Power Electronics 2019

Arbaminch University

Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department of Industrial Control and Instrumentation

Ac regulators circuits

AC voltage controller – Types of control (Phase and Integrate cycle control) –

Cycloconverters – Operation of types of cycloconverters

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AC voltage controller is known as AC to AC conversion. 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 RMS value of the ac output voltage and the ac power flow to the load is
controlled by varying (adjusting) the trigger angle ‘α’

There are two different types of thyristor control used in practice to control the ac
power flow
 Phase control

 Integrate cycle control (On-Off Control)

Phase Control

In phase control the Thyristors are used as switches to connect the load
circuit to the input ac supply, for a part of every input cycle. That is the ac supply
voltage is chopped using Thyristors during a part of each input cycle. The
thyristor switch is turned on for a part of every half cycle, so that input supply
voltage appears across the load and then turned off during the remaining part of
input half cycle to disconnect the ac supply from the load. By controlling the
phase angle or the trigger angle ‘α’ (delay angle), the output RMS voltage across
the load can be controlled.
The trigger delay angle ‘α’ is defined as the phase angle (the value of ωt) at
which the thyristor turns on and the load current begins to flow. Thyristor ac
voltage controllers use ac line commutation or ac phase commutation. Thyristors
in ac voltage controllers are line commutated (phase commutated) since the

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input supply is ac. When the input ac voltage reverses and becomes negative
during the negative half cycle the current flowing through the conducting
thyristor decreases and falls to zero. Thus the ON thyristor naturally turns off,
when the device current falls to zero.

Phase control Thyristors

which are relatively
inexpensive, converter grade
Thyristors which are slower
than fast switching inverter
grade Thyristors are normally
used.

For applications upto 400Hz,

if Triacs are available to meet
the voltage and current
ratings of a particular
application, Triacs are more
commonly used. Due to ac
line commutation or natural
commutation, there is no
need of extra commutation
circuitry or components and
the circuits for ac voltage
controllers are very simple.

Due to the nature of the output waveforms, the analysis, derivations of

expressions for performance parameters are not simple, especially for the phase
controlled ac voltage controllers with RL load. But however most of the practical
loads are of the RL type and hence RL load should be considered in the analysis
and design of ac voltage controller circuits.

Integrated cycle control

In Integrate cycle or On-Off control technique Thyristors are used as switches to
connect the load circuit to the ac supply (source) for a few cycles of the input ac

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supply and then to disconnect it for few input cycles. The Thyristors thus act as a
high speed contactor (or high
speed ac switch).

In thyristor heating
applications, load harmonics
are unimportant and integral
cycle control, or burst firing,
can be employed. The
regulator when a triac is
employed and figure shows
the output voltage indicating
the regulator’s operating
principle. Because of the low
frequency sub-harmonic
nature of the output voltage,
this type of control is not
suitable for incandescent
lighting loads since flickering
would occur and with ac
motors, undesirable torque
pulsations would result. In many heating applications the load thermal time
constant is long (relative to 20ms, that is 50Hz) and an acceptable control method
involves a number of mains cycles on and then off. Because turn-on occurs at
zero voltage cross-over and turn-off occurs at zero current, which is near a zero
voltage crossover, supply harmonics and radio frequency interference are low.
The lowest order harmonic in the load is 1/Tp.

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Single phase voltage regulator

With R Load

Single phase full wave ac voltage controller circuit using two SCRs or a
single triac is generally used in most of the ac control applications. The ac
output voltage and ac power flow to the load can be controlled in both the half
cycles by varying the trigger angle . The RMS value of load voltage can be
varied by varying the trigger angle . The input supply current is alternating
in the case of a full wave ac voltage controller and due to the symmetrical
nature of the input supply current waveform there is no dc component of input
supply current i.e., the average value of the input supply current is zero.

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A single phase full wave ac voltage controller with a resistive load is

shown in the figure below. It is possible to control the ac power flow to the load
in both the half cycles by adjusting the trigger angle . Hence the full wave ac
voltage controller is also referred to as to a bi-directional controller.

The thyristor is forward biased during the positive half cycle of the input
supply voltage. The thyristor is triggered at a delay angle of
. Considering the ON thyristor as an ideal closed switch the
input supply voltage appears across the load resistor and the output voltage
during to radians. The load current flows through the ON
thyristor and through the load resistor in the downward direction during
the conduction time of from to radians. At , when the input
voltage falls to zero the thyristor current (which is flowing through the load
resistor ) falls to zero and hence naturally turns off . No current flows in
the circuit during to .

The thyristor is forward biased during the negative cycle of input supply and
when thyristor is triggered at a delay angle , the output voltage
follows the negative halfcycle of input from to . When is ON,
the load current flows in the reverse direction (upward direction) through
during to radians. The time interval (spacing) between the gate
trigger pulses of and is kept at radians or . At the input
supply voltage becomes zero and hence the load current also falls to zero and
thyristor turn off naturally.
Input supply voltage

Output voltage across the load resistor ;

; for and

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Output load current

for and

To derive an expression for the rms value of output

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With RL Load
The thyristor is forward biased during the positive half cycle of input
supply. Let us assume that is triggered at , by applying a suitable
gate trigger pulse to during the positive half cycle of input supply ‘ ’ is
referred to as the trigger angle or the delay angle. The output voltage across
the load follows the input supply voltage when is ON. The load current
flows through the thyristor and through the load in the downward
direction. This load current pulse flowing through can be considered as the
positive current pulse. Due to the inductance in the load, the load current
flowing through would not fall to zero at , when the input supply
voltage starts to become negative.

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The thyristor 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 falls to zero at , where is referred to as the
Extinction angle, (the value of ) at which the load current falls to zero. The
extinction angle 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 conducts from to . The conduction angle of is

, which depends on the delay angle and the load impedance angle
. The waveforms of the input supply voltage, the gate trigger pulses of and
, the thyristor current, the load current and the load voltage.
Output can be written as

The solution for current in this equation

RMS load current

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Three phase voltage regulator

There are many types of circuits used for the three-phase ac regulators (ac
to ac voltage converters), unlike single-phase ones. The three-phase loads
(balanced) are connected in star or delta. Two thyristors connected back to back,
or a triac, is used for each phase in most of the circuits as described. Two circuits
are first taken up, both with balanced resistive (R) load

The circuit of a three-phase, three-wire ac regulator (termed as ac to ac

voltage converter) with balanced resistive (star-connected) load. It may be noted
that the resistance connected in all three phases are equal. Two thyristors
connected back to back are used per phase, thus needing a total of six thyristors.
Please note the numbering scheme, which is same as that used in a three-phase
full-wave bridge converter or inverter, described in module 2 or 5. The thyristors
are fired in sequence starting from 1 in ascending order, with the angle between
the triggering of thyristors 1 & 2 being (one-sixth of the time period (°60T) of a
complete cycle). The line frequency is 50 Hz, with fT/1==20 ms. The thyristors are
fired or triggered after a delay of α from the natural commutation point. The
natural commutation point is the starting of a cycle with period, (6/60T=°) of
output voltage waveform, if six thyristors are replaced by diodes. Note that the

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output voltage is similar to phase-controlled waveform for a converter, with the

difference that it is an ac waveform in this case. The current flow is bidirectional,
with the current in one direction in the positive half, and then, in other (opposite)
direction in the negative half. So, two thyristors connected back to back are
needed in each phase. The turning off of a thyristor occurs, if its current falls to
zero. To turn the thyristor on, the anode voltage must be higher that the cathode
voltage, and also, a triggering signal must be applied at its gate.

The waveforms of the input voltages, the conduction angles of thyristors

and the output voltage of one phase, for firing delay angles (α) for (a) 60° and (b)
120° are shown in below. For0°≤α≤60°, immediately before triggering of thyristor
1, two thyristors (5 & 6) conduct. Once thyristor 1 is triggered, three thyristors (1,
5 & 6) conduct. As stated earlier, a thyristor turns off, when the current through
it goes to zero. The conditions alternate between two and three conducting
thyristors.

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Cycloconverters

Cycloconverter is a type of power controller in

which an alternating voltage at supply frequency is
converted directly to an alternating voltage at load frequency
w i t h o u t a n y i n t e r m e d i a t e D C stage.

Equivalent circuit of cycloconverter

Each two-quadrant converter (phase-controlled) is represented as an

alternating voltage source, which corresponds to the fundamental voltage
component obtained at its output terminals. The diodes connected in series with
each voltage source, show the unidirectional conduction of each converter,
whose output voltage can be either positive or negative, being a two-quadrant
one, but the direction of current is in the direction as shown in the circuit, as only
thyristors − unidirectional switching devices, are used in the two converters.
Normally, the ripple content in the output voltage is neglected .
The control principle used in an ideal cycloconverter is to continuously
modulate the firing angles of the individual converters, so that each produces the
same sinusoidal (ac) voltage at its output terminals. Thus, the voltages of the two
generators

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Single-phase to Single-phase Cycloconverter

The circuit of a single-phase to single-phase cyclo-converter is shown in

figure. Two full-wave fully controlled bridge converter circuits, using four
thyristors for each bridge, are connected in opposite direction (back to back),
with both bridges being fed from ac supply (50 Hz). Bridge 1 (P – positive)
supplies load current in the positive half of the output cycle, while bridge 2 (N –
negative) supplies load current in the negative half. The two bridges should not
conduct together as this will produce short-circuit at the input. In this case, two
thyristors come in series with each voltage source. When the load current is
positive, the firing pulses to the thyristors of bridge 2 are inhibited, while the
thyristors of bridge 1 are triggered by giving pulses at their gates at that time.
Similarly, when the load current is negative, the thyristors of bridge 2 are
triggered by giving pulses at their gates, while the firing pulses to the thyristors
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of bridge 1 are inhibited at that time. This is the circulating-current free mode of
operation. Thus, the firing angle control scheme must be such that only one
converter conduct at a time, and the changeover of firing pulses from one
converter to the other, should be periodic according to the output frequency.
However, the firing angles the thyristors in both converters should be the same
to produce a symmetrical output.

The frequency of the

output voltage, is 4 times less
than that of vs, the input
voltage, i.e. fo/fi=1/4. Thus,
this is a step-down
cycloconverter. On the other
hand, cycloconverters that
have fo/fi>1 frequency
relation are called step-up
cycloconverters. Note that
step-down cycloconverters
are more widely used than
the step-up ones. The
frequency of vo can be
changed by varying the
number of cycles the positive and the negative converters work. It can only
change as integer multiples of fi in 1f-1f Cycloconverters. Constant operation
gives a crude output waveform with rich harmonic content. The dotted lines in
Fig. 3b and c show a square wave. If the square wave can be modified to look
more like a sine wave, the harmonics would be reduced. Now, the six-stepped
dotted line is more like a sine wave with fewer harmonics. The more pulses there
are with different a's, the less are the harmonics.

Three-phase to Single-phase Cycloconverter

The 3Φ-1Φ cycloconverter applies rectified voltage to the load. Both
positive and negative converters can generate voltages at either polarity, but the
positive converter can only supply positive current and the negative converter
can only supply negative current. Thus, the cycloconverter can operate in four

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quadrants: (+v, +i) and (-v, -i) rectification modes and (+v, -i) and (-v, +i)
inversion modes. The modulation of the output voltage and the fundamental
output voltage are shown. Note that is sinusoidally modulated over the cycle to
generate a harmonically optimum output voltage.

The procedure to be followed in the triggering of the thyristors in sequence

in the two bridge converters has been briefly given earlier. The readers are
requested to go through two lessons (#2.5-2.6) in module 2 (AC-DC Converters),
or any standard text book. As given in the earlier lesson (#4.4), the firing angle
(α) of two converters is first decreased starting from the initial value of to the
final value of , and then again increased to the final value of , as shown.

Also, for positive half cycle of the output voltage waveform, bridge 1 is used,
while bridge 2 is used for negative half cycle. The two half cycles are combined
to form one complete cycle of the output voltage, the frequency being decided by
the number of half cycles of input voltage waveform used for each half cycle of
the output. As more no. of segments of near 60°is used, the output voltage
waveform becomes near sinusoidal, with its frequency also being reduced.

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Three-phase to Three-phase Cycloconverter

Two three-phase half-wave (three-pulse) converters connected back to
back for each phase, with three thyristors for each bridge, are needed here. The
total number of thyristors used is 18, thus reducing the cost of power
components, and also of control circuits needed to generate the firing pulses for
the thyristors, as described later. This may be compared to the case with 6 (six)
three-phase full-wave (6-pulse) bridge converters, having six thyristors for each
converter, with total devices used being 36. Though this will reduce the
harmonic content in both output voltage and current waveforms, but is more
costly. This may be used, where the total cost may be justified, along with the
merit stated. This has also been discussed in the last section of the previous
lesson (#30). The ripple frequency is 150 Hz, three times the input frequency of 50
Hz.

The circulating current mode of operation is used, in which both (positive

and negative) converters in each phase, conduct at the same time. Inter-group
reactor in each phase as shown, is needed here. But, if non-circulating current
mode of operation is used, where only one converter (positive or negative) in
each phase, conducts at a time, the reactors are not needed.

The three-phase cycloconverters are mainly used in ac machine drive

systems running threephase synchronous and induction machines. They are

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more advantageous when used with a synchronous machine due to their output
power factor characteristics. A cycloconverter can supply lagging, leading, or
unity power factor loads while its input is always lagging. A synchronous
machine can draw any power factor current from the converter. This
characteristic operation matches the cycloconverter to the synchronous machine.
On the other hand, induction machines can only draw lagging current, so the
cycloconverter does not have an edge compared to the other converters in this
aspect for running an induction machine. However, Cycloconverters are used in
Scherbius drives for speed control purposes driving wound rotor induction
motors.
Cycloconverters produce harmonic rich output voltages, which will be
discussed in the following sections. When Cycloconverters are used to run an ac
machine, the leakage inductance of the machine filters most of the higher
frequency harmonics and reduces the magnitudes of the lower order harmonics.

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