A novel single‐phase five‐level hybrid rectifier using two active switches

A novel single‐phase five‐level rectifier based on two active switches is presented. The proposed novel circuit topology, with two active switches and a split dc‐link, can produce a distinct five‐level voltage with a reduced number of active switches. This circuit operates in unitary power factor mode with imposing a sinusoidal grid‐side current with low total harmonic distortion (THD) and controlled dc‐link voltage, which can be used as a low‐cost active rectifier to improve the efficiency of ac‐to‐dc rectification. This paper describes the circuit topology, the principle of operation, the feature of the circuit topology and the double‐loop control strategy in detail. The operation efficiency of the proposed topology is analysed in detail to show its benefits compared to the traditional five‐level PFC typologies. An experimental prototype with 220 V AC input, 400 V output, 500 W rated power, and 97.3% output efficiency is built to validate the proposed rectifier under real conditions of operation. The simulation and experimental results show the correctness and good performance (unitary power factor operation, sinusoidal current with low THD and dc‐link voltage regulation) of the proposed single‐phase five‐level rectifier.