DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING,

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI

POWER ELECTRONICS LABORATORY – 2016

EXPERIMENT NO - 4
Single Phase Ac Voltage Controller

OBJECTIVE:
Study the performance of a single-phase AC Voltage controller with different loads: (i) Resistive, (ii)
Resistive-Inductive (R-L), and (iii) Single-phase cooling fan

Observations: Record AC supply voltage, load voltage and current waveform, harmonic spectrum, Total
harmonic distortion (THD), crest factor, rms value, distortion factor, displacement factor, power factor,
active power, reactive power and apparent power.

APPARATUS REQUIRED:

S. No. Apparatus Type/Rating Qty.

1 Single Phase 230V, 50Hz 1
Variac
2 Power Analyzer Digital 1
3 Ammeter (0-5/10)A, MI 1
4 Multimeter Digital 1
5 Fan Load 230V AC, 1
0.1A,2650rpm
6 Rheostat/ 200 Ω/5 A; 200 1
Incandescent Lamp W/100 W/ 25 W
loads
7 Differential Probe 1500V (peak) 1
8 Oscilloscope 1 MHz, 300V (rms) 1
9 Current Probe 70A (rms) 1
10 Connecting Wires -- 5

THEORY:

A switching circuit that enables us to obtain a variable ac voltage from a fixed ac voltage is referred to as
the ac- to-ac converter. These circuits are also called as ac regulators (or) ac voltage controllers. These
regulators widely used in induction heating in metallurgical industries; induction motor speed control for fan
and pump drives, lighting control, etc.,. These are compact in size and able yield high efficiency, more
flexibility, and also has adaptability nature. The main disadvantage of these circuits is that the load voltage
and current waveforms are distorted nature and this distortion is responsible for generating the unwanted
harmonics both in the load as well as in source side.

For ac power control/ transfer, two types of control strategies are normally used in these ac regulators,
which are: (i) On-off control, and (ii) Phase angle control.

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 In On-off control, thyristor switches connect load to the ac source for a few cycles of input voltage and
then disconnect it for another few cycles. In phase control, thyristor switches connect the load to ac source
for a portion in each cycle of input voltage. The ac voltage controllers can be classified into two categories:
(1) Single-phase controllers, (2) Three phase controllers, which are subdivided into (a) Unidirectional or
half-wave control (b) Bidirectional or full wave control. Because the input voltage is ac, thyristors are line
commutated; and phase-control thyristors which are relatively inexpensive and slower than fast switching
thyristors are normally used. For applications of up to 400 Hz, if TRIACs are available to meet the voltage
and current ratings of a particular application, TRIACs are normally used.

Due to line commutation, there is no need of extra commutation circuitry and the circuits for ac voltage
controllers are very simple. Due to the nature of output waveforms, the analysis and explicit expressions for
the performance parameters of circuits is not simple, especially for phase-angle controlled converters with
RL loads.

Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of single-phase AC voltage controller (with SCR's).

The circuit shown in Fig.1 uses two SCRs connected in anti -parallel configuration. This circuit is useful
for understanding the principle of operation but has a major drawback. It requires isolation between the
control and the power circuit because the cathodes of the two SCRs are not connected to the same common
point.

Fig. 2. Single-phase AC voltage controller (with TRIAC).

The circuit shown in Fig. 2 uses a TRIAC, which is a bi -directional gate - controlled thyristor. For this
device, the anode and cathode are referred to as terminal -1(MT1), and terminal -2 (MT2) , respectively. It
consists of two SCR units in the inverse parallel or back- to-back configuration. In this case, the power
circuit need be isolated from the control circuit.

Single-phase regulator with a resistive load:

For understanding the principle of operation, let us refer to the regulator circuit given in Fig. 1. The SCR1
is forward biased when the source voltage begins its positive half -cycle. The load voltage is zero until the
SCR1 is gated by a current pulse ig1 (t) at t   . If the load resistance R is such that the current through

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SCR1 is greater than or equal to its latching current at t   , the SCR1 turns-ON and applies the source
voltage to the load. At t   , the current falls to zero and the SCR1 turns-OFF. The load voltage goes to
zero.

Various waveforms of a single-phase ac regulator with anti-parallel SCR’s:

Fig. 3. Waveforms for single-phase AC Voltage Controller.

During the negative half -cycle, the SCR2 is ready to conduct when it is gated by the gate -current pulse
ig2 (t). In order to ensure that the average output voltage is zero, the conduction angle for each SCR must be
the same. The wave forms for the source voltage, the gating pulses and the load voltages are shown above.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:

Fig. 4. Connection diagram of experiment procedure.

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PROCEDURE:
1. Connect single phase supply to the one side of single phase AC Voltage Regulator through a Single-
phase Autotransformer.
2. Connect the other side of the regulator to the load as shown in the Fig. 4.
3. Get connection checked by lab instructor.
4. Set autotransformer setting to 0%.
5. Turn-ON the Single-phase supply.
6. Set autotransformer 200 to 230 V.
7. By slowly adjusting the knob of a phase controller, vary the firing angles of the controller.
8. Record the voltage and current waveforms for different firing angles with Resistive(R), Resistive-
Inductive(R-L) and Single-phase Motor Load.
9. Record firing angles, AC supply voltage, load voltage and current waveform, harmonic spectrum,
THD, crest factor, distortion factor, displacement factor, power factor, Active power, Reactive power
and apparent power at different firing angles.

OBSERVATIONS:
At the input side:
Load Firing Angle Vin Iin PF DPF P S THD Harmonic
(V) (A) (W) (VA) (%) Spectrum
(I)(Amps)
Full Resistive Load

Fan Load

At the Output side:

Load Vout Iout PF DPF Pout Sout THD Harmonic Spectrum

(V) (A) (W) (VA) (%)
V I V I
Full Resistive Load

Fan Load

CALCULATIONS:
Vm
V01  sin 
Rms value of fundamental component of voltage, 

The rms harmonic voltage, Vh=(V02-V012)1/2

The total harmonic distortion is given by
THD= Vh/V01

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CONCLUSION:

The performance of a single-phase AC Voltage controller with (i) Resistive (ii) Resistive-Inductive (RL)
(iii) Single-Phase Motor loads is observed by taking the AC supply voltage, load voltage and current
waveform, harmonic spectrum, THD, crest factor, rms value, distortion factor, displacement factor, power
factor, Active power, Reactive power and apparent power for all types of loads.

TABULATIONS & SAMPLE GRAPHS:

At the input side:

Load Firing Angle Vin Iin PF DPF P S THD Harmonic

(V) (A) (W) (VA) (%) Spectrum
(I)(Amps)

Full Resistive Load 28.80 12.1 0.437 0.99 1 93 94 10.6 I1=0.428

I3=0.26
I5=0.02
82.80 212.6 0.378 0.77 .89 62 80 48.3 I1=0.327
I3=0.149
I5=0.057
106.20 212.9 0.326 0.59 0.75 41 69 62.4 I1=0.25
I3=0.163
I5=0.065
124.20 213.1 0.268 0.62 0.42 24 57 72.5 I1=0.18
I3=0.146
I5=0.08
Fan Load 28.80 212.1 0.92 0.66 0.68 13 19 19.9 I1=0.089
I3=0.017
I5=0.001
43.20 214.6 0.087 0.61 0.65 8 17 29.1 I1=0.073
I3=0.02
I5=0.001
61.20 214.3 0.07 0.47 0.6 7 14 38 I1=0.051
I3=0.02
I5=0.002
30.60 181.2 0.081 0.62 0.69 9 14 21.3 I1=0.068
I3=0.013
I5=0.001
630 181.3 0.045 0.5 0.62 4 8 39.7 I1=0.033
I3=0.013
I5=0.002

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At the Output side:

Load Vout Iout PF DPF Pout Sout THD Harmonic Spectrum

(V) (A) (W) (VA) (%)
V I V I
Full Resistive 208.8 0.432 1 1 90 90 10.8 10.7 V1=207.57 I1=0.426
Load V3=12.100 I3=0.025
V5=10.300 I5=0.021
162.4 0.378 0.99 1 61 61 48 48.3 V1=141.6 I1=0.325
V3=64.2 I3=0.149
V5=24 I5=0.056
122.7 0.325 1 1 40 40 62 62.7 V1=91.5 I1=0.25
V3=61.7 I3=0.163
V5=24.4 I5=0.065
86.2 0.269 1 1 23 23 72.1 72.5 V1=59.3 I1=0.18
V3=46.8 I3=0.146
V5=28.6 I5=0.089
Fan Load 206.6 0.019 0.68 0.71 13 19 12.6 19.7 V1=205.5 I1=0.086
V3=10.3 I3=0.018
V5=12.4 I5=0.001
183.3 0.074 0.68 0.71 12 17 16 20.3 V1=200.8 I1=0.083
V3=21.6 I3=0.008
V5=19 I5=0.001
162.1 0.068 0.6 0.8 6 11 49.4 36.7 V1=141.2 I1=0.053
V3=64.2 I3=0.021
V5=28.9 I5=0.002
173.2 0.08 0.65 0.72 9 14 14.1 20.1 V1=172 I1=0.069
V3=10.5 I3=0.013
V5=12.4 I5=0.001
131.8 0.05 0.58 0.84 4 6 53.7 33 V1=109.7 I1=0.037
V3=57.8 I3=0.013
V5=20.2 I5=0.003

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SIMULATED DIAGRAM AND WAVEFORMS:

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With R-Load:

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With RL load:

DSO PLOT:
For α= 45º

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Measurement of Harmonic components in the given waveform using FFT-option in
Digital Storage Oscilloscope
1. Turn on the Keysight DSOX3014A.
2. Connect the differential probe on channel-1.
3. Setup DSO to the default (for removing previous data or settings from DSO memory), then do “Auto setup”,
then you should get AC waveform like as shown in Fig. 1, go to measure and measure the frequency and peak
–to- peak voltage (as shown in the right corner of Fig. 1 with red arrow).

Fig. 1. Waveform (AC superimposed on DC).

4. Go to “mode/coupling” located on the front panel or press “probe” key and select “coupling-AC”.
5. Press “Math” Function and select operator “FFT”; you will get a pink trace as shown in Fig. 2.
6. Set “centre frequency” to “0 Hz” and “span” to “2 kHz”.

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 FFT
Magnitude
adjustment

FFT frame
offset
adjustment

Cursor
adjustment
Harmonic
magnitude
measurements

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 Fig. 2. Actual waveform (yellow trace) and its FFT (pink trace).

7. Go to option: “More FFT” and then set the “vertical” units to “V RMS” (Not dB-scale), then “math
function” will show you rms value of all the frequency components then this will look like as shown in Fig.
3.

Pink trace - FFT bar chart

Fig. 3. Waveform and FFT bar chart.

8. Set the “offset and scale” using keys available on front panel. Here FFT resolution is important factor which
can be changed using “horizontal scale key”.

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 Fig. 4. FFT settings indicating window.

9. Turn on the “cursors” and select the source to “Math” and record the readings on “Cursor X1, X2” and “Y1,
Y2”. In this way one can analyze Harmonic components magnitude in the given output waveform.

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Step –by- step adjustments for the FFT analysis on DSOX3014A:

1. Set Autotransformer to desired AC voltage.

2. Connect the differential probe to channel-1 (x100 setting).
3. PRESS “Channel-1” (or the waveform to be analysed) Button → Coupling → set AC.
4. Move the “Channel-1” cursor to ground line (move the waveform to top portion of screen).
5. Press “MATH” button→ set operator “FFT”.
6. Press “SPAN” button and adjust “1 kHz”, centre frequency to zero (50 Hz-optional; now the FFT spectrum
in light pink colour will appear on the screen).
7. Press “more FFT” button → set “vertical units” to “V RMS”.
8. To adjust the magnitude of the FFT waveform use “PUSH for FINE” button (set to 100 mV).
9. To adjust the “offset” of the FFT waveform use “PUSH to ZERO” button (set to 300 mV).
10. Press “cursor” button and bring the “X1” cursor to middle of the scope screen, then press X2 cursor and
adjusting it on the screen. With this “X1” and “X2” one can able to identify different harmonic frequency
components on the scope screen.
11. To move the “X1, X2”cursors rotate the “cursors knob”.

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