Fractional fuzzy PI controller using particle swarm optimization to improve power factor by boost converter

Abstract

The power circuit of AC voltage controller capable of operating at a leading, lagging, and unity power factor is studied by a lot of researchers in the literature. Circuits working with high switching frequency are known as power factor correctors (PFCs). The single-phase boost converter has become the most popular topology for power factor correction (PFC) in general purpose power supplies. Power factor correction circuit provides conventional benefits to electric power systems. The benefits are the reduction of power factor penalty and utility bill and power loss. Therefore, a boost converter power factor correction scheme is presented in this paper. A PI, fuzzy logic PI and fractional order PI (FOPI) controllers are used to fix an active shaping of input current of the circuit and to improve the power factor. The controller parameters (coefficients) are optimized using the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Average current mode control (ACMC) method is used in the circuit. The converter circuit consists of a single-phase bridge rectifier, boost converter, transformer and load. A mathematical model of the plant is required to design the PI controller. A model for power factor correction circuit is formed in MATLAB/Simulink toolbox and a filter is designed to reduce THD value. The proposed model is simulated using a combination of PI, fuzzy logic and FOPI controllers. The control scheme is applied to 600 Watt PFC boost converter to get 400 Volt DC output voltage and 0.99 power factor. The input voltage is 230 VRMS with 50 Hz. The combination of FOPI and PI controller has the best solution to control the power factor according to PI and fuzzy controllers.