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This paper presents the analysis and design of a resonant power factor correction (PFC) rectifier for the first stage in single-phase front-end offline converters targeting low-power applications (up to 100 W). With the addition of a charge pump circuit comprised of a capacitor and a diode to a class-DE resonant converter, PFC functionality is achieved inherently. The operation is based on soft switching, allowing for increased switching frequencies with reduced switching losses. A 1 MHz prototype employing wide-bandgap (WBG) switching devices is built and tested to validate the analysis and proposed design method. The prototype achieves up to 50 W of output power with a power factor of 0.99, a total harmonic distortion (THD) of 8.6 %, and an efficiency of up to 88 %; with harmonic magnitudes well-within the IEC 61000-3-2 standard class-C device limits, making it suitable for use as the rectifier stage in LED drivers. Despite the additional circuit stresses from the charge pump operation, the proposed converter offers simplicity and low component overhead, with the potential for higher frequency operation towards higher power densities.

Resonant converter topologies have the ability to eliminate switching losses through zero-voltage switching, making them well-suited for switching operation in the MHz frequency range. However, these types of converters are traditionally very sensitive to changes in input voltage and power level, making them unsuitable as power factor correcting AC-DC converters. This paper present a throughout analysis of the operation of a class DE converter in order to derive a set of conditions, under which it can achieve constant input impedance over a wide input voltage range (60-325 V DC) with constant output voltage (450 V DC) and thus be operated as a PFC converter, while maintaining zero voltage switching across the full range. The operation is experimentally verified under DC-DC operation for different power levels at a series of input voltages within the specified range. The implemented prototype achieves conversion efficiencies of up to 94 % and handles up to 105 W of power at switching frequencies of 2 MHz and above, while achieving constant input impedance over the full input voltage range, enabling its use as a power factor correcting converter.

This paper presents the analysis and design of a resonant power factor correction (PFC) rectifier for the first stage in single-phase front-end offline converters targeting low-power applications (up to 100 W). With the addition of a charge pump circuit comprised of a capacitor and a diode to a class-DE resonant converter, PFC functionality is achieved inherently. The operation is based on soft switching, allowing for increased switching frequencies with reduced switching losses. A 1 MHz prototype employing wide-bandgap (WBG) switching devices is built and tested to validate the analysis and proposed design method. The prototype achieves up to 50 W of output power with a power factor of 0.99, a total harmonic distortion (THD) of 8.6 %, and an efficiency of up to 88 %; with harmonic magnitudes well-within the IEC 61000-3-2 standard class-C device limits, making it suitable for use as the rectifier stage in LED drivers. Despite the additional circuit stresses from the charge pump operation, the proposed converter offers simplicity and low component overhead, with the potential for higher frequency operation towards higher power densities.

This paper presents a power factor correction (PFC) rectifier for single-phase offline converters. With the addition of a charge pump circuit comprised of a capacitor and a diode to a class-DE series-resonant converter, PFC is achieved inherently. The converter operation is based on soft-switching, and a 1 MHz 50 W prototype employing wide bandgap devices is implemented, achieving a power factor of 0.99 and a total harmonic distortion (THD) of 8.6 %, at an efficiency of 84 %, with substantially low input current harmonic magnitudes compared to the limits set by the IEC 61000-3-2 standard.

This paper presents a power factor correction (PFC) rectifier for single-phase offline converters. With the addition of a charge pump circuit comprised of a capacitor and a diode to a class-DE series-resonant converter, PFC is achieved inherently. The converter operation is based on soft-switching, and a 1 MHz 50 W prototype employing wide bandgap devices is implemented, achieving a power factor of 0.99 and a total harmonic distortion (THD) of 8.6 %, at an efficiency of 84 %, with substantially low input current harmonic magnitudes compared to the limits set by the IEC 61000-3-2 standard.

This paper presents the analysis and design of a resonant power factor correction (PFC) rectifier for the first stage in single-phase front-end offline converters targeting low-power applications (up to 100 W). With the addition of a charge pump circuit comprised of a capacitor and a diode to a class-DE resonant converter, PFC functionality is achieved inherently. The operation is based on soft switching, allowing for increased switching frequencies with reduced switching losses. A 1 MHz prototype employing wide-bandgap (WBG) switching devices is built and tested to validate the analysis and proposed design method. The prototype achieves up to 50 W of output power with a power factor of 0.99, a total harmonic distortion (THD) of 8.6 %, and an efficiency of up to 88 %; with harmonic magnitudes well-within the IEC 61000-3-2 standard class-C device limits, making it suitable for use as the rectifier stage in LED drivers. Despite the additional circuit stresses from the charge pump operation, the proposed converter offers simplicity and low component overhead, with the potential for higher frequency operation towards higher power densities.