Novel passive snubber suitable for three-phase single-stage PFC based on an isolated full-bridge boost topology

In this paper a novel passive snubber is proposed, which can suppress the voltage spike across the bridge leg of the isolated full-bridge boost topology. The snubber is composed of capacitors, inductors and diodes. Two capacitors connected in series are used to absorb the voltage spike and the energy of each capacitor can be transferred to the load during one switching cycle by the resonance of the inductors and capacitors. The operational principle of the passive snubber is analyzed in detail based on a three-phase power factor correction (PFC) converter, and the design considerations of both the converter and the snubber are given. Finally, a 3kW laboratory-made prototype is built. The experimental results verify the theoretical analysis and evaluations. They also prove the validity and feasibility of the proposed methods.