Monsoon 2023: EED306 (Power Electronics) Practice Problem set #1

Try solving on your own (no need to submit, it helps if you try to solve sincerely)

The thyristor chopper circuit

shown on left has been discussed
in the class. Assume thyristors,
diodes, inductor and capacitor to
be ideal elements, i.e., they are
assumed lossless (so, zero on-state
voltage drop across thyristor and
diode, no leakage current during
off state, similarly no losses in
inductor and capacitor). For this
circuit, answer Q1 and Q2.

Figure below (for Q1 and Q2)

shows the waveforms of the Thyristor chopper. The one drawn with solid lines is the load voltage
waveform and the other (with ticked lines) is the voltage across commutation circuit capacitor of 2.5
micro-farad. The vertical axis shows voltage in volts and the horizontal axis shows time in
milliseconds. Load consists of a resistor (R) in series with an inductor (L). Devices are ideal and load
current is having negligible ripple. Answer the following:-

Q1) (i) Load current = A (ii) Duty ratio of (Th)main =

(iii) Circuit turn-off time of (Th)main = micro-second .

(Note: Duty ratio is the ratio of ON-time and total cycle time. Circuit turn-off time is the time for which
thyristor is reverse biased after turning off process is initiated)

Q2) (i) ON-time of (Th)aux. = millisecond / cycle (ii) commutation circuit inductance = Henry

(iii) from graph, average load voltage = volts (iv) Average current through (Th)aux. = A

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
-50

-100

-150

Q3 If the main thyristor ‘TH(M)’ of above circuit is replaced by a MOSFET type switch which
may be turned on and off simply by gate voltage control, you will not need the commutation
circuit consisting of auxiliary thyristor ‘TH(A)’, ‘L’, ‘C’ and ‘D’. Load, FWD (Freewheeling
 Monsoon 2023: EED306 (Power Electronics) Practice Problem set #1
Try solving on your own (no need to submit, it helps if you try to solve sincerely)

diode) and input voltage ‘E’ will still be there. Such circuits are also known as DC to DC buck
converter (chopper). These output rectangular voltage of magnitude ‘E’ (when MOSFET
switch is ON) and zero voltage when MOSFET switch is OFF and inductive-resistive load
current freewheels through FWD. MOSFET and diode are assumed lossless (ideal). Now
consider the following: Input Voltage = 100 volts, Load current = 4 amps (assume constant).
Switch duty ratio = 0.4. Assume load to be resistance ‘R’ in series with very large inductor
(very large inductor tries to keep load current magnitude constant). For above condition,
Find:

(i) Average current through switch and freewheeling diode = ………….. and ………… amps
respectively.
(ii) Load voltage (across R) = ………………. Volts.
(iii) Load resistance ‘R’ = …………………. Ohms.

(Q4) Fig. (below) shows a E, L, C circuit with a thyristor switch. Take E = 100 V, L= 100
micro-henry and C = 4 micro-farad. When thyristor switch is turned on, half cycle of L-C
oscillation takes place. (i) calculate the time for which thyristor remains on after it is
triggered first time (ii) after first triggering and after half cycle of oscillation, thyristor is
triggered once more. This time what will be the thyristor’s conduction interval, why?
Assume ideal thyristor with no reverse conduction, no leakage current during off state and no
on-state voltage drop across thyristor. Other circuit elements are also assumed ideal.

L
C
E