Power Electronics

Lecture # 29

 Contents of Today`s Lecture:

 AC Voltage Controllers

1) AC Voltage Controllers

“If a thyristor is connected between the AC supply and the load, the power flow can be
controlled by varying the RMS voltage at the load; This type of power circuit is known as
ac voltage controller”.

Applications

The most common applications of ac voltage controllers are;

1) Industrial Heating  High thermal time constant

2) Speed control of motors
3) High mechanical inertia

Classification:

AC voltage controllers are classified as;

i) Single phase – Half Wave, Full Wave

ii) Three phase -- Half Wave, Full Wave

Control:

For, power transfer, two types of control are normally used

i) On-off control
ii) Phase angle control
Since, the input source is AC, so due to line or natural commutation, the circuit of AC
controllers are relatively simple and inexpensive. For simplicity of analysis, only resistive
loads will be considered.

Working Principle of on-off control:

 Two switches (T1, T2) are there in the circuit diagram, one switch is utilized in
positive half cycle and the other is in negative half cycle.
 During positive half cycle, gate pulse is applied at T1 and current will flow
through T1.
 During negative half cycle, gate pulse is applied at T2 and current will flow
through T2.
The on-time tn usually consists of an integral number of cycles. The circuit diagram and
waveforms are as under;
Thyristors are commutated for
n cycles

i-e thyristors are kept on for n

cycles simultaneously Thyristors are not commutated
for m cycles

ON

OFF
From the waveform above, it can be seen that the thyristors are commutated for n cycles,
i-e the gate pulses are applied to T1 and T2 simultaneously for n cycles, consequently,
voltage will appear across the resistive load. While no commutation is being done for m
cycles, so for m cycles, thyristors will remain off and no output will appear across load.

Derivation of rms output voltage of on-off control:

Vo,rms = √ ( ) ∫ ∫

 Vo,rms = √ ( )

 Vo,rms = √ ( ) ( ) ( )

 Vo,rms = √ ( )

 Vo,rms = √ ( ) ---- (1)

Vs = Vm/√  Vm = √ Vs

Putting Vm = √ Vs in (1);

Vo,rms = √ ( )

 Vo,rms = Vs √( )
 or Vo,rms = Vs √ where

Difference between on-off and phase control:

On-off control is done for number of cycles.

Phase control is done per cycle. Moreover, in phase control, we have control in positive
half cycle, but we have no control during negative half cycle of the input supply.

Derivation of rms and dc output voltage of phase control:

Vo,rms = √ ∫ ∫

 Vo,rms = √ ∫ ∫

 Vo,rms = √

 Vo,rms = √ ( ) ( )

 Vo,rms = √

 Vo,rms = √

As; Vm = √ Vs

 Vo,rms = √
  Vo,rms = √
If α =0

Vo,rms = i-e we get full wave at output

Vdc= ∫ ∫

Vdc= √

Example 11.1:

It is given that RL = 10Ω, input root mean square voltage Vs = 120 Vat 60Hz frequency.
Switch is on for n cycles =25. Switch is off for m cycles =75. Find
a) RMS output voltage
b) Input power factor
c) Average and RMS current of thyristor

Solution:

RL = 10Ω
Vm= √
 Vm= √
 Vm= 169.7V

k= n/(n+m) = 25/100
 k= 0.25

a) Vo,rms = Vs√  Vo,rms = 120*√

Vo,rms = 60V
 b) PF = Po/Pi

 PF = Vo,rms*Io,rms/Vin,rms* Iin,rms

 PF = 60*6/120*6

 PF= 0.5 (lagging)

c) Iavg = ∫

 Iavg=

 Iavg =
Or

Iavg = = 0.25*169.7/10π

 Iavg = 1.33A

The rms current of thyristor:

 Irms = √ ( ) ∫ ( )

Irms = √ ( )

 Irms = √

 Irms = 4.24A
The line-to-line voltage in three-phase lead by 30o;

Vab = sin (ωt+30 o)

Vbc = sin (ωt- 90o)
Vca = sin (ωt- 210o)

120-Degree Conduction

In this type of control, each transistor conducts for 120o. Two transistors remain on at a particular
instant of time. The bypass diodes in the circuit have nothing to do in case of resistive load,
while in case of inductive load; these diodes give path for power dissipation. There are six modes
of operation in one complete cycle (3 modes in each half cycle) and the duration of each mode is
60o. The switches of any leg of the inverter cannot be switched on simultaneously because this
would result in short circuit across the dc link voltage supply.
The circuit diagram is as under; where the load is assumed as Y connected.
Waveform:
A+B-CX A+BXC- AXB+C- A-B+CX A-BXC+ AXB-C+

Description:

1. For ωt = 0 60o, the sequence of phase is A+B-CX, which means that phase a is connected
with positive terminal of battery and phase b is connected with negative terminal of
battery while phase b will act as floater.
2. For ωt = 60o 120o, the sequence of phase is A+BXC-, which means that phase a is
connected with positive terminal of battery and phase c is connected with negative
terminal of battery while phase b will act as floater. So, Van is Vs/2 for ωt = 0 120o.

3. For ωt = 120o 180o, the sequence of phase is AXB+C-, which means that phase b is
connected with positive terminal of battery and phase c is connected with negative
terminal of battery while phase a will act as floater.
4.
For ωt = 180o 240o, the sequence of phase is A-B+CX, which means that phase b is
connected with positive terminal of battery and phase a is connected with negative
terminal of battery while phase c will act as floater. So, Vbn is Vs/2 for ωt = 120o 240o

5. For ωt = 240o 300o, the sequence of phase is A-BXC+ , which means that phase c is
connected with positive terminal of battery and phase a is connected with negative
terminal of battery while phase b will act as floater.
 6. For ωt = 300o 360o, the sequence of phase is AXB-C+, which means that phase c is
connected with positive terminal of battery and phase b is connected with negative
terminal of battery while phase a will act as floater. So, Vcn is Vs/2 for ωt = 240o 360o

So, we can see that for 120o Va is connected with Vs, while for another 120o Va is connected
with ground and for rest of the 120o, Va will act as floater. Similar is the case with phase b and
phase c.

Phase-to-neutral voltage calculations:

Mode1: (A+B-CX )

i1 = Vs/2R

Van= i1 *R

Van = *R

Van = Vs/2

Vbn = - (i1) *R

 Vbn = -Vs/2

So,
Mode2: (A+BXC-)

Mode3: (AXB+C-)

As, the output is a square wave, so we have to find the Fourier Series of line-to-line voltage in
order to represent it in the form of sine.
Vo(t) = ao + ∑

ao, an are zero

Vo(t) = ∑ bn= 0 for n = 2,4,6,…

So;

Vo(t) = ∑

As, we have Van = Vs/2, so the above equation becomes;

The other two line-to-neutral voltages are;

Vdc = 0
 Vrms = √ ∫

Vrms = √

 Vrms = Vs

Problem:

The rms voltage derived above is just giving us one value , this is not sufficient for sine wave.
We need a mechanism to decompose it into sine and cosine on the basis of frequency. For this
reason, we do Fourier Analysis of line-to-line voltage.

Vo(t) = ∑

Expanding the above formula, we get;

Vo(t) =

Fundamental Component

The rms value of fundamental component:

Vp =
Vrms,1 = Vp/√

Vrms,1 = 4Vs/ √ ( =1 )

Vrms,1 = 0.9 Vs

Example 6.2 (See Lecture 26)