High power factor phase controlled rectifier using staggered converters

This paper proposes a high power factor phase controlled rectifier employing paralleled staggered converters. The rectifier achieves a high input power factor (over 0.95) throughout the whole output current range. It reduces in 75% the converter's reactive power consumption compared to conventional high current rectifiers, hence reducing the input filter's rating by 80%. This is achieved without increasing the input current's distortion, which at the contrary is lower than the distortion produced by conventional high current rectifiers. Furthermore, the converter operates with a fixed input filter, eliminating the reactive power controller and switch gear required. This also increases the converter's reliability and overall system stability. The paper presents the converter's design procedure, simulation and experimental results, together with a full evaluation performed in an electrowinning plant. These validate the converter's aforementioned advantages.