Cycloconverters: Fig.1 Block Diagram of A Cycloconverter
Cycloconverters: Fig.1 Block Diagram of A Cycloconverter
Cycloconverters: Fig.1 Block Diagram of A Cycloconverter
In industrial applications, two forms of electrical energy are used: direct current (dc) and
alternating current (ac). Usually constant voltage constant frequency single-phase or three-phase
ac is readily available. However, for different applications, different forms, magnitudes and/or
frequencies are required. There are four different conversions between dc and ac power sources.
These conversions are done by circuits called power converters. The converters are classified as:
1-rectifiers: from single-phase or three-phase ac to variable voltage dc
2-choppers: from dc to variable voltage dc
3-inverters: from dc to variable magnitude and variable frequency, single-phase or three-
phase ac
4-cycloconverters: from single-phase or three-phase ac to variable magnitude and
variable frequency, single-phase or three-phase ac
The first three classes are explained in other articles. This article explains what cycloconverters
are, their types, how they operate and their applications.
Traditionally, ac-ac conversion using semiconductor switches is done in two different ways: 1- in
two stages (ac-dc and then dc-ac) as in dc link converters or 2- in one stage (ac-ac)
cycloconverters (Fig. 1). Cycloconverters are used in high power applications driving induction
and synchronous motors. They are usually phase-controlled and they traditionally use thyristors
due to their ease of phase commutation.
1.Operation Principles:
The following sections will describe the operation principles of the cycloconverter starting from
the simplest one, single-phase to single-phase (1φ-1φ) cycloconverter.
φ -1φ
1.1. Single-phase to Single-phase (1φ φ ) Cycloconverter:
To understand the operation principles of cycloconverters, the single-phase to single-phase
cycloconverter (Fig. 2) should be studied first. This converter consists of back-to-back
connection of two full-wave rectifier circuits. Fig 3 shows the operating waveforms for this
converter with a resistive load.
The input voltage, vs is an ac voltage at a frequency, fi as shown in Fig. 3a. For easy
understanding assume that all the thyristors are fired at α=0° firing angle, i.e. thyristors act like
diodes. Note that the firing angles are named as αP for the positive converter and αN for the
negative converter.
Consider the operation of the cycloconverter to get one-fourth of the input frequency at the
output. For the first two cycles of vs, the positive converter operates supplying current to the
load. It rectifies the input voltage; therefore, the load sees 4 positive half cycles as seen in Fig.
3b. In the next two cycles, the negative converter operates supplying current to the load in the
reverse direction. The current waveforms are not shown in the figures because the resistive load
current will have the same waveform as the voltage but only scaled by the resistance. Note that
when one of the converters operates the other one is disabled, so that there is no current
circulating between the two rectifiers.
a a
b b
The frequency of vo can be changed by varying the number of cycles the positive and the
negative converters work. It can only change as integer multiples of fi in 1φ-1φ cycloconverters.
With the above operation, the 1φ-1φ cycloconverter can only supply a certain voltage at a certain
firing angle α. The dc output of each rectifier is:
2 2
Vd = V cos α (1)
π
where V is the input rms voltage.
The dc value per half cycle is shown as dotted in Fig. 3d.
Then the peak of the fundamental output voltage is
42 2
vo1 (t ) = V cos α (2)
π π
Equation 2 implies that the fundamental output voltage depends on α. For α=0°,
42 2
V01 = Vdo × 1 = Vdo where Vdo = V . If α is increased to π/3 as in Fig. 3d, then Vo1 = Vdo × 0.5 .
π π
Thus varying α, the fundamental output voltage can be controlled.
Constant α operation gives a crude output waveform with rich harmonic content. The dotted
lines in Fig. 3b and c show a square wave. If the square wave can be modified to look more like
a sine wave, the harmonics would be reduced. For this reason α is modulated as shown in Fig.
3d. Now, the six-stepped dotted line is more like a sinewave with fewer harmonics. The more
pulses there are with different α's, the less are the harmonics.
φ -1φ
1.2. Three-Phase to Single-Phase (3φ φ ) Cycloconverter:
There are two kinds of three-phase to single-phase (3φ-1φ) cycloconverters: 3φ-1φ half-wave
cycloconverter (Fig. 4) and 3φ-1φ bridge cycloconverter (Fig. 5). Like the 1φ-1φ case, the 3φ-1φ
cycloconverter applies rectified voltage to the load. Both positive and negative converters can
generate voltages at either polarity, but the positive converter can only supply positive current
and the negative converter can only supply negative current. Thus, the cycloconverter can
operate in four quadrants: (+v, +i) and (-v, -i) rectification modes and (+v, -i) and (-v, +i)
inversion modes. The modulation of the output voltage and the fundamental output voltage are
shown in Fig. 6. Note that α is sinusoidally modulated over the cycle to generate a harmonically
optimum output voltage.
The positive converter can supply this voltage if αP satisfies the following condition.
The firing angles at any instant can be found from (6) and (7).
The operation of the 3φ-1φ bridge cycloconverter is similar to the above 3φ-1φ half-wave
cycloconverter. Note that the pulse number for this case is 6.
φ -3φ
1.3 Three-Phase to Three-Phase (3φ φ ) Cycloconverter:
If the outputs of 3 3φ-1φ converters of the same kind are connected in wye or delta and if the
output voltages are 2π/3 radians phase shifted from each other, the resulting converter is a three-
phase to three-phase (3φ-3φ) cycloconverter. The resulting cycloconverters are shown in Figs. 7
and 8 with wye connections. If the three converters connected are half-wave converters, then the
new converter is called a 3φ-3φ half-wave cycloconverter. If instead, bridge converters are used,
then the result is a 3φ-3φ bridge cycloconverter. 3φ-3φ half-wave cycloconverter is also called a
3-pulse cycloconverter or an 18-thyristor cycloconverter. On the other hand, the 3φ-3φ bridge
cycloconverter is also called a 6-pulse cycloconverter or a 36-thyristor cycloconverter. The
operation of each phase is explained in the previous section.
However, if by any chance both of the converters are enabled, then the supply is short-circuited.
To avoid this short circuit, an intergroup reactor (IGR) can be connected between the converters
as shown in Fig. 9. Instead of blocking the converters during current reversal, if they are both
enabled, then a circulating current is produced. This current is called the circulating current. It is
unidirectional because the thyristors allow the current to flow in only one direction. Some
cycloconverters allow this circulating current at all times. These are called circulating current
cycloconverters.
The blocking mode operation has some advantages and disadvantages over the circulating mode
operation. During the delay time, the current stays at zero distorting the voltage and current
waveforms. This distortion means complex harmonics patterns compared to the circulating mode
cycloconverters. In addition to this, the current reversal problem brings more control complexity.
However, no bulky IGRs are used, so the size and cost is less than that of the circulating current
case. Another advantage is that only one converter is in conduction at all times rather than two.
This means less losses and higher efficiency.
The blocked mode cycloconverter converter and the circulating current cycloconverter can be
combined to give a hybrid system, which has the advantages of both. The resulting
cycloconverter looks like a circulating mode cycloconverter circuit, but depending on the
polarity of the output current only one converter is enabled and the other one is disabled as with
the blocking mode cycloconverters. When the load current decreases below a threshold, both of
the converters are enabled. Thus, the current has a smooth reversal. When the current increases
above a threshold in the other direction, the outgoing converter is disabled. This hybrid
cycloconverter operates in the blocking mode most of the time so a smaller IGR can be used. The
efficiency is slightly higher than that of the circulating current cycloconverter but much less than
the blocking mode cycloconverter. Moreover, the distortion caused by the blocking mode
operation disappears due to the circulating current operation around zero current. Moreover, the
control of the converter is still less complex than that of the blocking mode cycloconverter.
There are several factors effecting the harmonic content of the waveforms. Blocking mode
operation produces more complex harmonics than circulating mode of operation due to the zero
current distortion. In addition to this, the pulse number effects the harmonic content. A greater
number of pulses has less harmonic content. Therefore, a 6-pulse (bridge) cycloconverter
produces less harmonics than a 3-pulse (half-wave) cycloconverter. Moreover, if the output
frequency gets closer to the input frequency, the harmonics increase. Finally, low power factor
and discontinuous conduction, both contribute to harmonics.
For a typical p-pulse converter, the order of the input harmonics is "pn+1" and that of the output
harmonics is "pn", where p is the pulse number and n is an integer. Thus for a 3-pulse converter
the input harmonics are at frequencies 2fi, 4fi for n=1, 5fi, 7fi for n=2, and so on. The output
harmonics, on the other hand, are at frequencies 3fi, 6fi, …
The firing angle, α, in cycloconverter operation is sinusoidally modulated. The modulation
frequency is the same as the output frequency and sideband harmonics are induced at the output.
Therefore, the output waveform is expected to have harmonics at frequencies related to both the
input and output frequencies.
For blocking mode operation, the output harmonics are found at "pnfi+Nfo", where N is an
integer and pn+N=odd condition is satisfied. Then the output harmonics for a 3-pulse
cycloconverter in blocking mode will be found at frequencies
n=1 3fi, 3fi+2fo, 3fi+4fo, 3fi+6fo, 3fi+8fo, 3fi+10fo …
n=2 6fi, 6fi+1fo, 6fi+3fo, 6fi+5fo, 6fi+7fo, 6fi+9fo …
n=3 9fi, 9fi+2fo, 9fi+4fo, 9fi+6fo, 9fi+8fo, 9fi+10fo, …
n=4, 5,…
Some of the above harmonics might coincide to frequencies below fi. These are called
subharmonics. They are highly unwanted harmonics because the machine inductance cannot
filter these.
For the circulating mode operation, the harmonics are at the same frequencies as the blocking
mode, but N is limited to (n+1). Thus, the output harmonics for a 3-pulse cycloconverter in
circulating mode will be found at frequencies
n=1 3fi, 3fi+2fo, 3fi+4fo
n=2 6fi+1fo, 6fi+3fo, 6fi+5fo, 6fi+7fo
n=3 9fi, 9fi+2fo, 9fi+4fo, 9fi+6fo, 9fi+8fo, 9fi+10fo
n=4, 5,…
With N limited in the circulating mode, there are fewer subharmonics expected. According to
calculations done in [1], subharmonics in this mode exist for fo/fi>0.6. For the blocking mode, [1]
states that the subharmonics exist for fo/fi>0.2.
The output voltage of a cycloconverter has many complex harmonics, but the output current is
smoother due to heavy machine filtering. The input voltages of a cycloconverter are sinusoidal
voltages. As stated before the instantaneous output and input powers of a cycloconverter are
balanced because it does not have any storage devices. To maintain this balance on the input side
with sinusoidal voltages, the input current is expected to have complex harmonic patterns. Thus
as expected, the input current harmonics are at frequencies "(pn+1)fi+Mfo" where M is an integer
and (pn+1)+M=odd condition is satisfied. Thus, a 3-pulse cycloconverter has input current
harmonics at the following frequencies:
n=0 fi, fi+6fo, fi+12fo, …
n=1 2fi+3fo, 2fi+9fo, 2fi+15fo …
4fi+3fo, 4fi+9fo, 4fi+15fo,…
n=2, 3,…
Bidirectional
AC Switch
vA
SAa SAb SAc ia
a
vB
SBa SBb SBc
b
vC
SCa SCb SCc
φ -3φ
4.2 Single-Phase to Three-Phase (1φ φ ) Cycloconverters:
Recently, with the decrease in the size and the price of power electronics switches, single-phase
to three-phase cycloconverters (1φ-3φ) started drawing more research interest. Usually, an H-
bridge inverter produces a high frequency single-phase voltage waveform, which is fed to the
cycloconverter either through a high frequency transformer or not. If a transformer is used, it
isolates the inverter from the cycloconverter. In addition to this, additional taps from the
transformer can be used to power other converters producing a high frequency ac link. The
single-phase high frequency ac (hfac) voltage can be either sinusoidal or trapezoidal. There
might be zero voltage intervals for control purposes or zero voltage commutation. Fig. 13 shows
the circuit diagram of a typical hfac link converter. These converters are not commercially
available yet. They are in the research state.
Therefore, the three-phase output voltage consists of positive and negative half-cycle pulses of
the input voltage. Note that this converter can only work at output frequencies which are
multiples of the input frequency.
Bidirectional
AC Switch
+
1:n
=
+ + S1 S3 S5
ia
a
Vd V1 V2 b
c
- - S2 S4 S6
1
5. Summary:
Cycloconverters are widely used in industry for ac-to-ac conversion. With recent device
advances, newer forms of cycloconversion are being developed. These newer forms are drawing
more research interest.
In this article, the most commonly known cycloconverter schemes are introduced, and their
operation principles are discussed. For more detailed information, the following references can
be used.
References:
1- B. R. Pelly, Thyristor Phase-Controlled Converters and Cycloconverters, Wiley, New York,
1971
2- C. Lander, Power Electronics, Second Edition, McGraw Hill, England, 1987
3- B. K. Bose, Power Electronics and Ac Drives, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1986
4- H. Li, B.Ozpineci and B.K.Bose, “A Soft-Switched High Frequency Non-Resonant Link
Integral Pulse Modulated DC-DC Converter for AC Motor Drive”, Conference Proceedings
of IEEE-IECON, Aachen/Germany, 1998, vol. 2, pp 726-732
5- B. Ozpineci, B.K. Bose, “A Soft-Switched Performance Enhanced High Frequency Non-
Resonant Link Phase-Controlled Converter for AC Motor Drive”, Conference Proceedings of
IEEE-IECON, Aachen/Germany, 1998, vol. 2, pp 733-739