Design and implementation of a 1.3 kW, 7-level flying capacitor multilevel AC-DC converter with power factor correction

This work presents a 1.3 kW, single phase, AC-DC converter with power factor correction based on a 7-level flying capacitor multilevel converter. The topology features a tradeoff of active circuit complexity for dramatic reduction on the magnetic component size, while maintaining a high efficiency. In this work, we demonstrate these features through theoretical analysis as well as a hardware prototype. It has been experimentally demonstrated that the prototype can operate at an universal AC input from 90–230 VRMS and frequencies from 47–63 Hz with an output voltage of 400 V, achieving a box power density of 1.21 W/cm3 (19.8 W/in3) and a peak efficiency of 97.6%. This prototype is the first successful demonstration of a 7-level flying capacitor multilevel boost topology as an AC-DC converter with fully implemented digital PFC control and self-powered start-up from a universal AC input.