ZETA CONVERTER APPLIED IN POWER FACTOR CORRECTION

ADRIANO PERES, DENIZAR CRUZ MARTINS and N O BARB1

Federal University of Santa Catarina

Dept. of Electrical Engineering - Power Electronics Laboratory
P.O. Box: 51 19 - 88040-970 Florianopolis - SC - BRAZIL
Tel.: (55) 482 3 1-9204 - FAX: ( 5 5 ) 482 3 1-9770

-mSTRACT limiting both the load and the inrush current. As a matter of
fact, so far, it has been the only converter capable of satisfying
This paper presents fhe analysis of the ZETA all the mentioned specifications simultaneously.
converter operating in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) The purpose of this paper is to study the behavior of
for power factor correction. the Zeta converter in power factor applications. It is
The main attractive ofZETA converter is that it is a demonstrated that it has properties similar to the Flyback
naturally isolated structure, which allow a regulated output converter and that in some particular applications it is the
voltage with only one power processing stage. most advantageous over the other DC-DC converters.
Principle of operation, mathematical analysis, design
procedure and experimental results obtained from a
laboratory prototype are presented. 2 - PROPOSED CIRCUIT

1.INTRODUCTION 2.1 - CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

Six basic DC-DC converter do exist, namely the The proposed topology is shown in Fig. 1, where
Buck, Boost, Buck-Boost, Cik,Sepic and Zeta. there are an input standard rectifier bridge, a PWM switch
With the exception of the Zeta converter, all others (Sl), an isolator transformer (TI), an output inductor (Lo),
have been employed to correct the power factor of power two capacitors (CO and Cl), an output diode @1), and a Ro
supplies, both in continuous and discontinuous current mode. that represents the load resistance.
References [l], [2], [3], [J] and [5] have reported on results of
researches conducted with the Buck, Boost, Buck-Boost, CI%
and Sepic converters.
All of these converters have their intrinsic
limitations. The boost converter for instance, that has been
found wide utilization in the industry is not naturally isolated
and operates only as a step-up voltage. Yet, it is not capable of
protecting itself against a load overcurrent or short-circuit.
The Chk and Sepic converters are naturally isolated and Fig. 1 - Proposed Circuit.
operate as step-down and step-up voltage. However, they do
not protect themselves against overload neither. Another 2.2 - OPERATION STAGES
practical difficulty that exist with these three converters is that
an additional circuit is needed to limit the inrush current. To s i m p l e the analysis the converter will be studied
The Buck converter has the capability of naturally in its non-isolated version, presented in Fig. 2, with the
limiting the inrush current and protecting against overload. following assumptions:
However, in order to operate at high power factor, the DC -The circuit operation is steady state;
output voltage must be much lower than the AC input peak -The semiconductors are considered ideals;
voltage, Consequently the: power semiconductor are subjected -The transformer is considered by its magnetizing
to high rms current stress. It seems that this converter has no inductance and referred to the primary side;
future in power factor correction applications. -The capacitor COis large enough to make its voltage
The Buck-Boost converter can be easily isolated, constant and equal to Vo;
operates as step-down and step-up voltage, and is capable of -The line voltage is constant in a switching period.
0-7803-1859-5/94/$4.001994 IEEE
@

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 For a switching period the converter operates as a
Zeta DC-DC converter, as follows:
+ VSI - - VCI + + VLO .

Fig. 2 - Non-isolated Zeta converter.

-First Stage (t0,tl): While switch S1 is conducting,

the line source supplies energy to inductor Lm. The energy
available in inductor Lo comes from line source and capacitor
C1. The currents iLm and iLo increase linearly. Voltages vco
Fig. 4 - The Main Waveformsfor a switching period.
and vc, are considered constant and equal to Vo.
-Second Stage (tl,t2): By the time tl, the switch S1 TSI

is turned off and the diode D l starts to conduct, the energy

from Lm and Lo is transferred to C1 and CO respectively. In
the second stage there is no energy circulation in the line,
which assures that there is not any harmonic distortion in the
current line.
-Third Stage (t2,t3): When the currents iLm and iLo
become equal, at time t2, the diode D1 turns off and starts the
third stage. The voltage applied in the inductances Lm and Lo
are zero and their currents are constant until S1 is able to
conduct, restarting the operation cycle.
The operation stages illustration are shown in Fig. 3.
The main waveforms for a switching period are
shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows the main waveforms for a line
period, in which the line voltage is given by: vi,, = Vp sin( w f ) .
:L. L
. .
...A...--A. :I- ...A. . .
.L. ,&-;.:;I.,..

- VCI + Lo
Fig. 5 - The Main Waveformsfor a line period.

3 - MATHEMATICAL ANALYXS

3.1 -LINE CURRENT

a)FW Stage (t0.tl)

-. - VCI + iL0
In the first stage the currents in the inductances Lo
and Lm are defined by:
vp -t
i h ( t ) =- Lm sin ( wt ) -iLmm

b)Sacond .%age (11.12) .vp-t

iL,(t) =---sin(wt)-iLom (2)
Lo
where:
-ih = magnetizing current;
-iLo= output inductance current;
c)Thlrd Stage (U.01
-Vp = line peak voltage;

Fig. 3 - Operation Stages. -ihm = minimum magnetizing current;

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 iS1,iDl
-iLom= minimum output inductance current.

In the second and third stages we do not have any

input current circulation, so the current line is given by:
i h ( t ) = i L m ( t )+ i L o ( t ) (3)
The currents iLmm and iLom are equal, but in the
opposite directions. Thus the current line will be:

i.ln ( t ) =--Vp -sin( wt ) .t Fig. 6 - Critical conduction.

(4)
L
where L is the equivalent Zeta inductance ( L= L d 4 0 ). where w=D.Ts and a =-VP (12) , therefore:
If we consider that the converter has an input filter to vo
eliminate the high frequency harmonics, thus:
1
DC =- - (13)
l+a
ii,,(t) = w s i n ( w t ) (5) The Fig. 7 shows the curve of the critical duty cycle.
L *fs

1
where:- f s =- switching frequency;
Ts
-Ts= switching penod,
-D = duty cycle.
The expression (5) shows that the converter does not
present low order harmonics. The input current is a sinusoidal
curve with unity power faLZor

I I I
3.2 - CRITICAL DUTY CYCLE (Dc)
05 I 1.5 n

Fig. 7 - Critical duty cycle.

The critical duty cycle (Dc) is obtained from Fig. 6,

when the conduction is critical, the third operation stage does 3.3 - OUTPUT CHARACTERISTIC(G)
not exist. So the diode current is:
iDl f t ) = iLm f t , -f i , (
~t , (6)
And the current through diode DI occurs only in the second The average output current lo is equal to the average
stage: diode current and are given by:

vo
Io =-= I , p v
Ro

vo -tc
i L , ( t ) = v p . t f s i n ( w t ) -- -iLom
a.Vp-D2 -
IDJav=
-2 (15)
(8)
Lo Lo 4 - L s f ~ RO
Replacing Eq. (12) and Eq. (15) into Eq. (14) is
The critical condition occurs when the input voltage obtained:
is maximum, where sin(wt)=l. Thus:
vo D
vp.q vo-tc (16)
i o , ( t ) =---- =O (9)
L L
Fig. 8 shows the normalized output characteristic
@ curve, where:
tc =--tf (10)
P'o
From Fig. 6 we have
tc =TS-. tf (1 1)

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 4.1 - SPECIFICATIONS

To realize the converter design it is necessary to

know the following data:
- Po = 2OOW (rated output power)
- Vo = 72V (rated output isolated voltage)
- vin = 3ll.sin(w.t) f 10% (input voltage)
- fs = 1OOkHz (switching frequency).
4.2 - CALCULATION
Fig. 8 - Normalized output characteristic.
The output current (lo) and the turns ratio (a) of the
transformer are calculated as follows:
3.4 - CRITICAL ZETA INDUCTANCE (LC)
IO =-Po =-200 ~ 2 . 7 8 4
Vo 72
The critical inductance of the Zeta converter for VO‘
power factor correction is defined from Eq.(14). The average a =- =3.89 (turns ratio)
vo
diode current is equal to the average output inductance where V0’=280V is the output voltage referred to the primary
current. So: side of the transformer.
iLoav=iD,av (17) The relation of the voltages are:
Consequently:
Vp,, =342V; am==% =1.22
a .Vp -Dc2 vo ’
Lc =
4 .lo * fs Vp,, =311V; anom
=1.11

IT
I

I - 1 cycle and the critical Zeta ihductance, that is:

1
DC =- ~0.45
1 +amax
_ . .

1 i_ __ __
LC amin
=
4 .lo’. fs
-
.Vpm Dc’ =198@

I Choosing the value of the Zeta inductance equal to 75% of the

Lc, Lm=Lo and keeping 2% of ripple in the output voltage, we

The output capacitor CO must eliminate the 120Hz Lo’

component of the output voltage, and is given by: LO E- =19.2fl
a2
5 a-x Co‘=247/rF
D2 .Vp -(- +-)
CO = 3 4 CO=Co’.a’ =3800pF
4-d-L0.AV~~-f~-fi

5 -EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
4 - SIMPLIFIED DESIGN PROCEDURE AND EXAMPLE
With the objective of evaluating the employed
methodology, a laboratory prototype was implemented
The simplified procedure for the converter design is following the Same and the Same design
shown as follows.

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 outlined in the preceding section. The implemented converter
1%
is shown in Fig. 10. Amplitudepi)

sa

60 TDH=3 52%
(voltage)
40

20

OF,0 nl 1

Fig. 10 - lmplemented converter. Fig. 12 - TDH of the input voltage and current.

The specifications of the components employed in the

experimental analysis are shown below:
- D R ~DM,
, %3, and %4 = SKIN4004 (Semikron);
- cfl = 15nF / 400V, polypropylene (Icotron - Siemens);
- C,= 12nF / 400V, polypropylene (Icotron - Siemens);
- Lf= 9.3m.H,248 turns on ferrite core E-42/15 (Thornton);
- S I = APT8075BN (Advanced Power Technology);
- Dg = MR817 (Motorola);
- Cg = 2.2pF / 630V, polypropylene (Icotron - Siemens);
- Rg = 6kQ / 60W;
- T I = Transformer on ferrite core E-55/21 (Thornton),
= 44/12 turns ratio;
- C1 = l o p , electrolytic (Icotron - Siemens);
- D 1 = MR85 1 (Motorola);
- Dgd = 1N4934 (Motoroia);
- Rgd = lOOkn - 1/8W;
-
- Cgd = lOnF / 250V, polypropylene (Icotron Siemens); Time (ms)
- CO= 4OOOpF, electrolytic (Icotron - Siemens) and Fig. 13 - Ripple of the voltage in C I and Co.
- Lo = 20W, 14 turns on ferrite core E-42/15 (Thornton).
The experimental results are shown in the following
figures.

Time (ms)
0.0 4.0 8.0 12.0 16.0 20.0
Time (ms) Fig. 14 - Switch voltage and current.
Fig. I I - Line current and voltage.

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 Based on the theoretical and experimental results
taken from a laboratory prototype, we can draw the
conclusions as follows:
- When operating in discontinuous current mode,
driven by a standard PWM integrated circuit, the Zeta
converter draws a line current proportional to the input
voltage in a manner similar to the Flyback converter, with no
harmonic current neither phase displacement.
- The operation in the continuous current mode is
also possible, provided that active power factor correction be
implemented.
- As the Flyback converter, the Zeta converter
provides isolation, high power factor, overload and short-
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0
Time(ltlS) circuit protection, limit of the inrush current and regulation of
Fig. 15 - D I and S i current. the output voltage using only one active switch.

7 - REFBRENCES

[I] - H. Endo, T. Yamashita and T. Sugiura,"A High-Power-

Factor Buck Converter", IEEE PESC Records, 1993, pp. 1071
- 1076.
[2] - N.M o b , T. M. Undeland and R. J. Ferrara, "Sinusoidal
Line Rectification with a 1OOkHz €3-SIT Step-up Converter",
IEEE APEC Records, 1984, pp. 92 - 98.
[3] - M. J. Kocher and R. L. Steigerwald, "An AC to DC
0. . . . . . . . . Converter With High Power Quality Input Waveforms", IEEE
0 50 io0 200 PESC Cnference Records, 1982, pp. 63 - 75.
Po [4] - H. Le-Huy, J. P. Ferriewx and E. Toutain, "An AC-DC
Fig. I6 - Eflciency curve. Converter With Low-Harmonics Input Current", Second
European Conference on Power Electronics and applications,
1987, pp. 1201 - 1207.
[5] - C. A. Canesin and I. Barbi, "A Unity Power Factor
Multiple Isolated Outputs Switching Mode Power Suply Using
a Simple Switch", IEEE APEC Records, 1991, pp. 430 - 436.

0,OS 0,1 0,15 0,2 0,25 0,3 D

Fig. 17 - Output characteristic.

6 - CONCLUSIONS

The main objective of the study performed in this

paper is to investigate the behavior of the Zeta converter in
power factor correction applications.

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