Patent ID: 6989998

Claim:
A method of determining the inductance required to maintain the amplitudes of harmonic current waveforms in a rectifier circuit below a predetermined level, the rectifier circuit comprising an inductor and a capacitor, drawing power from a varying power source and supplying power to a load, the method comprising the steps of: calculating, using a resonant analysis method, an expression for the input current waveform in the rectifier circuit in terms of the inductance of the inductor when a predetermined input voltage waveform is applied to the rectifier circuit, the capacitor having a predetermined capacitance and the load drawing a predetermined current from the rectifier circuit, the resonant analysis method comprising the steps of: dividing a duty cycle of the power source into first and second intervals, in which current flows from the power source to the capacitor during the first interval and current does not flow from the power source to the capacitor in the second interval; setting initial and final values for the current flowing through the inductor for each interval; and equating the final value for the current flowing through the inductor for each interval with the initial value for the current flowing through the inductor for the other interval; determining the amplitudes of harmonic current waveforms constituting the calculated input current waveform in the rectifier circuit; and providing a value for the inductor in the rectifier circuit at which none of the amplitudes of the harmonic current waveforms constituting the calculated input current waveform in the rectifier circuit exceed the predetermined level.