Design of the Basic Rectifier with LC Filter to Comply with the New Edition of the

IEC1000-3-2 Current Harmonic-Limit Specifications (Edition 2.0)

W. M. Lin*, J. Sebastián**, A. Fernández**, M. M. Hernando**, P. J. Villegas**

*Department of Electrical Engineering, Fuzhou University

Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, CHINA

** Universidad de Oviedo, DIEECS-Tecnología Electrónica

Modulo 3, Campus de Viesques, s/n, 33204 Gijón, SPAIN
Phone:+34-98-518 25 77;Fax: +34-98-518 21 38

Abstract- This paper deals with the analysis and design of the
single-phase basic rectifier with LC filter for compliance with
the new edition of the IEC 1000-3-2 regulations (Edition 2.0).
The results obtained show that the passive approach described
here can comply with the required specifications if a proper
inductor value of the filter is selected. Compliance with the new
edition of the IEC-1000-3-2 regulation has been studied for those
pieces of equipment which can be classified as either Class-A or
Class-D. The results obtained have been verified by computer
simulation and experimental results.
I. INTRODUCTION
Agency regulations, especially IEC1000-3-2 [1][2], will
be obligatory and when they are, power supplies with power
levels higher than 75W will have to comply with them. In
order to comply with the standards, many researchers have
intensified their efforts towards finding cost-effective
solutions. As passive solutions have some advantages such as
lower cost, simplicity, roughness and absence of EMI, a
number of passive waveshaping circuits were introduced and
analyzed in references [3]-[8]. These papers show the
analytical-based analysis of the single-phase, full-bridge
rectifier with LC filter. Only references [3] and [4] have
discussed the feasibility of the passive solution to comply
with the IEC 1000-3-2 input current harmonic–limit
specification.
There are some differences between the old version of the
IEC-1000-3-2 regulation [1] and the new version of this
regulation [2]. In the new IEC1000-3-2 specifications, the
Class-D line current waveform envelope does not exist. In the
new regulation, the harmonic current limits are classified only
according to the type of equipment. Some measuring and
requirement and modifications shown in the new version of
the regulation, some parts of the analysis presented in
reference [3] should be modified. This is due to the fact that
some pieces of equipment which were classified as Class D
according to the old version of the regulations, will be
classified as Class A according to the new version,
independently of its input current waveform. Bearing in mind
that the limit of each harmonic in Class A is higher than the
limit for the same harmonic in Class D (especially for low-
power equipment), the lower value of the filter inductor L
will be obtained for the equipment which can be classified in
Class A. This paper specifically shows the method to
calculate this inductor.
The method followed to calculate the minimum value of
filter inductor Lf to comply with the regulation starts by
simulating a normalized circuit for different values of the
normalized input filter inductor. Afterwards, the minimum
value of this normalized inductor for any power level and for
any class of operation (either A or D) will be calculated. The
results obtained will be verified by simulation (using OrCAD
PSPICE) and also in several experimental prototypes.
II. NORMALIZATION OF THE TOPOLOGY
The basic scheme of the single-phase, full-bridge rectifier
with LC filter is shown in Fig.1
Lf +
ig
Load

+
calculating methods have also been changed. For these Vg DC-DC
reasons, the advantages proposed in reference [4] have now - Converter
Co Vo
disappeared. Moreover, the analysis shown in reference [3]
was based on the old version of the IEC 1000-3-2 regulations. -
-
According to this old version, the right method to obtain the
lowest value of the filter inductor Lf was to design the LC
filter to have a Class-D input current waveform. It should be Fig. 1: Basic Single Phase Rectifier with LC filter
noted that only the design procedure for compliance in Class
D was considered in reference [3]. According to the

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 iON TABLE I
NORMALIZED REFERENCES
L fN i xN Rated rms line voltage
Voltage (Vg )
+
+
i gN
Maximum input Power
+
V cN Input Power ( Pg )
-
CN Rms value of the equivalent current
V gN Load Current ( I ref )
- -
defined as: I ref = Pg / Vg
Time (TS )
Nominal line period

Fig. 2: Normalized circuit . Thus, the normalized filter inductance and output capacitor
are defined as:
As the objective of this paper is to comply with the
I ref Pg
new regulation at the minimum cost, (i.e. minimum inductor L fN = L f = Lf (1)
size), line current is calculated as a function of the filter V g TS Vg2 TS
inductor. For this purpose, the circuit of Fig.1 is normalized
Vg Vg
2
with respect to four reference quantities shown in Table I.
The normalized circuit obtained is shown in Fig.2. C N = CO = CO (2)
I ref TS Pg TS
It should be noted that an “-N” subscript indicates a
Input Current
normalized quantity in (1) and (2).
Input Voltage The value of the capacitor is selected according to two
options: one is obtained by the approximate analysis of the
classical diode-bridge+capacitive filter rectifier which is
determined by the maximum allowed output voltage ripple
(peak-to-peak); another is obtained by the function index of
the power supply product which is determined by the hold-up
time.
The simulation waveforms of input voltage and line
current for three values of choke inductor LfN=0.01, 0.043 and
0.09, respectively, are shown in Fig.3 (a), (b) and (c). The line
(a) L fN =0.01
current waveform is dramatically different for different choke
inductor values, and Fig.3 illustrates three distinct modes of
Input Current
operation which are the discontinuous conduction mode I
(DCM I), discontinuous conduction mode II (DCM II), and
Input Voltage
continuous conduction mode, respectively.

III. NEW REGULATION AND NORMALIZATION

A. New IEC1000-3-2 Classes and Harmonic Limits

According to the document “Draft of the proposed CLC

Common Modification to IEC 61000-3-2 Ed.2.0: 2000” [2],
there are some changes in the new standard. There are four
(b) L fN =0.043
classes in the new standard, A, B, C and D as shown in Fig.4.
The objective of this paper is to develop the rectifier LC filter
analysis and the design procedure for compliance with
Input Current
IEC1000-3-2 (Edition2.0) specifications when the equipment
Input Voltage has been classified either as in Class-D or in Class-A. It
should be noted that only Class A and Class D limit
compliance are discussed in this paper.
The new standards classify power supplies according to
their application, instead of according to the line current
waveform, as the previous standards did. Thus, the classical

(c), L fN =0.09
Fig. 3: Simulated waveforms obtained with an LC filter

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 Regarding the Class-A equipment, Table III shows
Balanced Yes the odd harmonic current limits.
three phase connected
equipment TABLE III
CLASS-A HARMONIC LIMITS
no

Yes
Harmonic order n Maximum permissible harmonic
current IHLn ClassA, for any power
Portable tool Arc welding Class B level (Arms)
equipment
3 2.30
5 1.14
no 7 0.77
9 0.40
Yes
11 0.33
Lighting equipment Class C 13 0.21
15<n<39 0.15*15/n

Personal computer and its

Yes B. Normalization of harmonic-limit specifications
monitors,television receivers Class D
and 75W<P<600W

no
Table II and Table III show the odd harmonic limits for
no
Class A and Class D. The line current of off-line power
supplies should comply with either Class-A or Class-D
harmonic limit specifications. To facilitate the direct
Class A
comparison of rectifier line current harmonic content with
IEC1000-3-2 harmonic limit, the relative Class-D and
absolute Class-A harmonic limits summarized in Table II and
Table III have been normalized with respect to the normalized
references.
For Class D, the normalized harmonic current limits can be
Fig.4 Equipment classification flowchart of new version written as:
IEC1000-3-2 regulations.

Class D waveform template disappears in the new standards. Pg HL( 2 i +1 )ClassD

Thus, only equipment in which the maximum input power is I Ng (2 i +1) = ( i =1..19) (3),
lower than or equal to 600W, which are either: I ref
1) Personal computers and personal computer where HL(2i+1) ClassD is the limit shown in Table II for the
monitors, or (2i+1)th order harmonic.
2) Television receivers, From Table I, it is easy to obtain:
Ng (2 i +1) = V g HL ( 2 i +1 )ClassD
must comply with the Class D harmonic limits derived from I (4)
Table II.
As regards Class A, the normalized harmonic current limits
TABLE II are written as:
CLASS-D HARMONIC LIMITS IHL ( 2 i +1) ClassA
I Ng (2 i +1) = (5),
Harmonic order Relative harmonic
Max. permissible I ref
n limits HLn ClassD
harmonic current,
(mArms/W) only for 600W where IHL(2i+1)ClassA is the limit shown in Table III for the
(Arms) (2i+1)th order harmonic. Equation (5) can be rewritten as:
3 3.4 2.30
V g ⋅ IHL( 2 i +1 )ClassA
5 1.9 1.14
I Ng ( 2 i +1 ) = (6)
7 1.0 0.77 Pg
9 0.5 0.40
11 0.35 0.33
13 0.296 0.21
15 ≤ n ≤ 39 3.85/n 2.25/n
C. Analysis of the Simulation Results
*Class-D limits can be applied to equipment having an input power from
75W to 600W
Figure 5 compares the normalized current harmonic limits
in Class D (discontinuous line) with the normalized harmonic

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 0.8
Normalized line current harmonic content

IHL(3)ClassD 1.5

Normalized line current harmonic content

6
V g=230Vac
0.6 Ig(3) P g=100W
9
Vg=230Vac
Ig(5) Ig(7)
1 IHL(9)ClassA
0.5 IHL(5)ClassD
2 IHL(11)ClassA

Ig(9)
0.3
4 IHL(7)ClassD
0.5

0.1
7 Ig(11)
Ig(7)

0 0
1E-3 2 5 1E-2 2 5 1E-1 2 5 1E+0 1E-4 2 5 1E-3 2 5 1E-2

. LfN . L fN .

Fig.5: Normalized Class-D harmonic limits and normalized

harmonic content of the line current as a function of normalized Fig.7: Normalized Class-A harmonic limits for 100W and
filter inductance at nominal input voltage and full output power. normalized harmonic content of the line current as a
function of normalized filter inductance at nominal input
content of the line current (continuous line) for values of the voltage and full output power.
normalized filter inductance from 10-3 to 1.
From Fig.5, the lower value of the normalized inductance From Fig.7, the lowest normalized inductance needed to
which allows compliance with the IEC 1000-3-2 in Class D is comply with the IEC 1000-3-2 in Class A for 100W is
L fN =0.0039. This value is determined by the third order L fN =0.0001. This value is determined by the ninth order
harmonic. Finally, (1) allows us to easily calculate the harmonic limit.
minimum choke inductance to comply with the new By repeating the above mentioned analysis for any
regulation as a function of the output power, as Fig.6 shows. possible power level from 75W to 600W, the minimum value
As regards Class A, the normalized limits in this class vary of the choke inductance needed to comply in Class A as a
with the output power, as (6) shows. This is a different case in function of the output power has been obtained. This function
comparison with Class D (see (4)). Due to this fact, the is shown in Fig.8.
procedure to obtain the minimum inductance to comply with
the IEC 1000-3-2 in Class A is slightly different. In this case,
0.01
Minimum Inductance (H)

the comparison between the normalized line current

harmonics and their limits must be established for each power 0.008
level. As an example, Fig. 7 shows some normalized odd For Compliance
harmonics of line current for normalized filter inductance 0.006 Class A
from 10-4 to 10-2 and the normalized current harmonic-limits
in Class A at 100W of power level. 0.004

0.06
0.002
Minimum Inductance (H)

(75W) 75W
0.05
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
0.04 For Compliance
Class D Power (W)
0.03
Fig. 8: Minimum value of the choke L f inductance required to meet
the IEC 1000-3-2 in Class A as a function of the power level.
0.02

0.01

0 IV. FILTER INDUCTOR DESIGN

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600

Power (W) In order to obtain the optimum selection of the core size,
the wire size, the number of turns and the air-gap length of
Fig. 6: Minimum value of the choke Lf inductance required to meet the the filter inductor (choke), a spreadsheet based on MathCad
IEC 1000-3-2 in Class D as a function of the power level.
has been developed. The inductor is designed for operation

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within its linear relationship of magnetizing force H and Two test circuits (one for each class of operation) have
induction B. The core material is ARMCO ORIENTED M . been built to verify the calculation method. The main
The E-I silicon-steel lamination cores are used for calculating. components of these test circuits are:
In fact, the inductor core volume is related to the product Lf(ClassA )=1.7mH Lf(ClassD )=42mH,
between the iron cross section A e and the core window area CO =100uF, RLoad=1KΩ.
A w , i.e.: The line voltage and frequency and the output power were
A w Ae=LfI2 /(Bw ·J·Ko ) (7), 230Vac, 50Hz and 100W, respectively. Figure 9 and Fig. 10
where Bw is the core operating flux density, J is the desired show the input current waveform and the line current
current density and Ko is the inductor window-filling harmonic content obtained in the prototype designed to
coefficient. comply with IEC1000-3-2 (Edition 2.0) in Class D. The
When the choke inductor value is given and the value of same quantities are shown in Fig. 11 and in Fig. 12, but in
the corresponding product between the iron cross section and this case for the prototype designed in Class A.
the core window area is determined, all the parameters of the
inductor such as core size, turns of coil, wire size and air gap
etc. can be calculated. The calculated results are listed in
Table IV for Class-D limits and in Table V for Class-A limits.
It should be noted that an RC14 core has been chosen for
input power levels from 75w to 350 w in Class A. This is due
to the fact that this is the lowest available core size. In fact,
lower core sizes could be used in these cases if they were
available.

TABLE IV
I NDUCTOR TO COMPLY IN CLASS D Fig.9: Measured line current waveform, when Lf(ClassD)=42mH
Nominal L(mH) Core # of Wire Air gap
(compliance in Class D). Scales: 0.5A/div
input size turns size (mils)
power (W) AWG
75 55 RC14 325 25 18.7
100 41 RC14 244 23 14.0 Pg=100W
150 28 RC14 162 22 9.36 0.3
Vg=230Vac
200 21 RC16 122 20 9.2 Inductor 42mH
250 17 RC16 98 19 7.36
0.2 Test Line Current
300 14 RC18 134 18 20.8
Harmonic
350 12 RC18 114 17 17.8
IEC1000-3-2 Class-D
400 10 RC18 100 17 15.6
0.1
450 9.2 RC18 89 16 13.9
500 8.3 RC20 86 16 17.6
550 7.5 RC20 78 15 16.0
0
600 6.9 RC20 71 15 14.6 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Harmonic

TABLE V Fig. 10: Experimental harmonics compared with Class-D limits at

I NDUCTOR TO COMPLY IN CLASS A Pg =100W and Lf(ClassD)=42mH
Nominal L(mH) Core # of Wire Air gap
input size turns size (mils)
power (W) AWG
75 0.5 RC14 53 25 53.8
100 1.0 RC14 75 23 53.8
150 1.7 RC14 97 22 53.8
200 2.5 RC14 118 20 53.8
250 2.8 RC14 125 20 53.8
300 3.0 RC14 129 18 53.8
350 3.3 RC14 135 18 53.8
400 4.5 RC18 140 17 53.8
450 5.9 RC18 141 16 53.8
500 6.8 RC20 151 16 53.8
550 7.6 RC20 144 15 53.8 Fig.11: Measured line current waveform, when Lf(ClassA)=1.7mH
600 8.9 RC20 156 15 53.8 (compliance in Class A). Scales: 1A/div

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

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 [6] Richard Redl and Laszlo Balogh, “Power-Factor Correction in Bridge and
Voltage-Doubler Rectifier Circuits with Inductors and Capacitors”APEC´95,
pp.466-472
Pg=100W
2
Vg=230Vac [7] Thomas S. Key and Jih-Sheng Lai, “Comparison of Standards and Power
Inductance 1.7mH
supply Design Options for Limiting Harmonic Distortion in Power Systems”
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 29, No. 4, 1993, pp.688-
Measured
Harmonic
695
1
IEC1000-3-2
Class-A [8] M. Sanz, A. Liombart, S. Ortiz and F. Gómez, “Merits and Limitations of
Full-Bridge Rectifier with LC Filter in Meeting IEC 1000-3-4 Harmonic-
Limit Specifications” PESC´2000, pp. 1133-1136
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Harmonic
Fig. 12: Experimental harmonics compared with Class-A
limits at P g =100W and Lf(ClassA)=1.7mH

VI. CONCLUSION

The feasibility of the single-phase basic rectifier with an

LC filter to meet the IEC1000-3-2 (Edition 2.0) Class-D and
Class-A limits has been assessed in this paper. The computer
simulation and the experimental results show that it is a very
simple method to be used to comply with the above
mentioned regulation in both the Class D and the Class A.
Especially in Class A, the final calculations show that a very
small inductor (for example, 1.7mH for 100W) is enough to
comply with the new edition of this regulation. Because a
piece of equipment classified as Class D in the past can be
classified as Class A according to the new version of the
regulations, this means that a smaller (and, therefore, cheaper)
choke inductor can be used in the new case. In summary, it is
going to be possible to design the passive filter for pieces of
equipment classified as Class A at lower cost, according to
the new version of the regulations.
Due to this fact, this solution seems to be quite
economical and attractive for use in low-cost equipment.

REFERENCES

[1] Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)-part 3: Limits-section 2: Limits for

harmonic current emissions (equipment input current<16A per phase),
IEC1000-3-2 Document, 1995.

[2] Draft of the proposed CLC Common Modification to IEC 61000-3-2 Ed.
2.0:2000.

[3] Milan M. Jovanovic and David E. Crow, “Merits and Limitations of Full-
Bridge Rectifier with LC Filter in Meeting IEC 1000-3-2 Harmonic-Limit
Specifications” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 33, No. 2,
1997, pp. 551-557

[4] Richard Redl and ELFI S.A. , “An Economical Single-Phase Power-
Factor-Corrected Rectifier: Topology, Operation, Extensions, and Design For
Compliance” APEC´98, pp.454-460

[5] A. W. Kelley and W. F. Yadusky, ”Rectifier design for minimum line

current harmonics and Maximum power factor”, APEC´89, pp. 13-22

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