Current Commutated Chopper

In this scheme external pulse of current greater than the load current is
passed reverse direction through the conducting SCR. When the current pulse
attains a value equal to the load current, net pulse current through thyristor
becomes zero and the device is turned off. The current pulse is usually generated
by an initially charged capacitor. An important feature of current commutation is
the connection of a diode in anti-parallel with the main thyristor so that voltage
drops across the reverse biases the main SCR. Both voltage commutation and
current commutation schemes, commutation is initiated by gating an auxiliary
SCR.
In this diagram T1 is the main Thyristor and other components are TA, C, L, D1
and D2. FD is the freewheeling diode and RC is the charging Resistor.
Assumptions
1. Load current is constant
2. SCRs and diodes are ideal switch
3. Charging Resistor RC is very large and can be treated as open circuit during
commutation.
4. Current Ic, IT1, Ifd and Io are treated as positive when these are in the arrow
directions marked. Similarly, voltages Vc, VT1, VTA and Vo are taken
positive with the polarities as marked in the circuit diagram.
Representation as switches
Mode 1(When T1 is ON and TA ON)
At time t = 0, main SCR T1 is fired which results in load voltage and current to be
equal to Vs and Io respectively. This is because; the load is directly connected to
source through T1. The equivalent circuit diagram for Mode-1 is shown below

To start commutation of main thyristor T1, auxiliary thyristor TA is turned ON

(say at t=t1). This results in an oscillatory circuit comprising of C, L and TA. The
voltage and current through this oscillatory circuit vary sinusoidally.
The magnitude of oscillatory current is given as

During the time interval (t2-t1), Ic and Vc vary sinusoidally through half a cycle
(Refer waveform section). In this mode, the current through the oscillatory circuit
is goes to maximum when the voltage across the capacitor reduces to zero. At t2,
the current through the oscillatory circuit tend to reverse in the auxiliary thyristor
TA and hence, it gets naturally commutated. At t2, Vc = -Vs as shown in the
waveform. This means, the lower plate of capacitor is positively charged while the
upper plate is negatively charged. Note that, T1 remains unaffected during this
mode and hence load current and voltage will remain to be Io & Vo respectively.

If TA1 is turn ON By applying a Gate Pulse

Mode 2 (T1 and D2 ON and TA off)
As TA is turned off at t2, oscillatory current begins to flow through C, L, D2 and
T1

It should be noted that the current will flow through T1 not through D1. This is
because the D1 is reversed biased by a small voltage drop across the conducting
thyristor T1. Therefore, after t2, Ic would pass through T1 not through D1.

In thyristor T1, Ic is in opposition to the load current Io so that ITA = (Io – Ic). At
some time t3 when Ic rises to Io, the current through the main thyristor will reduce
to zero and hence it will be commutated i.e. turned off at t = t3. Since the
oscillatory current through T1 turns it off, it is called current commutated chopper.

During this (t2<t<t3) mode, load voltage remains Vs through T1.

Mode 3 (D1 and D2 ON)
As T1 is turned off at t=t3, Ic becomes more that Io. After t3, ic supplies load
current Io and the excess current (ic – Io) is conducted through D1.

The voltage drop in D1 keeps T1 reversed biased for (t 4-t3) = tc; this is shown in
the waveform of VT1. At t4, if Vc becomes more than Vs, FD comes into
conduction otherwise Mode-4 would follow. During Mode-3, when Ic is at its peak
value, voltage across capacitor becomes equal to zero. After this peak, capacitor
voltage reverses and its upper and lower plate becomes positive & negative
respectively.
Mode-4: (Capacitor Polarity Change, D2 Conduct)
At t = t4, capacitor current Ic reduces to zero. This results in ID1 = 0 and diode D1 is
turned off. After t4, a constant load current Io begins to flow through capacitor C, L
and D2. Since current through capacitor is constant, it begins to charge linearly till
voltage across it becomes equal to source voltage Vs. Note that, current is constant
(equal to Io) during this period i.e. (t5-t4).
The equivalent circuit diagram for Mode-4 operation of current commutated
chopper is shown below.
As D1 is turned off at t4, VT1 = VTA = vc; this is shown as ab in the waveform for
Vc, VT1 and VTA. Now the load voltage Vo = Vs – Vc = Vs – voltage at t4. At t5,
Vc = Vs, therefore load voltage reduces to zero at this moment. During the time
interval (t5-t4), Vc increases linearly, therefore load voltage Vo decreases linearly to
zero during this time interval.
Mode-5: (D2 conducting, FD Conducts)
At t5, the capacitor is actually overcharged to a voltage somewhat more than the
source voltage Vs. Therefore, free-wheeling diode FD gets forward biased and
starts to conduct the load current Io at t5. Load voltage reduces to zero at t5 as
discussed in Mode-4. Mode-5 operation of current commutated chopper is shown
below.

As Ic is not zero at t5, the capacitor C is still connected to the load through Vs, C, L
and D2. As a consequence, C is overcharged by the transfer of energy from L to C.
At t6, capacitor current becomes zero and the voltage across it becomes more than
the source voltage.
During (t6-t5), capacitor current and current through free-wheeling diode feeds the
load i.e. ic+ifd = Io. From t5 onwards, io freewheels through FD. As ic is zero and D2
is open circuited, C now discharges through RC for the freewheeling interval of
chopper. After t5, vT1 remains constant at Vs, because Vs reaches T1 terminal
through FD. AT t=T, the main SCR is again triggered and the Mode-1 to Mode-5 is
repeated again.