ACTIVE POWER FACTOR CORRECTION (APFC)

Martin’s Electronic Devices and Instruments (MEDI) is happy to announce the development of incredible AC to DC Active Power Factor Correction (APFC) the world has never seen before!

The conventional method of APFC, i.e taking an AC voltage waveform, dividing by the average square and thus obtain a reference waveform for the current, compare the current with the reference waveform and vary the PWM and scale down or scale up according to the output DC voltage. This is an analog method. People are following such methods ever since PFC has been playing a role in electronics even with dedicated ICs, microcontrollers and DSPs. But, with the microcontroller / DSP we can use some intelligent tactics that is impossible with analog-only methods like anticipation, prediction etc…we have developed a unique algorithm using dsPIC30F2010, in combination with hardware and achieved unbelievable power factor of 0.9999 and extremely low harmonic distortion which is impossible with the analog method.

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The topology used in the hardware is two phase, six phase and eight phase interleaved PWM switching (depending on the wattage) so the efficiency is close to 99% and the input and output ripple current is 1/20^th of a conventional APFC circuit. This will play a vital role in green energy solutions.

The applications of APFC can be various. Some of them are stated below –

Ø Telecom power supplies

Ø Battery chargers

Ø Variable frequency motor drives

Ø Online UPS

Ø Electronic ballasts for metal halide lamps, induction lamps, fluorescent lamps etc

Ø LCD TVs / CRT TVs, computers and monitors

Ø High efficiency server and desktop power supplies