The purpose of a rectifier may be to produce an output that is purely dc, or the purpose

may be to produce a voltage or current waveform that has a specified dc (or ac)
component.

Unlike diode rectifiers, PCRs or phase controlled rectifiers have an advantage of

regulating the output voltage. The diode rectifiers are termed as uncontrolled rectifiers.
When these diodes are switched with Thyristors, then it becomes phase control rectifier.
The output voltage can be regulated by changing the firing angle of the Thyristors.

A phase control Thyristor is activated by applying a short pulse to its gate terminal and it
is deactivated due to line communication or natural commutation. In case of heavy
inductive load, it is deactivated by firing another Thyristor of the rectifier during the
negative half cycle of input voltage.
The phase controlled rectifier is classified into two types based on the type of input power
supply.
Single-phase Controlled Rectifier
This type of rectifier which works from single phase AC input power supply
Single Phase Controlled Rectifiers are classified into different types
Half wave Controlled Rectifier: This type of rectifier uses a single Thyristor device to
provide output control only in one half cycle of input AC supply, and it offers low DC
output.
Full wave Controlled Rectifier: This type of rectifier provides higher DC output
Full wave controlled rectifier with a center tapped transformer requires two Thyristors.
Full wave bridge controlled rectifiers do not need a center tapped transformer
Three-phase Controlled Rectifier
This type of rectifier which works from three phase AC i/p power supply
A semi converter is a one quadrant converter that has one polarity of o/p voltage and
current.
A full converter is a a two quadrants converter that has polarity of o/p voltage can be
either +ve or –ve but, the current can have only one polarity that is either +ve or -ve.
Dual converter works in four quadrants – both o/p voltage and o/p current can have
both the polarities.
The basic working principle of a PCR circuit can be explained using a single phase half
wave PCR circuit with a resistive load shown in the following circuit. Unlike the diode,
the SCR will not begin to conduct as soon as the source becomes positive. Conduction is
delayed until a gate current is applied, which is the basis for using the SCR as a means of
control.

,where is α the delay angle.

The average (dc) voltage across the load resistor is
Maximum average (dc) o/p voltage is obtained when α = 0
and the maximum dc output voltage

The average dc output voltage can be varied by varying the trigger angle α from 0 to a
maximum of 1800 (π radians).
We can obtain the control characteristic by plotting the expression for the dc output
voltage as a function of trigger angle α
Single Phase Controlled Full Wave Rectifiers with Resistive Load
center-tapped transformer rectifier
bridge rectifier

For the bridge rectifier, SCRs S1 and S2 will become forward-biased when the
source becomes positive but will not conduct until gate signals are applied.
Similarly, S3 and S4 will become forward-biased when the source becomes
negative but will not conduct until they receive gate signals.
For the center-tapped transformer rectifier, S1 is forward-biased when vs is
positive, and S2 is forward-biased when vs is negative, but each will not conduct
until it receives a gate signal.
The output voltage
The power delivered to the load is

Thyrisitor S1 is triggered at ωt = α
S1 conducts from ωt = α to π
Thyristor S2 is triggered at ωt = π+α
S2 conducts from ωt = π+α to 2π
The average (dc) voltage across the load resistor is
Power flows from the load back to the input ac
source.
AC voltage controllers (ac line voltage controllers) are employed to vary the RMS
value of the alternating voltage applied to a load circuit by introducing Thyristors between
the load and a constant voltage ac source. The RMS value of alternating voltage applied
to a load circuit is controlled by controlling the triggering angle of the Thyristors in the
AC Voltage Controller circuits.

In brief, an AC Voltage Controller is a type of thyristor power converter which is used to

convert a fixed voltage, fixed frequency ac input supply to obtain a variable voltage ac
output.
The ac voltage controllers are classified into two types based on the type of input ac
supply applied to the circuit.

Single-Phase Controller with a Resistive Load

This SCR arrangement makes it possible to

have current in either direction in the load. This
SCR connection is called antiparallel or inverse
parallel because the SCRs carry current in
opposite directions. A triac is equivalent to the
antiparallel SCRs.
The thyristor switches T1 and T2 are turned on by applying appropriate gate trigger
pulses to connect the input ac supply to the load for ‘n’ number of input cycles during
the time interval tON . The thyristor switches T1 and T2 are turned off by blocking the
gate trigger pulses for ‘m’ number of input cycles during the time interval tOFF . The ac
controller ON time tON usually consists of an integral number of input cycles.

The load voltage is the same as the source voltage when either SCR is on.
The load voltage is zero when both SCRs are off.

The average current in the source and load is zero if the SCRs are on for
equal time intervals. The average current in each SCR is not zero because of
unidirectional SCR current.
 RMS value of input
supply voltage

Output RMS voltage across the load is controlled by changing ‘α’

rms load voltage is plotted as a function of α to obtain the control characteristics

The RMS output voltage can

be varied from a maximum
of 100% VS at α = 0 to a
minimum of ‘0’ at α = 1800 .
Thus we get a full range
output voltage control by
using a single phase full
wave ac voltage controller.
A single phase full wave ac voltage controller circuit (bidirectional controller) with an
RL load using two thyristors T1 and T2 (T1 and T2 are two SCRs) connected in parallel
is shown in the figure below. In place of two thyristors a single Triac can be used to
implement a full wave ac controller, if a suitable Traic is available for the desired RMS
load current and the RMS output voltage ratings.
The thyristor T1 is forward biased during the positive half cycle of input supply. Let
us assume that T1 is triggered at ωt =α , by applying a suitable gate trigger pulse to T1
during the positive half cycle of input supply. The output voltage across the load follows
the input supply voltage when T1 is ON. The load current io flows through the thyristor T1
and through the load in the downward direction. This load current pulse flowing through T1
can be considered as the positive current pulse. Due to the inductance in the load, the load
current io flowing through T1 would not fall to zero at ωt = π , when the input supply
voltage starts to become negative.
The thyristor T1 will continue to conduct the load current until all the inductive energy
stored in the load inductor L is completely utilized and the load current through T1 falls to
zero at ωt = β , where β is referred to as the Extinction angle, (the value of ωt ) at which the
load current falls to zero. The extinction angle β is measured from the point of the
beginning of the positive half cycle of input supply to the point where the load current falls
to zero.

The thyristor T1 conducts from ωt = α to β . The conduction angle of T1 is δ = (β-α ), which

depends on the delay angle α and the load impedance angle φ . The waveforms of the input
supply voltage, the gate trigger pulses of T1 and T2 , the thyristor current, the load current
and the load voltage waveforms appear as shown in the figure below.
Considering sinusoidal input supply voltage we can write the expression for the
supply voltage as

Kirchhoff’s voltage law for the circuit

The solution of the above differential equation gives the general expression for the
output load current which is of the form
Therefore the general expression for the output load current is given by the equation
Substituting the value of constant A1 from the above equation into the expression for io ,
we obtain

To estimate the extinction angle β

This transcendental equation can be solved numerically for β, and we can obtain
the thyristor conduction angle δ = (β-α ).
RMS output voltage = RMS input
supply voltage for α ≤ φ
When α > φ , the load current and load voltage waveforms become discontinuous

This SCR combination can act as a solid-state relay, connecting or disconnecting the
load from the ac source by gate control of the SCRs. The load is disconnected from
the source when no gate signal is applied, and the load has the same voltage as the
source when a gate signal is continuously applied. In practice, the gate signal may be
a high-frequency series of pulses rather than a continuous dc signal.
The RMS output voltage across the load can be varied by changing the trigger angle α .
For a purely resistive load L = 0 , therefore load power factor angle φ = 0 .
Performance Parameters of A Single Phase Full Wave Ac Voltage Controller with
Resistive Load
Performance Parameters of A Single Phase Full Wave Ac Voltage Controller with R-L
Load

the output (load) current which flows through the thyristor

 Find the RMS current flowing through the
heater shown in figure. The delay angle of both
the SCRs is 450.