Outline of the presentation

AC VOLTAGE CONTROLLER
Presented by
Prof. M. A. Mulla

Department of Electrical Engineering

Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of
Technology, Surat, Gujarat INDIA.

Type of AC Voltage Controllers

Introduction
AC voltage controllers is type of thyristor power converter
which is used to convert a fixed voltage AC input supply
to obtain a variable voltage AC output without changing
frequency.
There are two different types of control used in practice
to control the AC power flow: (i) On-Off control; and (ii)
Phase control.
AC
Input
Voltage
fs

Vs
fs

AC
Voltage
Controller

V0(RMS)

Variable AC
RMSO/P Voltage
fS

The ac voltage controllers are classified into two types

based on the type of input ac supply applied to the
circuit.
Single Phase AC Controllers.
Three Phase AC Controllers.

Each type of controller may be sub divided into

Uni-directional or half wave ac controller.
Bi-directional or full wave ac controller.

In brief different types of ac voltage controllers are

Single phase half wave ac voltage controller (uni-directional).

Single phase full wave ac voltage controller (bi-directional).
Three phase half wave ac voltage controller (uni-directional).
Three phase full wave ac voltage controller (bi-directional).

Applications

On-Off / Integral Cycle Control

Lighting / Illumination control in ac power

circuits.
Induction heating.
Industrial heating & Domestic heating.
Transformer tap changing (on load transformer
tap changing).
Speed control of induction motors (single phase
and poly phase ac induction motor control).
AC magnet controls.
Welding power control.

Vs

m
wt

Vo
io

ig1

wt

Gate pulse of T1
wt

Gate pulse of T2

ig2

wt

Performance parameters

RMS Output (Load) Voltage:

2

n
2
2
VO RMS
Vm sin t.d t
2 n m 0

Duty Cycle

VO RMS Vi RMS k VS k

t
tON
nT
k ON

TO tON tOFF m n T

RMS Load Current I O RMS

Output AC (Load) Power
Input Power Factor

PF
PF

VO RMS
Z

IT Avg

n
I m sin t .d t
2 m n 0

n
2
2
IT RMS
0 I m sin t.d t
2

IT Avg

Imn

m n

IT RMS

Im
2

k .I m

VO RMS
RL

PO IO2 RMS RL

PO
P
output load power

O
VA input supply volt amperes VS I S
I O2 RMS RL

Vi RMS I in RMS

VO RMS
Vi RMS

Vi RMS k
Vi RMS

 The PF and output voltage vary with the square root of

the duty cycle. The PF is poor at the low value of the duty
cycle k.
If T is the period of the input voltage, (m + n)T is the
period of on-off control.(m + n)T should be less than the
mechanical or thermal time constant of the load, and is
usually less than 1s, but not in hours or days. The sum
of m and n is generally around 100.
If the power factor equation is used to determine the PF
with m and n in days, it can give erroneous results. For
example, if m=3 days and n = 3 days, the equation gives
PF = 0.707 which is not physically possible. Because the
controller is on for 3 days and off for 3 days, the PF
becomes independent on the load impedance angle .

1
2
2
Vm sin t.d t
2

VO RMS VS

Average value of DC output voltage

VO dc

1
2

VO(RMS)

70.7% VS

100% VS
60% VS
20% VS
0

60

120

180

Trigger angle in degrees

Single phase bidirectional controllers

RMS Output voltage

VO RMS

Principle of phase Control - unidirectional

sin t.d t

Vdc

1
sin 2
2
2
2

2VS
cos 1
2

Disadvantages:
The output load voltage has a DC component because the two halves
of the output voltage waveform are not symmetrical.
The input supply current result in the problem of core saturation of
the input supply transformer.
Half wave ac voltage controller gives limited range of RMS output
voltage control. Because the RMS value of ac output voltage can be
varied from a maximum of 100% of at a trigger angle to a low of
70.7% of at = radians.

Single phase bidirectional controllers with RL load

VO(RMS)

VS

0.6VS
0.2 VS
0

60

120

180

Trigger angle in degrees

For < , the changes in

the firing angle will not
change
the
output
voltage and current but
both
the
SCRs
will
conduct for the period .

vO

vO=vS

Vm
0
iO

Im

Harmonic content as a function of the firing angle

Gating signal requirement

Gate
Trigger
Pulse
Generator

G1
K1
G2
K2

D1

D4

AC
Supply

D3
T1

D2

RL

Three-phase AC Voltage Controller

Three Phase Supply System 4 Wire, 3 Wire

3 , 4-wire ACVC with star connected load

Three Phase Load Star, Delta connected

Position of semiconductor switches In line, In
Phase
Minimisation of semiconductor switches

3 , 3-wire ACVC with star connected load

3 , 3-wire ACVC with delta load

3 , 3-wire ACVC with inside delta load

3 , 3-wire ACVC with less switches

Three-phase AC Voltage Controller

3 , 4-wire ACVC with star connected load

3 , 3-wire ACVC with inside delta connected load

3 , 3-wire ACVC with star connected load

PWM AC CHOPPERS

Cycloconverter

A device which converts input AC power at one

frequency to output AC power at a different
frequency with one-stage conversion is called a
cycloconverter.
Cycloconverters are of two types:
(i) step-down output frequency lower than input
(ii) step-up output frequency higher than input
us = ua

Step-up

Step-down

Mid-point Configuration

Bridge Configuration

Cycloconverter

Thank you
for your kind
Attention
Questions ?
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