TIDUD61E October 2020 – April 2021
Zero crossing current spikes is a challenging issue for TTPL PFC topologies. This issue is solved by implementing a soft start scheme with a state machine to turn on and off switches in a particular sequence.
Figure 2-13 shows the switching sequence when the AC wave goes from negative to positive. During the negative half Q1 is ON, Q3 is the active FET, and Q4 is the sync FET. During this time the voltage across Q2 is the DC bus voltage. When the AC cycle changes, Q2 must be on 100% or close to 100%. If Q2 is turned ON immediately, a huge positive spike results. Therefore, a soft-start sequence is used to turn Q4 ON as shown in Figure 2-13. The tuning of this soft start depends on the inductance value and other power stage parameters such as device Coss.
Another reason for a negative current spike around zero crossing is the relatively low AC voltage around the zero crossing. When Q3 is turned ON, though the duty cycle is low, a high-voltage difference is applied and can result in a high negative current spike. Therefore, a sufficient delay is applied before Q3 starts switching back again.
Similarly, Q2 is turned on after some delay after the soft start has started.