University of Aden Faculty of Engineering

Odd Semester Examination 2002/2003

Subject: Power Electronics Class: B3EC
Time: 3 Hours Date:

Answer any FOUR question.

Q1:
a) Discuss the methods of turning –on of a thyristor with its gate
disconnected.
b) Can a forward voltage be applied to an SCR soon after its
anode current is fallen to zero? Explain.
c) Discuss the main classification of dc to dc thyristor
converters. Which of these is a more commonly employed and
why?

Q2:
a) Explain, with appropriate waveforms, the different control
strategies used for obtaining variable o/p voltage from a dc
chopper. Which one of these is preferred over the other?
b) A single – phase fully controlled rectifier feeds power to RLE
load with R= 6 Ω, L = 6 mH and E= 60 V. The ac source
voltage is 230 V , 50 Hz. For continuous conduction, find the
average value of load current for a firing angle of 50˚.

Q3:
a) What are the two main types of inverters? Distinguish
between them explicitly.
b) Discuss the principle of working of three-phase bridge
inverter with appropriate circuit diagram. Draw phase voltage
waveforms on the assumption that each thyristor conducts for
180˚ and the resistive load is star-connected.
The sequence of firing of various SCRs should also be indicated
in the diagram.
Q4:
a) Draw a circuit diagram for three-phase full-wave ac voltage
controller with only three SCRs and without any other power
semiconducter devices.
b) A 230-V, 1 kW electric heater is fed through a single-phase
full-wave ac voltage controller from 230 V, 50 Hz source. Find
the load power and the power factor for a firing angle delay of
70˚.

Q5:
a) A single-phase full-wave ac voltage controller using two
SCRs in antiparallel must have its trigger sources isolated from
each other. Why? Explain with a suitable diagram.
b) ) A single-phase full-wave ac voltage controller with resistive
load has the following data:
Vs= 230 V, fs= 50Hz and R= 4Ω. Calculate:
1- the firing angle α at which the greatest forward or reverse
voltage is applied to either of the thyristors and the
magnitude of these voltages;
2- the greatest forward or reverse voltage that appears across
either of the thyristors for firing angels of 60˚ and 120˚.

Q6:
A three-phase full converter is used for charging a battery with
an emf of 110 V and an internal resistance of 0.2 Ω . For a
constant charging current of 10 A, compute the firing angle
delay and the power factor for ac line voltage of 220 V.
 University of Aden Faculty of Engineering
Odd Semester Examination 2010/2011

Subject: Power Electronics Class: B3EC/E

Time: 2 Hours Date:12.02.2011
‫اإلجابة في ورقة األسئلة‬

Part I: ( MGP = 19)

Choose the correct answer(s) for only 19 of the following statements:

1. The forward voltage drop during SCR on-state is 1.5 V. This voltage drop
 Increases slightly with load current
 Remains constant and is independent of load current
 Decreases slightly with load current.
2. An SCR can be brought to forward conducting state with gate-circuit open
when the applied voltage exceeds
 the forward breakover voltage
 reverse breakdown voltage
 1.5 V
3. A conducting thyristor can be turned-off by…(decreasing/increasing) the
anode current…(below/above) the…(latching/holding) current and applying
a…(reverse/forward/zero) voltage across the SCR for a short interval.
4. In a thyristor, holding current is
 more than latching current IL
 less than IL
 equal to IL
5. When a thyristor gets turned on, the gate drive
 should not be removed as it will turn-off the SCR
 should be removed
 should be removed in order to avoid increased losses and higher
junction temperature
6. In a thyristors
 latching current IL is associated with turn-off process and holding
current IH with turn-on process
 both IL and IH are associated with turn-off process
 IH is associated with turn-off process and IL with turn-on process
7. A pulse transformer is used in a driver circuit to
 prevent a dc triggering
 generate high-frequency pulses
 provide isolation.
8. A single-phase one-pulse controlled circuit has resistance and counter emf
load and 400 sin 314t as the source voltage. For a load counter emf of 200
V and load resistance of 10 Ω, the range of firing angle control is
 30˚ to 150˚
  60˚ to 120˚
 30˚ to 180˚
9. A single-phase full-wave mid-point thyristor converter uses a 230/200 V
transformer with centre tap on the secondary side. The PIV per thyristor is
 141.4 V
 282.8 V
 100 V
10. In a single-phase full converter, for continuous conduction, each pair of
SCRs conduct for
 π
 π- α
 π+α
11. In a single-phase semiconverter with common cathode connected SCRs,
for continuous conduction, each diode conducts for
 π-α
 π
 π+α
12. In a single-phase full converter, if α and β are firing and extinction angles
respectively, then the load current is
 Discontinuous if (β – α) = π
 Discontinuous if (β – α)< π
 Discontinuous if (β – α) > π
13. In controlled rectifiers, the nature of load current. i.e. whether load current
is continuous or discontinuous
 Does not depend on type of load and firing angle delay
 depends only on the type of load Does not depend on type of load
and firing angle delay
 depends both on the type of load and firing angle delay
14. A load resistance of 10 Ω is fed through a single-phase ac voltage
controller from a voltage source of 200 V sin 314t. For a firing angle delay
of 90˚ , the power delivered to the load, is
 2 kW
 0.5 kW
 1 kW
15. In a single-phase ac voltage controller with RL load, ac output power can
be controlled if
 Firing angle α > Φ ( the load angle) and the thyristor conduction
angle γ = π.
 α > Φ and γ < π.
 α < Φ and γ > π.
16. A single-phase ac voltage controller using two SCRs connected in
antiparallel, is found to be operating as a controlled rectifier. This is
because
 Load is RL and continuous gating is used
 Load is R and continuous gating is used
  Load is RL and pulse gating is used

17. High-frequency operation of a circuit is limited by

 On-state loss in the device
 off- state loss in the device
 switching losses in the device
18. Reactive power requirement of a rectifier system depends upon
 displacement factor, current distortion factor and crest factor
 input power factor, current distortion factor and crest factor
 displacement factor, input power factor and current distortion
factor.
19. The main function of centre-tapping on the secondary in a full-wave
rectifier is to
 step-up the voltage
 step-down the voltage
 cause the SCRs to conduct alternately.
20. When a thyristor is forward biased, the number of blocked p-n junctions is
 1
 2
 3
21. A step-up chopper has VS as the source voltage and α as the duty cycle.
The average value of the output voltage for this chopper is given by
 V s( 1 + α )
 V s /( 1 - α )
 V s /( 1 + α ).
22. In dc choppers, the waveforms for input and output voltages are
respectively
 discontinuous, continuous
 both continuous
 continuous, discontinuous
23. In PWM method of controlling the average output voltage in a chopper,
the on time is …. (varied/kept constant) but the chopping frequency is ….
(varied/kept constant)
24. A step-down chopper is operated in the discontinuous conduction mode in
steady state with constant duty cycle α. If tx= the extinction time, Vs = dc
source voltage, T = chopping period and E = constant dc load voltage, then
the magnitude of the average output voltage is given by:
 t 
  V  1  x 
s  T 

 t 
  V  1  x 
s  T 

  t 
  V  1  x 
s  T 

25. In dc choppers, per unit ripple is maximum when duty cycle α is
 0.2
 0.5
 0.9
26. For the same firing angle and input voltage the half controlled converter in
the continuous conduction mode gives . ….(higher, lower, equal) average
output voltage compared to a fully controlled converter.
27. Half controlled converters are most favored in applications requiring
….(bidirectional, unidirectional ) output voltage and current.

Part II: ( MGP = 6 )

1. Draw circuit diagrams for three different configurations of single-
phase full-wave ac voltage controllers and give comparison among
them.
2. Draw the circuit diagrams of 2 two-quadrant choppers and explain,
with appropriate waveforms, the operation of each one.
3. Draw a circuit diagram for train pulse generator used for triggering the SCRs.
4. Draw the block diagram for the general structure of the power
electronic systems and explain the function of each unit of the
structure.
5. Draw the circuit diagram of a step-up chopper.
6. Draw the circuit diagrams of the symmetrical and asymmetrical single-
phase semiconverters.
 University of Aden Faculty of Engineering
Odd Semester Examination 2007/2008
Subject: Power Electronics
Classes: B3EC and B3ECE
Time: 2 Hours Date:

Answer any FOUR questions.

Q1:
a) Draw two different circuit diagrams for two-
quadrant choppers.
b) Draw circuit diagram to illustrate the application of dual
converter to reverse the direction of rotation of the series dc
motor.
c) Draw a circuit diagram for train pulse generator used for
triggering the SCRs.
Q2:
A battery is charged by a single-phase one-pulse thyristor
controlled rectifier. The supply is 30V, 50 Hz and battery emf is
constant at 6 V. Assume a continuous firing of the thyristor and
find
a) the resistance to be inserted in series with the battery to
limit the charging current to 4 A,
b) the power supplied to the battery and that dissipated
in the resistor,
c) the supply power factor.
Q3:
Draw the circuit diagram of a three-phase semiconverter with
three common cathode connected SCRs and highly inductive
load and numerate all SCRs and diodes.
If the input voltages of this converter are as shown in the
following figure and the firing angle of the SCRs α = 60º, draw
using the following figure:
 a) The waveform of the rectified output voltage vo(t),
b) The waveform of one SCR and one diode,
c) The current-waveform of phase a (ia ).
400V
vcb vab vac vbc vba vca vcb

0V

SEL>> Draw on these curves the waveform of the rectified output voltage
-400V
V1(Van) - V1(Vbn) V1(Vbn) - V1(Vcn) V1(Vcn) - V1(Van) V1(Vbn) - V1(Van) V1(Vcn) - V1(Vbn) V1(Van) - V1(Vcn)
0V

-0.5uV

Draw here the waveforms of one SCR, one diode and ia

-1.0uV
0s 5ms 10ms 15ms 20ms 25ms 30ms 35ms 40ms 45ms 50ms
V(0)
Time

Q4:
Draw the circuit diagram of single-phase to single-phase midpoint
cycloconverter with resistive load
If the input voltage of this cycloconverter is as shown in the
following figure and the firing angle of the SCRs α = 30º draw
for fo =25 Hz the waveform of the output voltage vo (t),
200V for drawing the output- voltage waveform of the cycloconverter
van -van

0V

-200V

0s 20ms 40ms 60ms 80ms 100ms 120ms 140ms 160ms

V1(Van) - V1(Van) v(0)
Time

Q5:
Star connected three-phase ac source is connected to three-phase
star-connected resistive load by two antiparallel connected SCRs
in each line. The waveforms of the input voltages van, vbn and vcn
are given in the following figure. Draw the waveform of the
output voltage of phase A (vAN.) for α = 60º.
 250V
van vbn vcn

van
vac/2

vab/2
0V

Waveforms to draw the output phase-voltage vAN(t)

-250V
0s 10ms 20ms 30ms 40ms 50ms 60ms
V(1) V(2) V(3) V(11) /2 - V(3) /2 V(1) /2 - V(2) /2
Time

Q6:
a) The following figure shows virtual representation of the
SCR. Using this figure draw the two-transistor analogy of
the SCR and indicate all currents of both transistors with
their relationships to the SCR-currents.
Write an equation for the anode- current as a function of
the gate current Ig and the current gains of both transistors
α1 and α2: IA = f(Ig ,α1, α2).

b) A 230-V, 1 kW electric heater is fed through a single-phase

full-wave ac voltage controller from 230 V, 50 Hz source.
Find the load power and the power factor for a firing angle
delay of 90˚.