Displacement Power Factor Correction using Firing and Extinction Angle Control

Power factor is the ratio between active power and total apparent power. Displacement power factor is the phase shift between the current and voltage waves, thus it does not take into account the effect of harmonics. This paper aims to correct the displacement power factor using a modern approach that incorporates power electronics devices using MOSFET & SCR transistors, instead of passive methods. The solution proposed in this paper modifies the input current's waveform, consequently changing its shape by triggering the MOSFETs & SCRs at certain times. The action of triggering leads to a phase shift in the fundamental component of the current wave and as a result power factor is improved. This solution was implemented using MATLAB Simulink environment and satisfactory results were obtained.