PFC Front Ends

Active or passive power factor controllers or PFCs are electric or electronic circuits that increase the power factor to keep it within a certain range according to statutory regulation. These are used for a wide variety of electronic loads. The aim is to avoid generating non-sine wave input currents for non-linear loads composed of high frequency components or harmonics, which mainly come from rectifiers with subsequent smoothing in switched-mode power supplies.

Our active PFCs achieve excellent power factor values of more than 0.95. An additional on-board controller such as a buck-boost converter can load the intermediate output circuit to a voltage above or below the peak value of the mains voltage supply, typically 350 to 400V, in order to balance out spikes in the mains power supply as well as power factor correction. Extended features such as measurement and readout (via interface) on any input phase voltage and phase current as well as the DC output side (intermediate circuit) to supply the actual load are also available/may also be integrated/fitted/installed.

In mechanical terms, the solutions are available for 19” rack, open frame or chassis assembly and can be modified to customer specification, application or power range. The following designs are intentionally developed as platform solutions, which enable RECOM to modify fast, easily and cost efficient these solutions to different customer needs.