AC VOLTAGE

CONTROLLERS
Chapter 11
Power Electronics Circuits, Devices and Applications
By Muhammad H. Rashid
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AC Voltage Control with PWM

We showed that the input power factor of
controlled rectifiers can be improved by PWM
type of control.
The naturally commutated thyristor controllers
introduce lower-order harmonics in load and the
supply side.
The performance of ac voltage controllers can
be improved by PWM control.

The following circuit shows a single-phase ac

voltage controller with PWM.

The switches S1 and S2 are turned off several

times during the positive and negative halfcycles.

S'1 and S'2 provide the freewheeling paths for

the load current.

Design of AC Voltage-Controller
Circuits
In design of the AC voltage controllers, the
ratings of power devices must be selected for
the worst-case conditions.

This occurs when the converter delivers the

maximum rms value of output voltage Vo.
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The input and output filters must also be

designed for worst-case conditions.

The output of a power converter contains

harmonics, and the delay angle for the worstcase condition of a particular arrangement
should be determined.
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Effects of Source and Load

Inductances
In derivation of the output voltages, we have
assumed that the source has no inductance.
The effect of the source inductance would be to
delay the turn-off of thyristors.
Thyristors would not turn off at zero crossing of
input voltage, and gate pulses of short duration
may not be suitable.
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The harmonic contents of the output voltage

would also increase.
The load inductance also plays an important role
on the performance of the power controllers.
Although the output voltage is a pulsed
waveform, the load inductance tries to maintain
a continuous current flow.
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This is shown in the following figure.

In addition, the input power factor of the

converter depends on the load power factor.

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