Phase Controlled Rectifier

Continued

Dr. Bishnu Prasad Muni

Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad
The phase controlled rectifier is classified into two types based on the type of i/p power supply, and each kind
includes a semi, full and dual converter.
Single phase full wave controlled rectifier

The single phase fully controlled rectifier allows

conversion of single phase AC into DC.

Single phase rectifier is used in various applications

such as battery charging, speed control of DC motors
and front end of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
etc.

All four devices used are Thyristors. The turn-on instants

of these devices are dependent on the firing signals that
are given. Turn-off happens when the current through
the device reaches zero and it is reverse biased at least
for duration equal to the turn-off time of the device
specified in the data sheet
In positive half cycle, SCR T1 & T2 are fired at an angle α .
When T1 & T2 conducts Vo=Vs is=id=Vo/R=Vs/R

In negative half cycle of input voltage, SCRs T3 & T4 are triggered at

an angle of (π+α)

Here output current & supply current are in opposite direction

∴ is=-id

T3 & T4 becomes off at 2π.

Waveforms of a fully controlled bridge rectifier with Waveforms of a fully controlled bridge rectifier with
resistive load. resistive inductive load ( L→∞)
Considering a very high inductive load, the input current in a bridge-controlled rectifier is filtered and presents a
square waveform. In addition, the input current is is shifted by the firing angle α with respect to the input voltage vs. ,

The input current can be expressed as a Fourier series, where the amplitude of the different harmonics are

The RMS value of each harmonics current can be expressed as;

Thus, the rms value of the fundamental current is1 is

It can be observed from the Fig that the displacement angle φ1 of the fundamental current is1 corresponds to the
firing angle α.

Only odd harmonics are present in the harmonic spectrum of the input current.

Amplitude of harmonics decreases while the frequency increases. Finally the

rms value of the input current is is:

The total harmonic distortion (THD) of the input current can be determined by:
Power factor 1-phase fully controlled rectifier

The displacement factor of the fundamental current is,

In the case of non-sinusoidal currents, the active power delivered by the sinusoidal single-phase supply is:

Where, Vs is the rms value of the single-phase voltage vs .

The apparent power is given by:

The power factor (PF) is defined by:

This equation shows clearly that due to the non-sinusoidal waveform of the input current, the power factor of the
rectifier is negatively affected both by the firing angle α and by the distortion of the input current. In effect, an increase
in the distortion of the current produces an increase in the value of Is, which deteriorates the power factor.
Commutation of the Thyristors

Due to the presence of the line inductance L, during the commutation, the current through the thyristors cannot change
instantaneously. Current commutation takes place over commutation angle μ. During the commutation angle μ,
all four thyristors are conducting simultaneously. Therefore, during the commutation, the following relationship for the
load voltage holds:

During the commutation, the following expression holds

Integrating above equation over the commutation interval yields:

The above equation can be simplified to give the equation for obtaining
Commutation angle.

An increase of the line inductance L or an increase of the load current Id increases the
commutation angle μ.
The commutation angle is affected by the firing angle α.

With different values of α, the supply voltage vs has a different instantaneous value, which produces different dis /dt,
thereby affecting the duration of the commutation.

The commutation process reduces the average load voltage Vdα. When the commutation is considered, the expression
for the average load voltage is given by
Operation of Single Phase full controlled rectifier in Inverting Mode

When the angle α>90◦, it is possible to obtain a negative average

load voltage. In this condition, the power is fed back to the
single-phase supply from the load. This operating mode is called
inverter or inverting mode, because the energy is transferred
from the dc to the ac side.

It must be noticed that this rectifier allows unidirectional flow

of load current.

When we consider effect of source inductance,

the thyristor voltage vT1 has a negative value during the
extinction angle γ, defined by:

To ensure that the outgoing thyristor will recover its blocking

capability after the commutation, the extinction angle should
satisfy the following restriction:

Rectifier in the inverting mode: (a) circuit; (b) waveforms

neglecting source inductance L; and (c) waveforms considering L.
Where, ω is the supply frequency and tq is the thyristor turnoff time.

Considering, the commutation angle and extinction angle, the maximum firing angle for single phase bridge rectifier is:

If the above condition is not satisfied, the commutation process will fail, leading to destructive currents.

Control characteristic of a single phase full wave controlled

rectifier with RL load.
Single phase Uncontrolled Rectifier (Diode Bridge Rectifier)

Each diode, together with the associated half of the transformer, acts as
a half-wave rectifier. The outputs of the two half-wave rectifiers are
combined to produce full-wave rectification in the load.

The dc currents of the two half wave rectifiers are equal and opposite,
such that there is no dc current for creating a transformer core saturation
problem.

The PIV of the diodes is equal to 2Vm during their blocking state. Hence
the VRRM rating of the diodes must be chosen to be higher than 2Vm
to avoid reverse breakdown.
In the case of a full-wave rectifier, for both the positive and negative half-cycles, vL(t ) = Vm| sin ωt |

Average output voltage can be derived from the following expression.

The root-mean-square (rms) value of load voltage can be calculated as given below.