A High Current, Low Ripple, Low Weight PFC Rectifier Using a Standard Power Module

PFC rectifiers are more and more used as front end circuits for low and mid sized apparatus. Especially for the eigh current applications, the size and weight of passive components are an imprtant factor, also for the economic aspect. The number and size of the active switches of classical PFC scheme, together with the design of heatsinks must be carefully investigated. A new possibility has been investigated using the current sharing on a higher amount of silicon devices, together with the effect of cancellation of the ripple of the resulting current by a shifted pulsation of paralled channels. All the needed active components of the proposed topology exist in the form of complex hybrid moduls normally used for compact frequency converters (figure 1). A comopact, low weight, low ripple rectifier unit has been realised, with an impressive reduced size of passive components.