New Efficient Bridgeless Cuk Rectifiers for PFC Applications

Three new bridgeless single-phase ac-dc power factor correction (PFC) rectifiers based on Cuk topology are proposed. The absence of an input diode bridge and the presence of only two semiconductor switches in the current flowing path during each interval of the switching cycle result in less conduction losses and an improved thermal management compared to the conventional Cuk PFC rectifier. The proposed topologies are designed to work in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) to achieve almost a unity power factor and low total harmonic distortion of the input current. The DCM operation gives additional advantages such as zero-current turn-ON in the power switches, zero-current turn-OFF in the output diode, and simple control circuitry. Performance comparisons between the proposed and conventional Cuk PFC rectifiers are performed based on circuit simulations. Experimental results for a 150 W/48 V
_dc
at 100 V
_rms
line voltage to evaluate the performance of the proposed bridgeless PFC rectifiers are provided.