varying load conditions, it was observed that the newly developed Variable Load Compatible Power Factor Correction Boost Converter provided superior power factor correction across all load levels compared to the conventional method. It was also noted that the new method was equally effective in maintaining a stable output voltage.