10/25/2019 Single Phase Separately Excited DC Motor Drives | Half Wave Drive

Single Phase Separately Excited DC Motor Drives

CONTROL OF ELECTRIC MOTORS, ELECTRIC DRIVES

Single Phase Separately Excited DC Motor Drives:

The circuit arrangement of a Single Phase Separately Excited DC Motor Drives Drives fed
from a single phase controlled converter is shown in Fig. 4.56. The block 1 can be any one
of the single phase converters.

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Half wave drives: The Single Phase Separately Excited DC Motor Drives is supplied from a
single phase half wave circuit (Fig. 4.56(a)). Low cost and simplicity are the advantages of
this drive. This can provide only one quadrant operation. Regeneration is not possible. The
conduction angle of the thyristor is very small, resulting in a very low average current. The
torque developed is very small resulting in a loss of torque at the rated rms current. The rms
to average current ratio is also more. The motor current is always discontinuous. The ripple
frequency is equal to supply frequency. The current and voltage wave forms are shown in
Fig. 4.57.

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The freewheeling diode across the load improves the performance. The speed regulation is
very poor. At low speeds the motor receives power in pulses and the motor may chug when
the load is high. The speed oscillation is quite high. The supply transformer has
premagnetisation due to dc component of the load current. The application of this drive is
limited to low powers.

Full wave drives: The Single Phase Separately Excited DC Motor Drives is supplied by a
full wave converter. A full wave drive using a fully controlled converter is shown in Fig.
4.56(b). The wave forms of voltage and current in the load are shown in Fig. 4.58. Having
thyristors in all positions, the firing of the thyristors allows negative average voltages, making
the power flow from load to the supply. The motor can be braked effectively using
regenerative braking. This can be made possible at constant current. As the load current
flows both during positive and negative half cycles, the average value of the current is more
than that in the half wave drive. The torque capability increases for a given armature
heating. The ratios of peak to average and rms to average are better here. The speed
oscillation is less. The speed regulation improves because of increased conduction of
current in the load. The number of pulses are two and pulse frequency in the load is 2f. The
ripple amplitude is smaller in this case. The speed oscillations are decreased. The
discontinuous conduction is present and the wave forms for this case are shown in Fig. 4.59.
This affects the speed regulation. An additional inductance in the’ armature improves the
performance. It reduces the ripple content, reduces the possibility of discontinuous
conduction, im¬proves speed regulation, etc. This inductance also affects the performance
of the drive on the line side. The harmonic content of the line current is more at lower values
of inductance because of possible discontinuous load current. As the inductance increases
the harmonic factor decreases. The peak value of current decreases with additional
inductance. This improves the commutating capability.
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The motor may be designed with a high value of armature inductance. Otherwise extra
inductance occupies space. Inductance has no effect on the fundamental displacement
factor. There can be slight improvement in the power factor as the harmonic factor is
affected by this inductance. The serious drawback with a fully controlled converter is poor
power factor.
A full wave drive fed from a semi converter is depicted in Fig. 4.56(c).

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The wave forms of voltage and current are shown in Fig. 4.60. A reference to Fig. 4.60
shows that the supply current is in pulses and flows for (π-α) This is due to the natural
freewheeling provided by the diodes to maintain the load current. The supply does not
provide current during freewheeling. This has the distinct advantage, compared to a fully
controlled drive, that the fundamental displacement factor of the line current is better.
However, as the speed decreases, i.e., as the firing angle is delayed, the fundamental
displacement factor decreases. A semi converter drive shows an increased harmonic
content at low speeds. This is again due to the dependence of the width of the current pulse
on firing angle. The peak value is less due to freewheeling. This improves the commutating
capability of the motor, particularly at low speeds and light loads. The rms current is also
less in a semi converter, which reduces motor heating compared to a fully controlled one.
The heating of the motor is 44% less. Discontinuous conduction is present at light loads and
low speeds and this causes a speed regulation poorer than the full converter. The
freewheeling does not allow negative excursions of the load voltage and therefore negative
average voltage is not possible. Hence, a semi converter is used with one quadrant drive
where no regeneration is required. The advantages of improved power factor, better

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commutating capability and low cost due to diodes makes a semi converter drive applicable
to all cases where regeneration is not required.

The saving of reactive power and hence improvement in the fundamental displacement
factor can be achieved by a full converter with a freewheeling diode. The schematic diagram
of the converter feeding a Single Phase Separately Excited DC Motor Drives is shown in Fig.
4.56(c). The diode provides an alternative path for the load current and provides the same
effects as in a semi converter. The freewheeling diode is effective in the complete speed
range. The diode does not allow negative voltages of the load and hence there is no
regeneration.

It is possible to have the regeneration mode besides the advantages mentioned above

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during rectification by having thyristors with optional freewheeling. Two thyristors (T2, T4 for
symmetrical connection; T3, T4 for unsymmetrical connection) of a fully controlled converter
are fired at α = 0 so that they act as diodes to provide freewheeling during rectification (Fig.
4.61). During inversion they are operated as normal ihyristors. The freewheeling diode is
also replaced by a thyristor which is fired at a = 0 when freewheeling is required and is
blocked when it is not required. This optional freewheeling provides all the advantages of
one quadrant converters as well as making inversion possible. However it may be noted that
these advantages are not present during inversion.

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