ISSN (Online) 2321 – 2004

ISSN (Print) 2321 – 5526

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS, INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING
Vol. 2, Issue 2, February 2014

An Efficient Bridgeless PFC Cuk Converter Based

PMBLDCM Drive
Jomy Joy1, Amal M.R2, Rakesh R3, Kannan S.A4, Anna Raina5
M Tech Scholar, Power Electronics, Toc H institute Of Science And Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala, India 1
M Tech Scholar, Power Electronics, Toc H institute Of Science And Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala, India 2
M Tech Scholar, Power Electronics, Toc H institute Of Science And Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala, India 3
M Tech Scholar, Power Electronics, Toc H institute Of Science And Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala, India 4
Assistant Professor, Department of EEE, Toc H institute Of Science And Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala, India5

Abstract: A new bridgeless Cuk PFC converter driving a permanent magnet brushless DC motor drive is proposed here. In
the case of a conventional BLDCM drive system there will be a rectifier and a PFC converter connected to the drive
through a voltage source inverter. In this project it is replaced by a bridgeless PFC Cuk converter and the voltage source
inverter connected to the PMBLDCMD. This improves the efficiency of the drive as well as maintains a unity power factor.
This is because of the bridgeless topology introduced which does not have an input diode bridge rectifier. That is there will
be less number of semiconductor switches in the current flowing path. The bridgeless Cuk converter is designed to work in
discontinuous conduction mode. The proposed PMBLDM drive is designed with necessary controls and modeled in
MATLAB Simulink and simulated results are presented. Also a comparison is made between proposed drive system and
the conventional Cuk rectifier fed PMBLDCM drive.

Keywords: Cuk converter, Power factor correction (PFC), Bridgeless Cuk converter, low conduction losses, total harmonic
distortion, permanent magnet brushless DC motor (PMBLDCM).

I. INTRODUCTION
The applications if PMBLDC motors are increasing in the Most of the PMBLDC drive from the supply via diode
day to day life because of its features like low maintenance, bridge rectifier and a capacitor. But the capacitor draws
high efficiency, and wide speed range. More over it is pulsated currents which results in harmonics due to an
rugged due to the permanent magnets on the rotor. The uncontrolled charging of the dc link capacitor. So PFC
commutation in a PMBLDCM is done by a three phase converters are implemented in front of the dc link capacitor
voltage source inverter. The PMBLDCM can be used in in order to supply a constant DC current. Therefore, a PF
various applications like air conditioning system, electric correction (PFC) converter among various available
traction etc. In all these applications the drive system has converter topologies [3] is applicable for a PMBLDCMD.
long life, low running cost and reduced electrical and Among these topologies most of them use boost topology at
mechanical running stresses. But the condition is that the them front end. But the switching losses are high due to the
quality of the power supply should meet specific standards presence o f the diode bridge. This affects the efficiency of
like IEC 61000-3-2. the whole drive system.
A PMBLDCM has developed torque directly proportional to Several topologies are proposed in order to maximize the
phase current and its back EMF, which is proportional to the efficiency of power supply. Bridgeless topologies are one
speed. That is, it has a constant current in its stator windings such converter which can reduce the switching losses by
with variable voltage across its terminals maintains constant reducing the number of power semiconductor switches in the
torque in a PMBLDCM under variable speed operation [1]. current conduction path [4] [5]. By using this bridgeless
Speed control scheme used is a normal PWM control. topology the input diode bridge is avoided and therefore
However, the control of VSI is done by electronic conduction losses are reduced which yield a better efficient
commutation based on the rotor position signals of the system. Mostly used converter topology is bridgeless boost
PMBLDC motor. converter. But it is applicable only for boost operation and
In conventional cases a PMBLDCM drive is fed from a moreover it has high start up inrush current and lack of
single-phase ac supply via a diode bridge rectifier (DBR) galvanic isolation [4]. The proposed topology in [6]
followed by a capacitor at dc link. The capacitor draws introduces a buck bridgeless converter but has the
current in short pulses. This will generate harmonics and disadvantages like low output voltage, high output voltage
yield poor PF, resulting in poor power quality. Therefore ripple. The topology proposed in [7] a SEPIC converter has
various PFC converter topologies are available in order to relatively high output ripple due to the discontinuous output
meet the required IEC 61000-3-2 standard. current. So if these converters are used in a drive system
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS, INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING
Vol. 2, Issue 2, February 2014

disadvantages of those converters will decrease the cycle of the input voltage and Q2 vice versa. This can reduce
efficiency of the whole drive system. the control circuitry complexity
The cuk topology based converter offer various advantages Assume that the converter is operating at a steady state in
ahead of the above topologies, such as such as easy addition to the following assumptions: pure sinusoidal input
implementation of transformer isolation, natural protection voltage, ideal lossless components. The output filter
against heavy inrush current occurring at start-up or capacitor is large enough such that the voltage across it is
overload current, lower input current ripple, and less constant. During the positive half cycle of the input AC, the
electromagnetic interference (EMI) associated with the first dc–dc Cuk circuit, L1–Q1–C1–Lo1–Do1, will be active
discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) topology. The DCM through the positive diode Dp. This connects the input ac
is preferred over other modes for having some added source to the output. During the negative half-line cycle, the
advantages like natural near-unity power factor, the power second dc–dc Cuk converter circuit, L2–Q2 -C2–Lo2–Do2, is
switches are turned ON at zero current, and the output active through negative diode Dn, which connects the input
diodes are turned OFF at zero current[8] [9]. ac source to the output.
The operation of the bridgeless rectifier is made in
II. BRIDGELESS CUK CONVERTER discontinues node by suitable design of the active and
The bridgeless Cuk converter proposed in [10] yields the passive components like inductors, capacitors. By operating
perfect result so that the drive system will be efficient as the rectifier in DCM, several advantages can be achieved.
well as power factor is improved to unity. The proposed These advantages include natural near-unity power factor,
converter in Fig (1) acts as an AC-DC converter without an the power switches are turned ON at zero current so less turn
input diode bridge; so named as a bridgeless topology. ON losses, and the output diodes (Do1 and Do2) are turned
OFF at zero current so turn OFF losses are reduced. The
bridgeless topology has an additional inductor as compared
with conventional topology which is a disadvantage but the
topology will have good thermal performance.

III. CONVERTER DESIGN

The design of the converter is made as below with certain
mathematical assumptions. The DCM operation is obtained
with the following condition:
1
𝐾𝑒 < 𝐾𝑒−𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡 = 2 (1)
2(𝑀+sin (𝜔𝑡 ))
where Ke is a dimensionless conduction parameter and is
Fig 1: Bridgeless Cuk Converter [10] given by:
The bridgeless Cuk converter has the advantage over the 2𝐿𝑒
conventional cuk converter in the case of switching losses.
𝐾𝑒 = 𝑅 (2)
𝐿 𝑇𝑠
Two DC–DC Cuk converters are connected as in Fig 1 to
form the bridgeless topology. One of the Cuk DC-DC The values of the parasitic components are designed such
converters will operate for each half-line period (T/2) of the that they follow the DCM condition such that 𝐾𝑒 <
input voltage. According to Fig 1 there are one or two 𝐾𝑒−𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡 _𝑚𝑖𝑛 and those maximum and minimum values of Ke-
semiconductor(s) in the current conduction path. Therefore crit are as below:
the current conduction losses in the active and passive 1 1
switches are further reduced and the circuit efficiency is 𝐾𝑒−𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡 _𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 2(𝑀+1)2 and 𝐾𝑒−𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡 _𝑚𝑖𝑛
2𝑀 2
(3)
improved compared to the conventional Cuk converter.
Common mode noise problem due to the pulsating output Let input voltage Vac= 100 Vrms and Vo=48V power P=150W
voltage with respect to the ground is a major drawback of the output current is given by:
almost all converters. So in order for balancing the circuit P=VI; 150=48I; output current I=3.125A
there by prevent the common mode noise problem, here The output load resistance value is given by:
output voltage is always connected to the input ac line Vo =IR; 48=3.125R; R=15.34 Ω.
through the slow-recovery diodes Dp and Dn. Thus, the
Let the switching frequency be 50 kHz and output voltage
proposed topology does not suffer from the high common-
should be less than 1%.
mode EMI noise emission problem.
As in the bridgeless converter shown in Fig (1) there are two
power semiconductor switches, Q1, Q2 along with two ∆𝑖𝐿1 < 10%𝐼𝐿1 and ∆𝑣𝑐1 < 5%𝑉𝑐1 (4)
recovery diodes Dp,. The switches can be driven by the same
𝐷.𝑉 𝑖𝑛
control with the condition that Q1 will be ON at positive ∆𝐼𝐿1 = 𝐹.𝐿1
(5)

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS, INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING
Vol. 2, Issue 2, February 2014

(1−𝐷)𝑉𝑜
∆𝐼𝐿2 = (6) waveform Sd(t) to get the switching signal for the MOSFET
𝐹.𝐿2 of the bridgeless Cuk converter as
(1−𝐷)𝑉𝑜 If KdVDCerror > Sd(t) then S = 1 else S = 0 (10)
∆𝐼𝐿2 = 𝐹.𝐿2
(7)

𝐷.𝑉 𝑑 𝐼𝑑 where S denotes the switching of the MOSFET of the

∆𝑉𝑐1 = 𝑉𝑜 .𝐶.𝐹
(8) bridgeless Cuk converter and its values “1” and “0”
From the equations (6), (7), (8) the values of inductances represent “on” and “off” conditions, respectively.
and capacitances are given by:
B. PMBLDC motor drive
L1= L2=1mH
L01=L02=22μH The drive consists of a voltage source inverter, an electronic
C1=C2=1μF commutator for controlling the voltage source inverter, and
Cout=12000μF the PMBLC motor.
IV. MODELLING OF THE PROPOSED DRIVE
1) Electronic Commutator: The electronic commutator is
The bridgeless Cuk converter and PMBLDC motor are the used to generate the switching pulses for the voltage source
main components of the proposed system as shown Fig 2. inverter. The rotor positions are sensed by Hall Effect
They are designed and modeled to form the complete drive sensors and emf signals are generated. This is decoded to get
system the respective switching signals as shown in Table 1. [2]
TABLE I
SWITCHING SIGNAL GENERATION BASED ON HALL EFFECT SENSOR
SIGNALS [2]

Hall signals Switching Signals

Ha Hb Hc S1 S2` S3 S4 S5 S6
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Fig 2: Proposed Drive 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

A. Bridgeless PFC Converter 1) Voltage source inverter: The inverter just performs the
conversion of DC-AC and the output of the VSI is fed to the
The bridgeless a Cuk converter is designed as in then above phases of PMBLDC motor. The equivalent circuit of the VSI
section along with a speed control and PWM control. fed BLDC motor is shown as in Fig 3. The output of the VSI
1) Speed Controller: VDCref is the reference voltage and VDC is as below:
is the sensed voltage at the Dc link the error voltage is given
by: Vao = Vdc/2 for S1=1 (11)
VDCerror= VDCref - VDC (9)
Vao=-Vdc/2 for S2=1 (12)
This error signal is used to generate the pwm pulses by
Vao = Vdc/2 for S1=1 and S2=0 (13)
comparing it with sawtooth waveform.
V = Vao-Vno (14)
2) PWM controller: The voltage error signal is compared an
with the sawtooth waveform and the pulses so generate will
feed the switches. That is the voltage error is amplified by Where Vao, Vbo, Vco represents the voltages between the
gain Kd and compared with fixed frequency (fs) sawtooth three phases(a, b, c) and the midpoint of the DC link voltage
“o” as shown in the figure. Van, Vbn, Vcn are the voltages
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between the three phases and the neutral point “n”. Vdc is the respectively, and Kt is the torque constant. From (20) we can
DC link voltage. The 1and 0 of switches S1/ S2 represents the easily generate the speed.
on and off of the respective IGBTs. Similarly all other
phases are being switched. The EMFs ea, eb, ec are trapezoidal and given by the
dynamic equation:
𝐸𝑘 = 𝑘 𝐾𝑒 𝜔𝑚 𝑓𝑘 (𝜃𝑟 ) (21)

where Ke is the back emf constant. Electrical rotor speed and

position are related by the equation

𝑑𝜃𝑟 𝑃
= 2 𝜔𝑚 (22)
𝑑𝑡

V. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF THE PROPOSED DRIVE

The proposed PMBLDCM drive system is evaluated and

tested in a MATLAB Simulink environment. The results are
then compared with the conventional system. That is the
Fig 3: Equivalent circuit of VSI fed PMBLDCMD Bridgeless Cuk rectifier fed PMBLDCM drive is compared
with the conventional Cuk PFC converter fed PMBLDCM
1) PMBLDC motor: The PMBLDC motor can be modelled drive. They are compared in terms of efficiency, power
by some set of differential equations. Where different factor etc. The simulation of the proposed system is given in
equations are used to generate speed, stator currents and Fig (4). The conventional simulation scheme is in Fig (6).
back EMFs.
TABLE II
The PMBLDCM has three stator windings and a permanent SIMULATION DETAILS OF THE BRIDGELESS CUK CONVERTER
magnet at the rotor. So the circuit equations of the phase
windings are given by: Input voltage 180

Va   R 0 0  ia   L  M 0 0  Switching Frequency 10 kHz

V    0 0    
 b  R  ib    o LM 0 

Vc 
 0 0 R ic 
  0 0 LM
 Input inductors L1 and L2 1mH
Output inductors Lo1 and Lo2 22μH
ia  e a  Energy transfer capacitors C1 and C2 1μF
P 
ib  
e 
 b Filter capacitors Co 12000 μF

 ic 
 
 ec 
 (15) Active Switches Q1 and Q2 Rdson=29mΏ
Output diodes Do, Do1 and Do2 Vf =0.9V
Input diodes Dp and Dn Vf =0.7V
Where Va, Vb, Vc are the phase voltages, ia, ib, ic are the Filter L & C L=1e-4 &
phase currents, ea, eb, ec are the back EMFs. The dynamic C=39e-2
equations of the phase voltage with the condition M=0 can
be written as:
𝑑
𝑉𝑎 = 𝑅𝑖𝑎 + 𝐿 𝑖𝑎 + 𝑒𝑎 (16) TABLE III
𝑑𝑡 MOTOR SPECIFICATIONS
𝑑
𝑉𝑏 = 𝑅𝑖𝑏 + 𝐿 𝑖𝑏 + 𝑒𝑏 (17)
𝑑𝑡
𝑑
𝑉𝑐 = 𝑅𝑖𝑐 + 𝐿 𝑖 + 𝑒𝑐 (18) Armature inductance[L] 0.0085H
𝑑𝑡 𝑐
Where R is the resistance per phase, L is the inductance. Armature resistance[R] 2.8750ohm
From the above stator phase currents can be generated. The
electromagnetic torque is given by: Rotor inertia[J] 0.8e-3kg-m2
Damping constant[B] 1e-3 N.m.s/rad
𝑇𝑒 = 𝑘 𝐾𝑡 𝑖𝑘 𝑓𝑘 (𝜃𝑟 ) (19)
Back EMF Constant[Ke] 0.175 V.sec
𝑑𝜔 Torque Constant[Kt] 1.4 N.m/A
𝑇𝑒 − 𝑇𝑙 = 𝐽 𝑚 + 𝐵𝜔𝑚 (20)
𝑑𝑡
th
Where k= a, b, c. ik is the phase current of k phase, ωm is
the rotor speed, fk (ϴr) is the back emf constant, Tl is load
torque, J, B are the rotor inertia and damping constant
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Vol. 2, Issue 2, February 2014

Fig 5 (c)

Fig 4: Simulation diagram of the proposed drive

Fig 5 (d)

The proposed PMBLDCM drive system‟s speed, stator . The Fig 5(c) shows the quasi trapezoidal waveform. The
current, electromagnetic torque and back EMFs waveforms
quasi waveforms which synchronize with the trapezoidal
are as below:
back EMF generate a constant torque as in Fig 5(d).

Fig 5(a)

Fig 5(a) shows the stator phase currents of one phase. Each
phase currents will be 120 degree shifted. The rotor steady
state speed is as in Fig 5(b) where at starting speed various
and by the controller action it is set a steady state speed

Fig 6: Simulation diagram of the Conventional Drive

The proposed drive system is then compared with the

conventional Cuk PFC converter based PMBLDCM drive in
terms of THD to establish that the proposed drive is efficient
over the conventional system.

The THD analysis is taken for speed, back EMF, stator

Fig 5 (b) current and electromagnetic torque of both proposed and
conventional system. Along with this the primary aim power
factor correction is also checked for both of the systems and
tabulated as in Table IV.
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TABLE IV [5] W. Wei, L. Hongpeng, J. Shigong, and X. Dianguo, “A novel

PERFORMANCE DETAILS bridgelessbuck-boost PFC converter,” in Proc. IEEE Power Electron.
Spec. Conf., 2008, pp. 1304–1308.
Type Conventional Proposed Drive [6] Yungtaek Jang, Milan M Jovanovic “Bridgeless High power factor
Buck converter”, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 26, no. 2, pp.
Drive 291–297, Feb. 2011
[7] M. Mahdavi and H. Farzanehfard, “Bridgeless SEPIC PFC rectifier
THD--Speed 133.36 65.98 withreduced components and conduction losses,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
Electron., vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 4153–4160, Sep. 2011.
THD--Back 149.35 65.98 [8] Sebastian, J., Cobos, J.A., Lopera, J.M., and Uceda, J.: „The
determination of boundaries between continuous and discontinuous
EMF conduction mode in PWM DC-to-DC converters used as power factor
THD--Stator 136.92 49.35 preregulators‟, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 1995, 10, (5)
Current [9] CnndA. Sabzali, E. H. Ismail, M. Al-Saffar, and A. Fardoun, “New
bridgelessDCM sepic and Cuk PFC rectifiers with low conduction and
THD--Torque 158.56 46.67 switchinglosses,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 873–881,
Mar./Apr. 2011.
[10] E. H. Ismail, Abbas.A.Fardoun, Ahmad.J.sabazali, Mustafa.A.Al-
Power Factor 0.997 0.993 Saffar “New efficient Bridgeless Cuk rectifiers For PFC
(%) applications,” IEEE Trans. power. Electron., vol. 27, no. 7, July.
2012.
The Table IV clearly yields the result that the proposed
BIOGRAPHY
bridgeless Cuk converter drive has less THD as compared
with the conventional drive. The less THD shows that t the Jomy Joy was born in Kerala, India in
proposed drive has more accurate output than the 1990. He obtained his bachelor degree
conventional drive. That is the proposed drive system is from Anna University, Chennai. He is
efficient over the conventional system. More over the input currently pursuing his Masters degree in
power factor of the same is almost unity. Power electronics from Cochin University
of science and technology, Kerala. His area
VI. CONCLUSION of interest includes power electronics,
electrical drives and electrical machines.
A new efficient permanent magnet brushless DC motor drive
has been simulated and experimentally validated, so can be
used with any load to yield a good efficient working system.
Initially various topologies of power factor correction
circuits are evaluated and the result are confined such that
the best suitable one is selected. It is analyzed that a cuk
converter has the best result but the problem with all the
topologies is the conduction losses. So a bridgeless Cuk PFC
converter is used. This converter is analyzed with the
PMBLDC motor drive and the drive has unity input power
factor and less conduction losses. So all together it is an
efficient drive. The proposed PMBLDCMD is promising
variable speed drive for air conditioning system, electric
traction etc. All the problems of poor power factor, heavy
inrush current, etc of can be mitigated by the proposed
bridgeless Cuk PFC based PMBLDCMD.

REFERENCES
[1] J. F. Gieras and M. Wing, Permanent Magnet Motor Technology,design
and Application. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2002
[2] N. Mohan, M. Undeland, and W. P. Robbins, Power Electronics:
Converters, Applications and Design. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 1995
[3] Huai Wei, “Comparison of basic converter topologies for power factr
correction” University of central Florida, Orlando, 1998.
[4] W. Choi, J.Kwon, E. Kim, J. Lee, and B.Kwon, “Bridgeless boost
rectifier with lowconduction losses and reduced diode reverse-
recovery problems” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 54, no. 2, pp.
769–780, Apr. 2007

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