KPS4233 HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING ASSIGNMENT

1 INTRODUCTION TO GENERATION OF HIGH D.C VOLTAGES

Generation of high d.c. voltages is mainly required in research work in the areas of pure
and applied physics. Sometimes, high direct voltages are needed in insulation tests on cables
and capacitors. Impulse generator charging units also require high d.c. voltages of about 100 to
200 kV. Normally, for the generation of d.c. voltages of up to 100 kV, electronic valve rectifiers
are used and the output currents are about 100 mA. The rectifier valve require special
construction for cathode and filaments since a high electrostatic field of several kV/cm exists
between the anode and the cathode in the non-conduction period. The a.c. supply to the rectifier
tubes may be of power frequency o r may be of audio frequency from an oscillator. The latter is
used when a ripple of very small magnitude is required without the use of costly filters to
smoothen the ripple.

In HV technology direct voltages are mainly used for pure scientific research work and for
testing equipment related to HVDC transmission systems. There is still a main application in
tests on HVAC power cables of long length, as the large capacitance of those cables would take
too large a current if tested with a.c. voltages. With the fast development of converters
(rectifiers and inverters) at higher voltages and larger currents, d.c. transmission has become a
major factor in the planning of the power transmission.

2 OBJECTIVE

i. To determine the working principle of half-wave, full-wave, voltage doubler and

cascade voltage doubler circuit.
ii. To simulate all the circuits by using Multisim Software.
iii. To study and differentiate between all the circuit.
iv. To define the advantages for all the circuit.

3 RECTIFIER CIRCUITS

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KPS4233 HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING ASSIGNMENT

Rectifier circuits for producing high d.c. voltages from a.c. sources may be half wave, full
wave or voltage doubler type rectifiers. The rectifier may be an electron tube or a solid state
device. Now-a-days single electron tubes are available for peak inverse voltages up to 250 kV,
and semiconductor or solid state diodes up to 20 kV. For higher voltages, several units are to be
used in series. When a number of units are used in series, transient voltage distribution along
each unit become non-uniform and special care should be taken to make the distribution
uniform. Rectifier is an electronic device with covert the alternating current to unidirectional
current, in other words rectifier converts the A.C voltage to D.C voltage. Rectifier is classified
according to the period of conduction they are:

i. Half Wave Rectifier Circuit

ii. Full Wave Rectifier Circuit

iii. Voltage Doubler Circuit

We use rectifier in almost all the electronic devices mostly in the power supply section to
convert the main voltage into DC voltage. Every electronic device will work on the DC
voltage supply only. In this session we will see about the working of half wave rectifier
and its applications.

3.1 HALF WAVE RECTIFIER

Figure 1 below shows the design of Half Wave Rectifier done using Mutisim software. This
circuit was then simulated to obtains its input and output waveforms as in Figure 2.

Figure 1: Design of Half Wave Rectifier Circuit Using Multisim Software.

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Figure 2: Waveform of Half wave Rectifier Circuit.

Step down transformer was used to step down the voltage input before get through the
diode because the ac supply is high voltage. This decreased AC voltage is given to the
diode which is connected serial to the secondary winding of the transformer, diode is
electronic component which will allow only the forward bias current and will not allow the
reverse bias current. From the diode we will get the pulsating DC and give to the load
resistance.

Working Principle of a Half-Wave Rectifier Circuit:

i. During the positive half circle:

 The input AC power is given to the primary winding of the step down
transformer, we will get the decreased voltage at the secondary winding which
is given to the diode.
 The diode will allow current flowing in clock wise direction from anode to
cathode in the forward bias (diode conduction will take place in forward
bias) which will generate only the positive half cycle of the AC.

ii. During the negative half circle:

 The current will flow in the anti-clockwise direction and the diode will go in to
the reverse bias. In the reverse bias the diode will not conduct so, no current in
flown from anode to cathode, and we cannot get any power at the load
resistance.

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Figure 3: Waveform during positive and negative half circle.

Figure 3 above shows the waveforms that should be gained for positive and negative circle. From
Figure 2,we can see that the output voltage is smaller than the input voltage. The ratio of the step
down transformer was set to 5:1. Thus the input voltage reading is 169.44 V and the output voltage
is 33.19V. To reduce the ripple voltage, capacitor was used as in Figure 4 below where it is
discharged during negative half circle.

Figure 4: Filtration caused by capacitor.

Advantages of a Half wave Rectifier Circuit.

i. Cheap cost.

ii. Simple circuitry.

iii. Easy to use.

iv. Low number of components.

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3.2 CENTRE TAPPED FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

Figure 5 below shows the design of Centre Tapped Full Wave Rectifier done using Mutisim
software. This circuit was then simulated to obtains its input and output waveforms as in Figure
6.

Figure 5: Design of Full Wave Rectifier Circuit Using Multisim Software.

Figure 6: Waveform of Full Wave Rectifier Circuit.

For centre tapped full wave rectifier, two diodes are used, and are connected to the

opposite ends of a centre-tapped secondary transformer as shown in the Figure 5.

When an additional wire is connected across the exact middle of the secondary

winding of a transformer, it is known as a center tapped transformer. So the wire is

exactly at zero volts of the AC signal. The upper part of the secondary winding

produces a positive voltage V1 and the lower part of the secondary winding produces

a negative voltage V2. When we combine these two voltages at output load, we get a
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complete AC signal as shown in Figure 7 below.

Figure 7: Working Principle of Centre Tapped Transformer.

Figure 8: During Positive Half Cycle. Figure 9: During Negative Half Cycle.

Working principle of a Centre Tapped Full-Wave Rectifier Circuit:

i. During the positive half cycle of the input AC signal.

 Terminal A is positive while terminal B is negative. At this moment, the centre
tapped wire is grounded.
 Positive terminal A is connected to the p-side of D1 diode.
 Negative terminal B is connected to the n-side of D1 diode.
 Thus, D1 diode is forward biased and allow current pass through.

ii. During the negative half cycle of the input AC signal.

 Terminal A is negative while terminal B is positive. At this moment, the centre
tapped wire is grounded.
 Negative terminal A is connected to the p-side of D1 diode.
 Positive terminal B is connected to the n-side of D1 diode.

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 Thus, D1 diode is reverse biased and doesn’t allow current pass through.

Figure 10: Waveform of a) input, b) positive half circle, c) negative

half circle and d) the output terminal.

For centre tapped full wave rectifier, the capacitor is used for the same reason as for half wave
rectifier. The capacitor is used as a filter for the signal waveform where it was discharged
during the change of the cycle as shown in Figure 11 below.

Figure 11: Filtering caused by capacitor.

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Advantages of Centre Tapped Full Wave Rectifier:

i. High rectifier efficiency compared to half wave rectifier.

ii. Low power loss because both half cycles (positive and negative half cycles) are allowed
at the same time. So no signal is wasted in a full wave rectifier whereas for half wave
rectifier, only half cycle (positive or negative half cycle) is allowed and the remaining
half cycle is blocked. As a result, more than half of the voltage is wasted

iii. Low Ripples.

3.3 VOLTAGE DOUBLER

Both full wave and half wave rectifier circuits produce a d.c. voltage less than the a.c maximum
voltage. When higher d.c. voltages are needed, a voltage doubler or cascaded rectifier doubler
circuits are used. Figure 12 below shows the design of Half Wave Voltage Doubler Circuit done
using Mutisim software. This circuit was then simulated to obtains its input and output
waveforms as in Figure 13.

Figure 12: Design of Half Wave Voltage Doubler Circuit Using Multisim Software.

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Output

Figure 13: Design of Voltage Doubler Circuit Using Multisim Software.

Working principle:

i. During the negative half cycle of the sinusoidal input waveform,

 Diode D3 is forward biased and conducts charging up the pump capacitor,

C2 to the peak value of the input voltage, (Vp). Because there is no return

path for capacitor C2 to discharge into, it remains fully charged acting as a

storage device in series with the voltage supply. At the same time, diode

D4 conducts via D3 charging up capacitor, C1.

ii. During the positive half cycle

 Diode D3 is reverse biased blocking the discharging of C2 while diode D4 is

forward biased charging up capacitor C1. But because there is a voltage

across capacitor C2 already equal to the peak input voltage, capacitor C1

charges to twice the peak voltage value of the input signal.

Based on the waveform that been gained through the multisim’s simulation as shown in

Figure 13, the red arrow show the output wavelength. The input supply was been step-

down before entering circuit. As been explained in working principle, the source is at
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stable wavelength after the both diode are already in charge and discharge mode. At the

beginning the source is slowly step-up because both diode are starting to get into charge

and discharge mode.

Figure 14 shows the actual circuit of half wave doubler circuit which was designed the

same as in Figure 12 using Multisim software. Figure 15 and 16 shows the input and

output waveform of half wave voltage doubler circuit where it is obtained the same as in

Figure 13.

Figure 14: Half Wave Voltage Doubler Circuit.

Figure 15: Input Waveform of Half Wave Voltage Doubler Circuit. .

Figure 16: Output Waveform of Half Wave Voltage Doubler Circuit.

Advantages of Half Wave Voltage Doubler Circuit:

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i. Allows higher voltages to be created from a low voltage power source without a

need for an expensive high voltage transformer as the voltage doubler circuit

makes it possible to use a transformer with a lower step up ratio than would be

need if an ordinary full wave supply were used.

ii. By reversing the direction of the diodes and capacitors in the circuit we can also

reverse the direction of the output voltage creating a negative voltage output.

Also, if we connected the output of one multiplying circuit onto the input of

another (cascading), we can continue to increase the DC output voltage in integer

steps to produce voltage triples, or voltage quadruples circuits, etc.

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4 CONCLUSION

Power electronic device play a big role in power system technology in order to enhance
the system. Base on the circuit that been run through the simulation, we can conclude
that the different circuit design that been design and simulate through multisim have
different purpose which can be used in power system as protection and testing. Other
than that, this technology also can be used to overcome harmonic and instability within
the power system because DC source can have more stable value compare to the AC
source because it can have low and surge voltage oftenly. All the circuit was successfully
run by using multisim and the waveform for output that gained by the simulation was
exactly gained as been explained in working principle theory. All the circuit give
different output waveform as the circuits give different purpose in application. Some are
used to convert form AC to DC while the others are used as step-up the source

5 REFERENCE

[1] http://www.physics-and-radio-electronics.com/electronic-devices-and-

circuits/rectifier/halfwaverectifierwithfilter.html

[2] http://www.electronicshub.org/characteristics-and-working-of-half-wave-

rectifier/

[3] http://www.circuitstoday.com/centre-tap-full-wave-rectifier

[4] http://www.physics-and-radio-electronics.com/electronic-devices-and-

circuits/rectifier/fullwaverectifier.html

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