Power Electronics I

Lecture 11

Prof. Dr. Mostafa I. Marei

1
 Ac voltage control
If a thyristor switch is connected between ac supply and load, the
power flow can be controlled by varying the rms value of ac voltage
applied to the load.

This type of power electronics circuit is

known as ac voltage control.

Applications of ac voltage controllers are:

• Industrial heating,
• Lighting control,
• Soft starter of induction motors,
• On-load transformer tap changing,
• Heavy current rectifiers and static VAR compensator (SVC).
Two types of ac voltage control are normally used:
• On-off control
• phase-angle control
2
In on-off control, thyristor switches connect the 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 the ac
source for a portion of each cycle of input voltage.
Principle of on-off control

The thyristor switch connects the ac

supply to load for n cycles; the switch
is turned off by a gate pulse inhibiting
for m cycles.
n and m are integral numbers  this
method is called “Integral Cycle
Control (ICC)”
The thyristors are turned on at the
zero-voltage crossing of ac input
voltage.
3
This type of control is applied in Vs n m
applications that have a high
thermal time constant or high wt
mechanical inertia (e.g. industrial
heating and speed control of
Vo
motors ). io

wt
Practically, n+m < 100 cycles.
ig1 Gate pulse of T1
Due to zero-voltage and zero-
current switching of thyristors, wt

the harmonics generated by ig2 Gate pulse of T2

switching actions are reduced.

wt

For a sinusoidal input voltage,

The gate pulses for thyristor T1 and T2
v s  Vm sin t  2Vs sin t and the waveforms for input and output
voltages
4
The rms output voltage can be found from:
1
 n 2  2
vo    2Vs sin t d t 
2 2

 2 ( n  m ) 0

n
vo  Vs  Vs k
mn
where k=n/(m+n) and is called the duty cycle. Vs is the rms phase voltage.

The input current is the same as the load current  The rms supply
current Is = the rms load current Ia .

The power factor at the supply side

=Load power / VA of the supply
I oVo Vo k  Vs
    k
I sVs Vs Vs
K   the power factor becomes very poor.

5
Q1/Sheet 3: A single-phase ac voltage controller has a resistive load
of R=10Ω and the input voltage is Vs=120V, 60Hz. The thyristors are
switched on for n=25 cycles and are switched off for m=75 cycles.
Calculate: (a) the rms output voltage, (b) the input power factor, and (c)
the average and rms current of thyristors.

Solution
R  10  , Vs  120 V , Vm  2  120  169.7V ,
and k  n /( n  m)  25 / 100  0.25

n 25
a- v o  Vs k  Vs  120   60V
mn 100
And the rms load current is Io=Vo/R=60/10=6.0A.

6
 b- The load power is Po= Io2 R = 6 2 ×10 = 360W.
The volt-ampere (VA) input: VA  Vs I s  Vs I o  120  6  720VA
P0 360
PF    k  0.25  0.5
VA 720

c- The peak thyristor current is Im=Vm /R=169.7/10=16.97 A.

The average current of thyristors is
n  Imn kI m 16.97
2 (m  n) 0
IA  I sin t d (t )     0.25  1.33 A
m
 ( m  n)  

The rms current of the thyristor is

1
 n  2  2
Im n I K 16.97
IR    m     m   0.25  4.24 A
2
I sin t d ( t ) 
 2 (m  n) 0  2 nm 2 2

V0 k Vs 1 Vm 1
I
Note: 0  I s    k  k Im
R R 2 R 2 k Im
2 2 IR 
I0  IR |T 1  I R|T 2  2 I R 2
7
 Single-phase Bidirectional controllers with resistive loads

The RMS value of load voltage can be

varied by varying the trigger angle .

Due to the symmetrical nature of the input

supply current waveform there is no dc
component i.e., the average value of the
input supply current is zero.

During the positive half-cycle of input

voltage, the power flow is controlled by
varying the delay angle of thyristor T1; and
thyristor T2 controls the power flow during
the negative half-cycle of input voltage.

The firing pluses of T1 and T2 are kept

180o apart.
8
 For a sinusoidal input voltage, v s  Vm sin t  2Vs sin t
2 
Vo 
2  2Vs2 sin 2 t d ( t )

1 sin 2
Vo  Vs (   )  0  Vo  Vs
 2

Power Factor

The average thyristor current is given by:

1  2Vs
2R 
IA  2Vs sin t d (t )  (cos   1)
2R
9
In the single phase full wave ac voltage controller circuit using two
Thyristors T1 and T2 in parallel, the gating circuits (gate trigger pulse
generating circuits) of Thyristors T1 and T2 must be isolated.

It is possible to have a common cathode for T1 and T2 by adding two

diodes, as shown in the figure below.

Thyristor T1 and diode D1 conduct together during the positive half-

cycle; and thyristor T2 and diode D2 conduct the negative half-cycle.
Because T1 and T2 have a common Cathode, no isolation is
required between their driving circuits.
10
 But due to the need of two power diodes, the cost of the devices
increase. As there are two power devices conducting at the same
time, the voltage drop across the ON devices increases and the ON
state conducting losses of devices increase and hence the efficiency
decreases.
A single-phase full-wave controller can also be implemented with
one thyristor and four diodes, as shown in the figure below.

The four diodes act as a bridge rectifier.

The voltage across the thyristor T1 and current through thyristor T1
are always unidirectional.
11
 With a resistive load, the thyristor current would fall to zero due
to a natural commutation in every half-cycle as shown.

However, if there is a large inductance in the circuit, thyristor T1

may not be turned off in every half-cycle of input voltage, and this
may result in a loss of control due to commutation failure.

It would require detecting the zero crossing of the load current to
guarantee turn-off of the conducting thyristor before firing the next
one.

Three power devices conduct at the same time and the efficiency
is also reduced.

The bridge rectifier and thyristor (or transistor) act as a bidirectional

switch, which is commercially available as a single device.

12
Q2/Sheet 3: A single-phase full-wave ac voltage controller has a
resistive load of R=10Ω and the rms input voltage is Vs=120V (rms),
60Hz. The delay angles of thyristors are α1 =π/2 and α2 =3π/2. Determine
(a) the rms output voltage, (b) the input power factor, and (c) the
average and rms currents of thyristors.
Solution
R  10  , Vs  120 V ,    / 2 ,Vm  2  120  169.7V ,
   
 sin  2   
a- Vo  Vs 1      sin 2   120 
1 
  
2   120
  84.85V
 2    2 2  2
 
 
b- The rms load current is Io=Vo /R=84.85/10=8.485A and the load
power is Po=Io2 × R = 8.4852 × 10 =719.95W. Because the input
current is the same as the load current, the input VA rating is

VA  Vs I s  Vs I o  120  8.485  1018.2VA

I o2 R I o2 R Vo 1 sin 2  1
The input PF =            0.707
Vs I s Vs I o Vs  2  2
13
c- The average thyristor current
1 
IA 
2R 
2Vs sin t d ( t )

2Vs 120
IA  (cos   1 )  2  2.7 A
2R 2  10

The rms value of the thyristor current

1 
IR 
2R 2  2Vs2 sin 2 t d ( t )

Vs 1 sin 2  120
IR       6A
2R  2  2  10

14
Single-phase AC Voltage Controllers with inductive load
In practice, most loads are
inductive to a certain extent. A full-
wave controller with RL load is
shown in the figure to the left.
Let us assume that thyristor T1 is
fired during the positive half-cycle
and caries the load current.
Due to inductance in the circuit, the current of thyristor T1 would
not fall to zero at ωt=π, when the input voltage starts to be negative.
Thyristor T1 continues to conduct until its current i1 falls to zero at
ωt=β (the extinction angle).
The conduction angle of thyristor T1 is δ=β-α which depends on the
delay angle α and the power factor of the load.
The waveforms for the thyristor current, gating pulses, and input
voltage are shown in the next slide.
15
If vs  2Vs sin t is the instantaneous
input voltage and the delay angle of
thyristor T1 is α , the thyristor current
i1 can be found from:
di1
L  Ri1  2Vs sin t .............1
dt
The solution of equation 1 is in the
from:
2Vs
i1  sin(t   )  A1e t /  .........2
Z
Where load impedance Z = [ R2 + (ωL)2 ]1/2 and the load angle
θ=tan-1(ωL/R) and the time constant of the load τ =L/R.
The constant A1 can be determined from the initial condition: at ωt=α,
i1=0. From equation 2, A1 is found as,
2Vs
A1   sin(   )e( /   ) ..........................................................3
Z
16
Substitution of A1 from 3 in 2 yields,

i1 
2Vs
Z
 
sin(t   )  sin(   )e( t ) /   ...........................4

The angle β, when the current i1 falls to zero and thyristor T1 is turned
off, can be found from the condition i1(ωt=β)=0 in Eq 4 and is given by
the relation,
sin(    )  sin(    )e(    ) /   .......................................................5

The extinction angle, β, can be determined from the above equation

and it requires an iterative method of solution. Once β is known, the
conduction angle δ of thyristor T1 can be found from:
δ = β – α ..............................................................................................6
The rms output voltage

2  2 2 1 sin 2 sin 2 
Vo 
2 
2Vs sin t d (t )  Vs 

   
2

2 


17
The rms thyristor current can be found from eq 4 as

1  2
IR 
2  i 1 d (t )

Vs 1 
 
2
( t ) /  
IR 
Z    sin(t   )  sin(   ) e d (t ) .................7

And the rms output current can then be determined by combining the
rms current of each thyristor as


Io  I  I
2
R
2
R  1
2
 2 I R .........................................................................8
Po I o2 R I R
The input supply power factor =   o
VA Vs I o Vs
The average value of thyristor current can also be found from Eq. 4 as
1 
IA 
2  i 1 d (t )

IA 
2 Vs 
2 Z
 sin(t   )  sin(   )e  ( t ) /  
 d (t ) ......9
18
The gating signals of thyristors could be short pulses for a controller
with resistive loads.
However, such short pulses are not suitable for inductive loads. This is
because the current of the inductive load takes time to build from zero
 the duration of the short pulse might be insufficient for the thyristor
current to exceed its holding value  Thyristor is not turned-on.
This difficulty can be resolved by using continuous gate signals with a
duration of (π-α).

However a continuous gate pulse Long pulse

increase the switching loss of
thyristors and required a larger
isolating transformer for the gating
circuit.

In practice, a train of pulses with

short duration are normally used to Train of
over come these problems. pulses
19
20
Notes:
1- If α=θ from eq. 5
Sin ( β – α ) = sin ( β – θ ) = 0
And
β–α=δ=π

2- Because the conduction angle δ can not exceed π and the load
current must pass through zero, the delay angle α may not be less than
θ and the control range of delay angle is
θ≤α≤π

3- If α ≤ θ and the gate pulse of thyristors are of long duration, the load
current would not change with α , but both thyristors would conduct for
π. Thyristor T1 would turn on at ωt= θ and thyristor T2 would turn on at ωt
= π+ θ  normal RL circuit (uncontrolled).

21
 Short Pulse, α > θ Long Pulse, α > θ

Current becomes uni-directional Current is uncontrolled and note

as T2 is missed the firing signal. the Asymmetrical DC component22
.
 Q4/Sheet 3:
A single-phase ac voltage controller supplies an RL load of R=20Ω
and L=50 mH from 120 V rms, 60 Hz supply. The delay angle is 90°.
Determine (a) an expression for load current for the first half-period, (b)
the rms load current, (c) the rms thyristor current, (d) the average
thyristor current, (e) the power delivered to the load, and (f) the power
factor.
(a)

i1 
2Vs
Z

sin(t   )  sin(   )e( t ) /   
 6.18 sin(t  0.756)  23.8e t / 0.943 for   t   23
The extinction angle β is determined from the numerical solution of
i1(β)=0 , yielding: β = 3.83 rad = 220°.

Note that the conduction angle δ = β – α = 2.26 rad = 130°, which is

less than the limit of 180°. This is expected as α > θ.

(b) I  1  2
o  i1 d (t )  2.71A
 
Vo Vs 1 sin 2 sin 2 
Note: I o         Why?
Z Z  2 2 
(c) I R  I o / 2  1.92 A
1 
(d) I A 
2 
i1 d (t )

1  t / 0.943

2 
[ 6.18 sin(t  0.756)  23.8e ]d (t )  1.04 A

(e) Po  I o2 R  (2.71) 2 (20)  147W

P0 147
(f) PF    0.45 24
VA (120)(2.71)
 Applications of AC voltage controllers:
1) Heavy current rectifier
 Heavy current rectifier application as shown in the Figure below.
This configuration reduces thyristors' current ratings as the chopper is
connected in the primary side of the low current and the load is connected to
the heavy current side.

25
 2) STATIC VAR CONTROL (SVC)
Capacitors are routinely placed in parallel with inductive loads for power
factor improvement. If a load has a constant reactive voltampere (VAR)
requirement, a fixed capacitor can be selected to correct the power factor to
unity. However, if a load has a varying VAR requirement, the fixed-capacitor
arrangement results in a changing power factor.
The circuit shown represents an application of an ac voltage controller to
maintain a unity power factor for varying load VAR requirements.
The power factor correction capacitance supplies a fixed amount of reactive
power, generally greater than required by the load. The parallel inductance
absorbs a variable amount of reactive power, depending on the delay angle
of the thyristors.
The net reactive power supplied by the
inductor-capacitor combination is
controlled to match that absorbed by the
load. This type of power factor correction
is known as static VAR control.

26
 2) STATIC VAR CONTROL
The thyristors are placed in the inductor branch rather than in the capacitor
branch because very high currents could result from switching a capacitor.
Static VAR control has the advantage of being able to adjust to changing
load requirements very quickly. Reactive power is continuously adjustable
with static VAR control, rather than having discrete levels as with capacitor
banks which are switched in and out with circuit breakers.

Static VAR control is becoming increasingly prevalent in installations with

rapidly varying reactive power requirements, such as electric arc furnaces.

Filters are generally required to remove the harmonic currents generated by

the switched inductance.

Since the back-to-back thyristors are

loaded by Inductor  θ = 90º 
the control range is:
90º< α < 180 º

27