Analysis of Predictive Control for

Active Power Factor Correction

Jonathan M.S . Kim Pankaj Shanker Wei Zhang

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055. Victoria, B.C. CANADA V8W 3P6
phone: (604) 721-6028. fax: (6041 721-6052, email: kimj@sirius.uvic.ca

-
Abstrmt This paper describes a new active power laetor
correction method based on predictive control. The predictive
control method generates a switching pattern with constant
switching frequency and very little distortion in the input
current waveform. The designof predictive currentcontroller is
very simple without involving any current loop compensator.
The design equations and dynamic characteristics are developed
for a single-phase boost converter configuration.
INTRODUCTiON
In order to alleviatedisadvantagesand problems of conventional
addc diode bridge rectifier, modem off-line dc power supplies are
i n c o m with active power factor m d o n circuits. These are
based on programmingthe input current of the diode bridge rectifier
using high-frequency dddc convertef stage. By programming the
input current proportional to the line voltage, the power supply
becomes a simple resistive load to the utility and the input power
factor is kept near unity.
In recent years, numetous papers have been published on the
active power factor correction methods. describing different dddc
converter topologies used. Buck converters[l] and buck-boost
converters[2] have been used, but boost regulators[3] are the most
correction is a highly nonlinear system with the gains of the power
circuit and the location of its poles and zeros varying periodically.
For this reason, the optimal design of average current controller
without introducing distortion and displacement into the input
current waveform is not trivial.
This paper describes a new current programming technique for
active power factor correction using predictive control. The
proposed predictive current controller generates continuous input
current waveform with very little distortion and constant switching
frequency. The design of current loop is simple at the expense of
introducing additional analog divider. Fig. 1 illustrates a block
diagram of active power factor c o d o n circuit with predictive
control. The circuit diagram is very similar to the average current
control with the exception of the predictive controller in place of
current loop compensator for average current controller.
L D

a,4
popular choice because the input current can be continuousfor more
desirable waveform and the lowest high-frequency ripple content. If II A h
the output voltage has to be lower than the input peak voltage or
isolationis required, the Cuk converter[4]can be used while keeping
the input characteristicsof the boost converter.
As far as the programming the input current is concerned.
U I
however, the control methods are fairly limited. The most-
commonly used method is based on variable hysteresiscontrol.[3,5] lcom Voltage
With this method,the input current is controlled to stay within limits
of a current proportional to the line voltage, using variable hysteresis I Multioher
Compensator
SI-
controL The input current has very little distortion with power factor
close to unity. The main disadvantage of this method is that the
switching frequency is not only variable but also load dependent.
The other method available in the literame is the input current
shaper using input voltage integral.[2,4] With this method, the input
current is discontinuous and the control method becomes very
simple with a constant switching frequency. However, the main
disadvantageis the high input current ripple with magnitude at least Peak Voltage
twice the average value of the input current. Sample and Hold
Recently, an average control technique with constant switching
frequency has been introduced for easier design of Eh41 filters and
better control of the average input current.[6, 71 The average current
controller involves the design of current loop compensatorwhich is
based on some linearized and averaged representationof the power Fig. 1 Single-phase addc converter with active power factor
circuit. However, the power circuit used in active power factor correction circuit

0-7803-1328-3/94$03.0001994 IEEE 446

 PREDICTIVE CONTROL
The predictive control has been used for digital control of phase-
controlled rectifiers[l]. With given circuit parameters and
conditions, the operating conditions in the next time interval can be
pre-calculated and an appropriate action can be taken to change or
regulate the condition. More recently. the control technique has been
proposed for the control of PWM addc switched-moderectifiers[9].
In the proposed application of predictive control in active power
factor correction, the controller is employed to pre-calculate the
necessary control parameter for programming the input current
proportional to the line voltage.The low-frequency dynamic
characteristics of the power circuit shown in Fig. 1 can be described
by the following state-space averaged equations;
di,
Le- = v ~ - v ~ (1-d)
' voltage, a sample and hold is used to detect the peak voltage for fast
dt
c . -dv* = i,. (1-d) -2
V SIMULATION RESULTS
dt RO
where i t v, v,. and d are the large-signal averages of the inductor
current, output voltage, the rectified line voltage, and the duty ratio
of the power semiconductor switch, respectively.
The basic idea of the predictive control is to program the input
current such that it can be controlled to follow any desired waveform
within a switching cycle. The desired waveform is proportional to
the rectified input line voltage in case of active power factor
correction. This idea is described in m.0) where icom is the current
command and T,is the switching period.
di, AiL (ico,-i,)
- _ --- - (3)
dt At TS
The required duty ratio to make such response possible can be
calculated by combining Eq.(1)and (3). The required duty ratio is
(4)
As described in Eq.(4),the required duty cycle determined by
the predictive control has two components: one based on the voltage
feedforward informations and the o t h a based on the current
feedback informations. Using the voltage informations Eq.(4) can
predict the large-signal value of the required duty cycle. The
necessary adjustment to the duty cycle is calculated to make the
input current to follow the desired waveform.
If the switching pattem is generated by a control voltage, v,,,,,
compared to a ramp with a peak voltage of V,, the required control
voltage can be calculated as shown in E4.(5).
447
CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION
The predictive control described in Eq.(5) is implemented using
an analog divider as shown in the controller block diagram of Fig. 2.
The design of the predictive current controller is very simple without
involving any current loop compensator at the expense of an analog
divider. A low-pass filter, He(s), is used to suppress the switching
ripple from the inductor current. The output of the analog divider
gets compared to the ramp generator in order to produce gating
pulses with necessary duty ratio.
The command current, ice,,,. is directly proportional to the
rectified input line voltage at steady state. The output of the voltage
regulator is nearly constant at steady state and so is the output of the
peak voltage sampler. As the line voltage fluctuates, the division by
the square of the peak voltage maintains the constant input power.
Instead of conventional low-pass filter to detect RMS input line
dynamic response and virtual elimination of injecting distortion into
the current command.
The performance of the active power factor correction circuit
shown in Fig. 1 is simulated using E m ,The simulation results are
shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.
Fig. 3 illustrates the steady-state operating conditions. The
command current is directly proportional to the rectified input line
voltage. The inductor current follows the command with very little
distortion. The filtered inductor current is shown in Fig. 3(c). The
action of sample and hold circuit for detecting the peak voltage is
shown in Fig. 4.
At t=l mec, the input line voltage is increased by 10%. The
inductor current response to this step change is shown in Fig. 4(c).
Initially the command current goes up due to the increase in the line
voltage. The output of the voltage regulator is still not af€ected and
remains nearly constant because of the low bandwidth of the voltage
loop. The sampled peak voltage does not change until the next
sampling time. The inductor current simply follows the command
current and also increases.
Fig.2 Analog implementation of predictive current controller
 The correction to this increase in the input power is made at the
next sampling incident. As the new value of the peak voltage is
sampled. the command current decreases due to the increase in the
peak voltage sampled. The inductor current also decreases and
counter-balances the increase in the line voltage. The maximum
delay between the change in the line voltage and the necessary
correction is one sampling period which is the period of the second
harmonic. Due to the slow voltage loop, this delay does not produce
any significant fluctuations in the output voltage.
DYNAMIC RESPONSE ANALYSIS
The analysis of small-signal dynamic response for active power
factor Correction circuit should be done in two parts: one for the
cumnt loop with fast dynamic response and the other for the much
slower voltage loop response.
For the current loop analysis the quasi-static analysisis used for
the dynamic response much faster than the line frequency. On the
other hand, the output voltage dynamics are much slower than the
line frequency and averaged dc-equivalent model of the power
circuit is used. In the voltage loop point of view the current loop
response can be considered as a pure gain block.

4.00 2.00

N
0.00
9
a00
I

(a) Command current

-2.00

4.00 (a) Input line voltage

4.00
0.00

oa

4.00 (b) Commandcurrent

4.00
0.00

(c) Filtered inductor current il.00

v, = 120 v,Pout= 300 w.v, = 300 v ~ ~~

f, = 100 kHz, L = 850 uH, C = 500 uF, (c) Inductor current

Fig. 3 Simulation results of active power factor correction with Fig.4 Response of predictive current controller to a step
predictive control increase( 10%)in the input line voltage

448
Boost Converter
The small-signal dynamic response of the boost power circuit
shown in Fig. 1 can be analyzed using its canonical small-signal
model and assuming quasi staticcondition. The canonicalmodel and
its complete signal flow diagram are illustrated in Fig. 5,where

vs 1
J(S) = -.-
Dt3 R~

e(s) =
v, . ( 1 -sL,,/R,)
- (7)
D’

( 1 + sCR,) . R,
ZO(S> = ( 1 + sCR,)
where

Le, (14
A(s) = s 2 - L , , - C + s . ( - + C . (R,,+R,)) + 1
and Le, = UZ)” and Re, = R,DJ + RL DD’. V, is the quasi-static RO
input voltage and D’ is the correspondingcomplementary duty ratio.
R, and RL are parasitic resistances in filter inductor and capacitor,
respectively. Some important transfer functions are as follows; Predictive Cuwent Controller
The small-signal dynamic behaviour of predictive current
controller can be analyzd by giving small-signal perturbation to
Eg.(5). The small-signal perturbation is given around the quasi-
static operating condition which is given by,

and the small-signal model of the predictivecurrent controllercan be

represented by

(a) Canonical model

The effect of closing the current loop through the predictive

/ -‘-
controller is illustrated in Fig. 6.The open-loop signal flow diagram
shown in FIg. 5(b) is modified due to closing of the Current loop.
From the signal flow diagram the transfer function from the
command current-to the inductor current can be derived.
I I

The bandwidth of the current loop response must be very high

for less distorted input current waveform. The bode plot of the
a
V transfer function is shown in Fig. 7. As expected the transfer
S function has very large bandwidth and unity gain at low frequency.
(b) Signal flow diagram
The frequency characteristics of the current loop are not
necessary informations in designing the current loop. The design of
Fig3 Small-signal model of boost converter stage predictive current controller is simple and does not involve the loop
compensator.

449
 10-

0,
%
3
I

' -10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

-20

! o o 2

m I
a, a,
2 p!
m a, 0
=a, -50
......................................

3I
I

-1 oa -200'
1oo 1o5 10" 1o5

Fig.7 Bode plot of transfer function, icon/il Fig.8 Bode plot of transfer function, vJvC

450
Vdtage Loop Design
The voltage loop dynamic response is much slower than the
current loop response. For less distorted input cumnt waveform
the bandwidth of the voltage loop must be designed to be much
lower than the second harmonics.Due to the slow dynamic
response, the voltage loop characteristics can be analyzed
consideringthe power circuit as dc-to& converter with the input
voltage replaced by its RMS value.[6]
The dc operating conditions are described in terms of input
R M S voltage.:
Accounting for the division by the peak voltage, the transfer
function from vc to the output voltage can be describedas follows;
where
The transfer function described in Eq.(2O) is illustrated in a
bode plot shown in Fig. 8. Based on the transfer function the
voltage loop compensator can be designed.
CONCLUSIONS
A new current programming technique for active power
factor correction was developed using predictive control. The
proposed predictive current controller generates continuous input
current waveform with very little distortion and constant
switching frequency. The design of current loop is simple at the
expense of infroducing additional analog divider. The current
loop gain analysisverifies the largebandwidth of the current loop.
451
REFERENCES
[11 M. F. Schlecht, “Novel Topological Alternatives to the Design
of a Harmonic-Free UtilityiDC Interface”, 1983 IEEE-PESC
Rec.. pp. 206-216
[2] A. R. Prasad, et al., “A New Active Power Factor Correction
Method for Singls-Phase Buck-Boost AC/DC Converter” Fbc.
1992 IEEE-APEC.pp. 814-820
[3] C. &U, R. B. Ridley and F. C. Lee, ‘’Design and Analysis of a
HystereticBoost Power Factor Correction Circuit”, 1990IEEE-
PESC Rec., pp. 800-807
[4] M. Brkovic and S. Cuk, “Input Current Shaper Using Cuk
Converter”,Proc of 1992 IEEE-INTELEC, pp. 532-539
[5] C. P. H e m and N. Mohan, “A Digitally Controlled ac to dc
Power Conditionerthat Draws SinusoidalInput Current”, 1986
IEEE-PESC, pp. 531-540
[a] F. A. HulieheI, F. C. Lee, and B. H. Cho, ‘Small-Signal
Modelling of the Single-phase Boost High Power Factor
Converter with Constant Frequency Control”, Proc. 1992
IEEE-APEC,pp. 475-482
[IP.C. Todd,“Power Factor Correction Control Circuits”, PCIM.
October 1993, pp. 70-79
[8] R. Kenael and D. Schroder, “‘Predictive Control Strategy for
Converters”, Roc.of 1983 IFAC Control in Power Electronics
and Electrical Drives, pp. 415422
[9] R. Wu and S. B. Dewan. “A PWM AC to Dc Converter with
Fixed Switching Frequency”. 1988 EEE-IAS Rec., pp, 706-
71 1