International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:16 No:05 10

Analysis on Controlled Rectifier to Determine the

Minimum Limit of Load Resistance for Proper
Voltage Regulation
A. Mohammad, S. A. M. Shah Ul Amin, A. Mahmud, R. Ahmed, Md. Rokib Hasan, Al-Imran and Md. Ferdous
Abedin
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
American International University Bangladesh (AIUB)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Adnanmohammad1@hotmail.com

Abstract Existence of source resistance plays a major converters depending on the analysis of section II. The
impact on the voltage regulation of a controlled rectifier. Based simulation is performed in MATLAB.
on the fact necessary mathematical equations have been derived
to find out the minimum limit of electrical load resistance for II. NECESSARY DERIVATIONS AND IMPACT ANALYSIS OF
which voltage regulation is only possible. Below that resistance, SOURCE RESISTANCE
no control system can regulate the output voltage of the
converter. In addition, it can be used to define the maximum
power which will be crucial for designing a regulated power
supply. Hence, to design a closed loop control system for voltage
regulation this solution is useful.

Index Term-- controlled rectifier; voltage regulation; source

resistance; regulated converter; voltage gain.

I. INTRODUCTION
Impact of source resistance on the performance of power
electronic converter is a very important sphere of research [1]. Fig. 1. Single phase half wave controlled rectifier.
Recent research on the impact of source resistance has been
done to define the limit of load resistances for proper voltage
regulation in dc to dc converter [1]. In this paper the impact of
source resistance on the performance of controlled rectifier is
the main focus of analysis to define the range of load resistance
for proper voltage regulation.
Rectifiers are used to convert ac signal into dc signal [2-5].
Controlled ac/dc converters provide high reliability, low
complexity, low power loss and minimize the numbers of
series-connected switches for high-voltage or medium voltage Fig. 2(a). Single phase half wave controlled rectifier with ON switch.
applications [6-8]. The value of output voltage can be easily
controlled in controlled rectifiers by varying the delay angle [9-
14]. It is desired to get a fixed dc output voltage for changing
loads. In ideal analysis of single phase controlled rectifier the
effect of input source resistance and the voltage drop across the
switch are ignored [9-14]. Practically, the source resistance
exists. This paper analyzes the impact of source resistances on
the performance of the converters excluding the voltage drop
across the switch.
The mathematical analysis including the equivalent circuits Fig. 2(b). Single phase half wave controlled rectifier with ON switch.
at different states of switching is carried out in section II. A
relationship between cosine of practical delay angle and ideal
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of single phase half wave controlled
delay angle is shown in the section II. The end of section II
rectifier. Fig. 2(a) and 2(b) show the ON and OFF switch states
reflects the range of delay angle and limit of change in load
of single phase half wave controlled rectifier considering ideal
connected to the converter up to which voltage regulation is
condition. In ideal condition there is no drop across the switch
possible. Section III analyzes the characteristics of the

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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:16 No:05 11
and no impact of source resistance. The average voltage of this
converter is [9-14],
Vm.(1 cos )
Vo(avg) (1)
2
Where, Vm is the peak value of input sinusoidal wave and
is the delay angle (with respect to the origin or main
reference point of the axes) at which gate pulse is provided to
turn ON the SCR [9-14]. From (1) it is clear that, the output
voltage is dependent on delay angle for a particular input
voltage.

Fig. 4 (c). Single phase half wave controlled rectifier at OFF switch state
including the effect of source resistance.

Fig.4 shows the equivalent circuit of the converter

considering the internal resistance of the source and small
voltage drop across the switch for both ON and OFF states. At
ON state current will flow from source to the load via source
resistance and switch. At OFF state of switch there will be no
current flow and the output voltage will be zero.
At ON state the output voltage of the converter,
Vo Vin - (Io.Rs Vscr) (2)
Where, Vin is input sinusoidal wave, Io is the output
current, Rs is the input sourse resistance and Vscr is the ON
state voltage drop across the SCR.
Vo
Fig. 3. Input voltage, gate pulse including delay angle and output voltage.
Using Io in (2),
RL
Vin - Vscr
Fig. 3 shows the operation of the converter in terms of their Vo (3)
Rs
wave shapes. A gate pulse is provided to turn ON the SCR. is 1
the delay angle. The higher the value of delay angle the lower RL
will be the area covered by output voltage. The range of delay From (3), it is visible that the output voltage is also
angle is 0 to . dependent on the resistances (Rs) of voltage source and the
load (RL). In ideal case the effect of source resistance and
In practical cases, there will be source resistance and switch voltage drop are neglected. So, for ideal case Rs has a
voltage drop across the switch. In this paper a small fixed value of zero. In (3), RL is the load resistance.
voltage drop is considered throughout the analysis and it
includes the existence of source resistance. Mainly, the Putting Rs=0 and Vscr =0 in (3),
performance of the converter will be analyzed to show the
Vo Vin Vm.Sin(t) (4)
effect of input resistance.
Where, is angular frequency of input and t is the time.
Equation (4) matches with the ON state condition of ideal
analysis (Fig. 2(a)).
At off state of the switch, the output voltage is zero. So, the
average output voltage in a period of T and with a delay angle
Fig. 4 (a). Single phase half wave controlled rectifier including the effect of of ,

Vm.Sin(t) - Vscr

source resistance. .dt
Rs
0 1
Vo(avg) RL (5)
2
Solving (5),
Vm.(1 Cos ) - Vscr.( - )
Vo(avg) (6)
Rs
2 .(1 )
Fig. 4 (b). Single phase half wave controlled rectifier at ON switch state RL
including the effect of source resistance and voltage drop across the switch.

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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:16 No:05 12
As indicated previously ignorance of Vscr and Rs will result From (11), it is clear that the Cos(p) will be always greater
the ideal equation of output voltage (1) from (6). than Cos(i).
This is also clear that if the source resistance is not zero, Range of is from 0 to 180 [9-14]. From the given range
then the output voltage becomes dependent on the variation of of , the range of Cos becomes -1 to +1. From the above
output or load resistance RL. If the source resistance is zero discussion some conditions can be stated for either lower limits
(ideal situation) then from (6), of delay angles or upper limits of Cos,
(a) Cos(p)>Cos(i)
Vm.(1 Cos ) - Vscr.( - ) (b) Upper limit for practical Cos: Cos(p) = 1 or, p = 0
Vo(avg) (7)
2
(c) Upper limit of ideal Cos for which ideal gain
Equation (7) shows no dependency of the average output coincides with the maximum gain of practical
voltage on the change of load resistance. In this situation the converter: Cos(i)<1 or, i>0
output voltage will remain same for any output resistance.
Form the above conditions, lower limit of i (upper limit of
Suppose, the delay angle of ideal case is denoted by i and Cos(i )) for which voltage gain of ideal converter coincides
p for practical case, then from (1) and (6), the maximum voltage gain of practical converter can be
derived using Cos(p)=1 in (11),
Vm.(1 cos(i))
Vo(avg)
2
RL RS
ill Cos 1( ) (12)
RL RS
Vo(avg) 1 cos(i) Where, ill is the lower limit of ideal delay angle for which
(8)
Vm 2 the voltage gain of ideal converter coincides with the maximum
gain of practical converter. It means maximum gain of the
practical converter will be smaller than the maximum gain of
ideal converter. Using (12) in (8), the maximum gain for
Vm.(1 Cos(p)) - Vscr.( - p) practical converter can be found from ideal converter.
Vo(avg)
Rs
2 .(1 ) TABLE I
RL LOWER LIMITS OF DELAY ANGLES
Delay Angle Lower Limit
Vscr Practical 0
(1 Cos(p)) - .( - p)
Vo(avg) Vm
Ideal 1 RL RS
(9) Cos (
RL RS
)
Vm Rs
2 .(1 )
RL Table I shows the lower limits of delay angles for ideal
Vscr
.( - p) in (9) can be ignored because, Vscr<<Vm. So, (which represents the practical converter) and practical cases.
Vm Upper limit of or lower limit of Cos can be found from (11)
(9) can be expressed as, using Cos(p) = -1,

Vo(avg) 1 Cos(p) Cos(i ) = - 1 (13)

(10)
Vm Rs TABLE II
2 .(1 ) UPPER LIMITS OF DELAY ANGLES
RL Delay Angle Upper Limit
From (8) and (10), Practical
Ideal

(1 cos(i)) 1 Cos(p)
Table II shows the upper limit of delay angles. So, the limits
2 Rs for which delay angles for the practical and ideal cases coincide
2 .(1 )
RL can be expressed as,
RS RS
Cos (p) Cos (i).(1 ) p 0 (14)
( RL RL (11)
Equation (11) shows the relation between ideal delay angle RL RS
which helps to represent the range of practical converter and and, i Cos 1( ) (15)
RL RS
practical delay angle (). More precisely it can be stated that,
for all converters (ideal and practical) the range of delay angle Application of (14) in (10) and (15) in (8) will yield the
is 0 to .Whenever performance of any thing is analyzed it same results.
should be compared with a standard or ideal case. So, here the
standard is the ideal converter and the performance of the
practical converter is the issue of analysis.

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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:16 No:05 13
TABLE III This is not valid, because maximum range of Cos is +1 [9-
GAIN ANALYSIS OF THE CONVERTERS
Gain of Practical Converter Gain of Ideal Converter 14]. So, voltage gain or output voltage will not be at desired
Lower, 0 Lower, 0 level rather it will be falling below the desired result.
Upper, Upper,
Maximum 1 Maximum 1 III. NECESSARY SIMULATIONS
Gain Gain
.(1
Rs
) 0.4
RL Ideal Converter
Minimum 0 Minimum 0 0.3 Practical Converter (RL=0.5 Ohm)
Gain Gain

Voltage Gain
Practical Converter (RL=0.2 Ohm)
Practical Converter (RL=0.1 Ohm)
0.2
Relationship between the maximum gains of both cases can
be derived using the results from Table III. 0.1

Maximum voltage gain of practical converter,

0
Avi(max) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Avp(max)= (16) Delay Angle
Rs
1
RL Fig. 5. Voltage gain and delay angle characteristics for the ideal and practical
cases.
Where, Avp(max) is the maximum voltage gain of practical Fig. 5 shows the variation of voltage gain for different
converter and Avi(max) is the maximum voltage gain of ideal values of delay angles (radian). It depicts the gains of practical
converter which is 0.318. From (16), the previous discussions cases and compares among different practical cases which
on the gains of converters become mathematically proved. The include different values of load resistances. The maximum gain
denominator term of (16) will always be greater than one. So for every load can be calculated using (10). In this analysis, the
the gain of practical converter will be smaller than ideal cases. source resistance is taken as 0.2 .
If the source resistance is considered zero (ideal situation) in 0.35

Maximum Voltage Gain of Practical Converter

practical converter then both of the gains become equal.
0.3

An analysis for maximum load (minimum RL) for which 0.25

voltage regulation is possible can be performed using
0.2
maximum limit of Cos(p) = 1 in (10),
0.15
Vo(avg) 1
0.1
Vm Rs
.(1 )
RL min 0.05

.Vo(avg).Rs
RL min (17)
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Vm - .Vo(avg) Loar Resistance (Ohm)

For a specific voltage gain, if the value of RL becomes
smaller than RLmin then the output voltage cannot be regulated
at desired value. To justify the statement above an example can
be provided using (10) and (17).
Suppose, output of a converter which has a source
resistance of 0.2 is desired to be 5 V for an input of 311 Vpeak
(gain for this case is 0.0161). Using (17),
RL min 0.0106
Load Resistance (Ohm)
Fig. 6. Maximum voltage gain of practical converter for different load
resistance.
Fig.6 is the graphical analysis of (16). It shows the
maximum gains of practical converters for different load
resistances. From the Fig. 6 and (16) it can be observed that if
load resistance decreases (load or output current increases),
then the voltage gain of practical converter starts to fall.
0.5
Cosine of Delay Angle of Ideal Case

RL = 0.1 Ohm
If the value of connected load (RL) becomes less than RL = 0.2 Ohm
0.0106 then, the output voltage or the voltage gain cannot be 0
RL = 0.5 Ohm

maintained at desired value. Equation (10) can be used to

justify this condition.
For a specific voltage gain, if the value of RL becomes -0.5
smaller than RLmin then the output voltage cannot be regulated
at desired value. To justify the statement above, an example
-1
can be provided using (10) and (17). Taking load of 0.005 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(less than the calculated value, 0.0106 ), the solution of (10) Cosine of Delay Angle of Practical Case

for source resistance of 0.2 and voltage gain of 0.0161 Fig. 7. Characteristics of cosine of ideal delay angle and practical case.
becomes,
Cos (p) 3.147

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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:16 No:05
Fig. 7 shows the characteristics of cosine of the ideal delay
angle and practical delay angle. This analysis is based on (11).
It shows that, for lower values of RL (higher values of load) the
steepness of characteristic becomes lower. Range of cosine is
in between -1 to +1. From the Fig.7, it is clear that, for lower
values of load resistance (higher values of load or current) the
range of cosine of equivalent ideal angle becomes lower, it
means range of voltage regulation or voltage gain regulation
(which is obviously related with the delay angle according to
(8) and (10)) for this case becomes smaller. In the case of
higher values of load resistance (lower values of load), the
range is higher and voltage regulation is more flexible for
changing loads.
TABLE IV
RANGE ANALYSIS OF PRACTICAL CONVERTER
RL Limits of Cosi (Which Range % Deviation
equivalently represents
practical converter)
0.1 -1 to -0.333 0.667 -66.665%
0.2 -1 to 0 1 -50%
0.5 -1 to 0.429 1.429 -28.55%
Range of Cos of Ideal Converter 2 down converter," in 2015 IEEE International Conference on Electrical,
Table IV shows the range of ideal converter for equivalent
representation of the operating range of practical converter. It
shows the range for which voltage regulation is possible. For
ideal converter the limit of Cos is -1 to +1. So, the range
becomes 1-(- 1) = 2. The range of ideal converter is taken as
standard to calculate percentage deviation of practical
converter for different load resistances. It shows that, for
lower values of load resistance the percentage deviation is
higher. It means the practical converter with low resistance is
more deviated from the operating range of ideal converter.
The formula below is used to calculate the percentage
deviation of the converters [15],
ORI - ORP
%Deviation .100%
ORI
Where, ORI is the operating range of Cos of ideal
converter and ORP is the operating range of Cos of practical
converter in terms of ideal converter.
Fig. 8. Deviation in percentage for varying load resistance.
The result of percentage deviation (in modulus) for
different load resistance is shown in Fig. 8. It depicts that, for
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14
lower load resistance the percentage deviation is higher. For
light load (higher load resistance) the error is reducing. So,
final error analysis based on the derived equations has been
provided.
IV. CONCLUSION
This research proposes a mathematical solution for
determining the minimum load resistance for which voltage
regulation is possible. Research considering the practical fact is
useful to design a controller circuit, which controls the main
converter circuit. Failure to sustain above the determined load
resistance will result unregulated output of the converter.
Hence, this idea can be very important to design dc power
supply for different systems such as, battery charging and dc
drives. Future work can be performed to design a closed loop
controller circuit using this mathematical solution.
REFERENCES
[1] Mohammad, Adnan; Rahaman, Md.Shafieur; Rahman, Syed Khalid;
Ahmed, Omar; Aziz, Ashique Ibni; Muntakim, Tahmid Ul, "Impact of
source resistance on duty ratio and output voltage of a DC to DC step
Computer and Communication Technologies (ICECCT), vol. 1, no.,
pp.1-4, 5-7 March 2015.
[2] M. H. Rashid, Diode Rectifiers, in Power Electronics Circuits,
Devices and Applications, 3rd ed. New Delhi, India: Prentice Hall, 2004,
pp. 68-121.
[3] Dr. P.S. Bimbhra, Dioide Circuits and Rectfiers, in Power Electronics,
5th ed. Daryaganj, New Delhi, India: Khanna Publishers, 2012, pp. 50-
131.
[4] Power Electronics Handbook, 3rd ed. Butterworth-Heinemann,
Burlington, Massachusetts, 2011, pp. 139-168.
[5] G.K. Mithal, Dr. M. Gupta, Rectifiers and Regulated Power Supplies,
in Industrial and Power Electronics, 19th ed. Delhi, India: Khanna
Publishers, 2006, pp. 55-110.
[6] M. H. Hamad, M. I. Masoud, B. W. Williams, Medium-Voltage 12-
Pulse Converter: Output Voltage Harmonic Compensation Using a
Series APF, IEEE Trans. on Industrial Electronics, vol.61, no.1, pp. 43
52, Feb. 2013.
[7] N. Akagi, Large static converters for industry and utlity applications,
Proc. IEEE, vol. 89, no. 6, pp. 976-983, Jun. 2001.
[8] B. K. Bose, Power Electronics and AC Drives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ,
USA: Prentic-Hall, 1986.
[9] M. H. Rashid, Controlled Rectifiers, in Power Electronics Circuits,
Devices and Applications, 3rd ed. New Delhi, India: Prentice Hall, 2004,
pp. 431-499.
[10] S. Sivanagaraju, M. B. Reddy, A.M. Prasad, Phase-Controlled
Converters, in Power Electronics, 1st ed. New Delhi, India : PHI
Learning Private Limited, 2010, pp. 123-168.
[11] Dr. B.R. Gupta, V. Singhal. Controlled Rectifiers, in Power
Electronics, 6th ed. Delhi, India: S.K. Kataria & Sons, 2010, pp. 125-
198.
[12] Dr. P.S. Bimbhra, Phase Controlled Rectfiers, in Power Electronics,
5th ed. Daryaganj, New Delhi, India: Khanna Publishers, 2012, pp. 272-
379.
[13] Power Electronics Handbook, 3rd ed. Butterworth-Heinemann,
Burlington, Massachusetts, 2011, pp. 169-182.
[14] G.K. Mithal, Dr. M. Gupta, Thyristor Converters, in Industrial and
Power Electronics, 19th ed. Delhi, India: Khanna Publishers, 2006, pp.
215-231.
A. K. Sawhney Characteristics of Instrument and Measurement
Systems, in A Course in Electrical and Electronic Measurements and
Intrumentation , 18th ed. Delhi, India: Dhanpat Rai & Co., 2010, pp. 24-
59.
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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:16 No:05 15

Adnan Mohammad is working as a lecturer in the

department of electrical and electronic engineering in
American international university - Bangladesh (AIUB)
since January, 2013. Before that, he started his teaching
career from Eastern University, Bangladesh. Currently,
He is continuing his M.Sc. in Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology (BUET). He has done
several research works on power electronics and drive
system. Many undergraduate thesis works are supervised
by him.

S. A. M. Shah Ul Amin has graduated from American

International University Bangladesh (AIUB). Currently,
besides his job, he has involved himself in the research. His
research interests include power electronics and
telecommunications.

Abdullah Mahmud is currently completing the Bachelor

of Science Degree in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering at American International University-
Bangladesh. A strong advocate of hands on, theoretical
and practical based learning, he involves his studies in
doing numbers of project and thesis based works on
robotics, mathematical modeling, programming and
power engineering. His academic interests focus on
power electronics and robotics related projects and his current projects include
control of voltage source inverter using PWM and microcontroller based
humanoid walking robot.
Rakib Ahmed has received B.Sc. in Electrical and
Electronic Engineering degree from American
International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) in 2016. His
area of research interests are power electronics, power
system & generation and renewable energy.

Md. Rokib Hasan has completed B. Sc. in Electrical and

Electronics Engineering from American International
University Bangladesh (AIUB). He is interested in nano-
electronics, power electronics and embedded system.

Al-Imran has earned B. Sc. in Electrical and Electronics

Engineering from American International University-
Bangladesh. He finds his research interests in
communication and electronics.

Md. Ferdous Abedin has graduated from American

Inernational University Bangladesh (AIUB). He is
interested to do practical research related with the power
electronic converter design. He also finds interest in
communication engineering.

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