LECTURE 27 (Ch.

11)
AC VOLTAGE
CONTROLLERS

ECE 452
Power Electronics
1
Single-Phase Controllers with
Inductive Load
In practice, most loads are inductive to a certain
extent.


A full-wave controller with an inductive load is
shown next.
2
3
The gating signals of thyristors could be short
pulses for a controller with a resistive load.

However, they are not suitable for inductive
loads.

When thyristor T
2
is fired, thyristor T
1
is still
conducting due to the inductive load.

4
By the time the current of T
1
falls to zero and T
1

is turned off, the gate current of T
2
has already
ceased.

Consequently, T
2
will not be turned on.

This difficulty can be resolved by using a
continuous gate signal with a duration of - .

5

However a continuous gate pulse increases the
switching loss of thyristors.


In practice a train of pulses with short duration
are used to overcome the loss problem.
6
The rms value of the output load voltage is
found from:
2 / 1
2 / 1
2 2
2
2 sin
2
2 sin
(
1
) ( sin 2
2
2
(

+ =
(

=
}
| o
o |
t
e e
t
|
o
s o
s o
V V
t d t V V
7
Three-Phase Full-Wave
Controllers
The unidirectional controllers, which contain dc
input current and higher harmonic content due
to the asymmetrical nature of the output voltage
waveform, are not normally used in ac motor
drives.

A three-phase bidirectional control is commonly
used.
8
The circuit diagram of a three-phase full-wave
controller is shown next.
9
30
o
10
For 0 < < 60
o
:



For 60
o
< < 90
o
:



For 90
o
< < 150
o
:


2 / 1
)
8
2 sin
4 6
(
1
6
(

+ =
o o t
t
s o
V V
2 / 1
)
16
2 cos 3
16
2 sin 3
12
(
1
6
(

+ + =
o o t
t
s o
V V
2 / 1
)
16
2 cos 3
16
2 sin
4 24
5
(
1
6
(

+ + =
o o o t
t
s o
V V
11
Three-Phase Bidirectional Delta-
Connected Controllers
If the terminals of a three-phase system are
accessible, the control elements (SCRs) and load
may be connected in delta.

12
Since the phase current in a normal three-phase
delta system is only 1/3 of the line current,
the current ratings of the thyristors are less.


The following figure shows the waveforms for a
delay angle of 120 degrees.

13
60
o
14
For resistive loads:
2 / 1
2
2 sin
(
1
(

+ =
o
o t
t
s o
V V
15