Patent ID: 8406020

Claim:
A power factor correction circuit comprising: a reactor configured to accumulate energy of an AC power source and discharge the accumulated energy; a hybrid bridge switch having two diodes and two switching elements and configured to switch the energy accumulation and energy discharge of the reactor from one to another; a controller configured to conduct ON-control of the two switching elements according to a current passing through the reactor and OFF-control of the two switching elements according to currents passing through the two switching elements; and a mode changer configured to change an operation mode of the power factor correction circuit between a discontinuous mode and a critical mode according to a voltage of the AC power source, wherein: the mode changer comprises: a time constant circuit including a resistor and a capacitor and configured to delay the ON-control timing of the controller by a predetermined time; a charge/discharge part configured to discharge the capacitor in an ON period of the two switching elements and charge the capacitor in an OFF period of the two switching elements; and a mode determination part configured to output, if the voltage of the AC power source is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, a voltage generated by the resistor to a terminal of the controller that detects the current passing through the reactor, and if the voltage of the AC power source is lower than the predetermined value, prevent the voltage generated by the resistor from being outputted to the controller; and the mode changer operates the power factor correction circuit in: (i) the discontinuous mode if the voltage of the AC power source is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, by forcibly adjusting the ON-control timing of the controller so as to fix an OFF period of the two switching elements; and (ii) the critical mode if the voltage of the AC power source is lower than the predetermined value, by releasing the forcible adjustment of the ON-control timing of the controller so as to make the OFF period of the two switching elements variable.