Highly Integrated PFC Controller Factors into Kilowatt Power Supplies
STMicroelectronics' L4983 power-factor correction (PFC) controller is highly integrated, allowing engineers to build continuous conduction mode (CCM) PFC circuits with very few external passive components.
The L4983 delivers a totem-pole output with 7A sink-current and 3A source-current capabilities and is suitable for power supplies ranging from several hundred watts to multiple kilowatts. Typical applications include industrial and medical power supplies, high-power luminaires, servers, PCs, and home electronics that must meet EN 61000-3-2 and similar specifications worldwide, such as the Japanese JEIDA-MITI standard.
The device integrates a proprietary multiplier emulator and distortion-optimization circuitry and supports three power-saving modes that help equipment meet efficiency guidelines including Energy Star in the U.S. and the EU Ecodesign Directive. Its burst mode function automatically stops switching activity during light or zero load conditions, resuming quickly without requiring a soft restart as the load increases. Its pin-controlled idle mode suspends switching and turns off the internal error amplifier, and it comes with a disable mode that supports a soft-start.
The L4983 has several protection features, including overvoltage protection to stabilize the output during transients, cycle-by-cycle overcurrent protection using an internal comparator, and inductor-saturation detection to prevent abnormal currents and surges. Line feedforward stabilizes the output power as the AC input fluctuates. Its controller supports soft-start and protects against feedback loop failures by verifying voltage-feedback and current-sense signals at startup.
Two L4983 variants are available. The L4983A operates at a switching frequency of 65kHz and the L4983B operates at 130kHz. Both variants come in the compact SO-8 surface-mount package.
STMicro also offers the EVL4983-350W demonstration board accelerates development of switched-mode power supplies using the L4983.
About the Author
Lee GoldbergLee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee is the author of the popular PowerBites series.
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.