Optimal design of a 5kW/dm3 / 98.3% efficient TCM resonant transition single-phase PFC rectifier

In many applications single-phase PFC rectifiers should meet the demand for a high efficiency and a high power density at the same time. Depending on the weighting of these two design criteria, different topologies could be advantageous. As has been shown, with bridgeless PFC rectifiers an ultra high efficiency of 99.3% or a high power density of 5.6kW/dm3 could be realised. However, due to the hard switching operation it is not possible to achieve an exceptional efficiency and power density at the same time. Furthermore, SiC Schottky diodes are required for highly compact or highly efficient systems. Therefore, a triangular current mode (TCM), resonant-transition single phase PFC rectifier concept is presented in this paper, which overcomes both limitations. Besides a design procedure for optimising the chip area, also a simple and robust control concept, where a novel zero crossing detection concept is included, is explained and a prototype system as well as measurement results are presented for validating the concept and the design procedure.