RECTIFIER Rectification is the conversion from AC to DC. Half wave rectification with a diode into a resisive load.

Vo is the average voltage, not the RMS voltage. We can say that

(1)

CONTROLLED RECTIFICATION Half wave rectification using a thyristor into a resistive load. Now we can see that Vo clearly depends upon , the firing angle and that,

(2) Note that if = 0 then (2) becomes (1)

This is an ideal case, in reality loads are complex, i.e. they contain reactive components, such as inductance and capacitance as well as resistive ones. This means for the thyristor circuit, conduction starts at t = . In the case of an inductive load, the current will lag behind the voltage and will not become zero until after t = so conduction carries on until a further time t = say. During the conduction over the period , vo = v.

The inductor prevents the current rising sharply from zero when the voltage is applied hence the phase lag.

(3)

Full Wave Rectification A thyristor controlled rectifier, employs four thyristors to achieve full wave rectification. With a resistive load.

Note that S1 and S2 are forward biased during the +ve half cycle, S3 and S4 are forward biased during the ve half cycle. So S1 and S2 are fired at t = , 2 + etc. and S3 and S4 at + , 3 + etc. Note that the ripple frequency of the full wave rectified signal is twice that of the mains frequency.

(4) Full wave rectification with an inductive load If we replace the resistor with a DC machine, this has both L and R and generates a back emf.

Assuming that there is sufficient inductance to ensure the motor current is continuous, with the lag associated the waveforms are as above. We can see that Io and Vo are both positive, therefore power is being delivered from the supply to the motor. This is normal rectification mode. If the firing angle is delayed to say 135O then the waveforms change.

We now see that Vo is ve and Io +ve. This means that the power flow is into the supply. This is called INVERSION MODE. In both cases we can see that as S3 and S4 turn on, the reverse voltage appears across S1 and S2 this is called LINE COMMUTATION. In both cases the average value of the output voltage is:

(5) The variation of the converter output, Vo, as defined by (5) is,

The semi-converter

In the semi-converter, two of the thyristors are replaced with diodes. The operation is the same as the full bridge converter except that the diodes do not allow any negative voltage to the load, and the thyristors only pass current between and .

The average output voltage is now given by,

(6) Note that beyond , vo tends to reverse and diode D becomes forward biased and starts to conduct. The motor current io which was flowing from the supply through S1 transfers to the diode i.e. it commutates S1 and the current freewheels through it. The output terminals are short circuited during this time therefore vo = 0. At t = + , S3 is fired and takes over the current from the diode again. The diode is thus called the freewheeling diode. Note also that vo can never be negative, the semi-converter can only act as a rectifier. Example: A single phase full converter is used to control a 110V, 1200 rpm dc machine for which Ra = 0.4 and La = 5mH. The converter is connected to a 120V 60Hz supply. The motor contstant K = 0.09V/rev. The machine operates as a motor at 1000rpm and carries an armature current of 30A, determine the firing angle, . = 19.2 O Determine the power factor of the supply. PF = 0.85

If the polarity of the motor back emf is reversed, determine the firing angle required to keep the motor current at 30A and the speed 1000rpm. is 136.2O. Three Phase Circuits. Higher power applications, above several kW, are best met using 3 phase rectifiers. Various configurations of rectifier are available. The Half Wave Rectifier In the case of an uncontrolled diode circuit we have,

At any time the diode whose voltage is the most +ve will conduct.

We can see that each diode conducts for a span of 120O; also when D1 conducts, the voltage across D2 is vBA, and across D3 is vCA. During this time, D2 and D3 are reverse biased. Using D1 we can also say.

(7) The thyristor controlled versions.

Now the three phases are fired at t1 = 30 + , t2 = 150 + and t3 = 270 + . Since in this case the load is resistive S1 turns of at , S2 at +2 /3 and S3 at +4 /3. The pattern is not much complicated by the introduction of an inductive load, L. This can be illustrated by example. Example: If the load applied to a half wave 3-phase controller bridge consists of a resistance R and a large inductance L (sufficient for the output current Io to be continuous and ripple free) for the case when the firing angle = 60O a. Draw waveforms of vo and io b. Determine the average voltage Vo if V=120V. (70.2V)

The Thyristor Full Wave Converter This is by far the most common controller rectifier circuit. It has the following configuration.

Both diagrams represent the same format. This is the 3 phase equivalent of the full bridge rectifier, S1,2,3 are fired during the +ve half cycles of the phases to which they are connected and S4,5,6 are fired during the ve half cycles of the respective phases. Again let us assume that the load has significant inductance to maintain constant current such as the DC machine examined earlier. The output current will be continuous and operation will be as follows. Let = 60O say Now, at t = /6 + , S1 turns on; before this instant S6 was energised. Therefore from t = /6 + /6 + + /3, S1 and S6 conduct Io and the load terminals are connected to phase A and B i.e. vo = vAB = vAN vBN (the output voltage is thus the difference between vAN and vBN. At t = /6 + + /3, S2 is fired and right away vCB appears across S6 to reverse bias it and turn it off (through commutation). The current from S6 transfers to S2 and the output becomes vac. This is repeated every 60O as the thyristors are fired in the order shown. It should be noted that each device conducts for 120O per cycle but the average output voltage can be expressed as:

(8) This gives us waveforms as follows.

Similarly to the single phase converters, firing angles of 0 < < 90 give +ve vo, but firing angles of 90 < < 180 cause vo to go ve and the converter works in inversion mode, this gives us Vo vs for continuous current,

Note that the full wave bridge can be used as a high voltage dc (HVDC) link for power transfer.

DC is a much more efficient form of power transfer over long distances. It can be used to join systems of two differing frequencies. Power flow between the systems can be controlled by varying . The link is also fully bi-directional. One such system exists between England and France. Note that a stiff supply is needed at each end for effective operations, this is because the bridges are line commutated.

Note, in all of the proceeding we have assumed infinitely quick ton and toff times. In practice however this is not the case. The systems are thus more complex and sometimes, more than one device is on at the same time, this is termed overlap, a full discussion of this will be left until next year.