ELEC 4614 Power Electronics

School of Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications

University of New South Wales
ELEC4614 - Power Electronics
Tutorial 1 - Basic Concepts in Power Electronics
1. The switching times for a Mosfet device which switches on/off a purely resistive load (see
Figure 1) are as follows:

tri = 100 nsec; tfv = 50 nsec; trv = 100 nsec; and tfi = 200 nsec.

These switching times are as indicated in Figure 1(b). The input DC supply is at 300V and
the load is 1.5Ω. The duty cycle of the switch is 50%. The Rds of the Mosfet is 20 mΩ.

IL

R = 1 .5 Ω
300V

Figure 1(a)

Figure 1(b)

The following may be assumed:

switch voltage and current transients occur along straight lines,

the larger of the transition times at each switching apply for the resistive load,
the delay times Tdon and Tdoff can be neglected.

By neglecting the switch on-state drop,

(a) find the switching loss in Joules of the MOSFET per cycle of switching, [3mJ]

(b) find the switching power loss of the switch in Watts if it is operated at 100kHz. [300W]

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ELEC 4614 Power Electronics

Without neglecting the switch on-state voltage drop,

(c) Find the on-state power loss of the switch in Watts. [400W]

(d) Find the total power loss of the switch in Watts. [700W]

2. Assume that the Mosfet of Question 1 switches an inductive load as indicated in Figure 2.
The switch is initially turned on for a considerable time, so that the load current may be
given by Vd/R.

IL

L = 10m H

300V R = 1.5Ω

Figure 2

(a) Using the same assumptions as in Problem 1, calculate and plot the switching
transients of voltage and current of the switch as functions of time at turn-off.

(b) Comment on the practicality of this circuit, considering that there is always some
inductance associated with the wiring to load.

3. The Mosfet switches in figure 3 are operated at a high frequency with a certain duty cycle
to regulate the current in a highly inductive load. You may assume that in the four circuits
A-D, the load current is maintained constant at 20A. Circuit A uses a resistor in the free-
wheeling path while circuits B - D have diode clamping in the free-wheeling path. The free-
wheeling paths primarily prevent disastrously high over-voltage (higher than the switch
voltage rating) from occurring across the switch when it is turned off. For circuit D, both
MOSFETs are turned on and off together by the same gate drive signal. Assume that all
diodes are ideal devices. You may assume that the turn-on and -off transients of voltage and
current of the MOSFET(s) occur along straight lines and that the load current remains
constant during the switching transient.

The following switching times are appropriate for the Mosfet chosen:

tri = 100 ns; tfv = 50 ns; trv = 100 ns; and tfi = 200 ns

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ELEC 4614 Power Electronics

(a) Sketch the waveforms of the drain-source voltage (vds) and the drain current (id) of the
MOSFET switch for all four circuits A-D at turn-on and -off. Indicate the maximum
voltage vds that will appear across the switch(es) at turn-off
(b) Find the energy loss of each MOSFET switch when it is turned off.
(c) Find the energy loss of each MOSFET switch when it is turned on.
(d) Find the switching power loss in Watts when the switching frequency of the
MOSFET is 50 kHz.
(e) Arrange the four circuits in the order of the switching power losses found in (d).

Highly
Rf = 50Ω Inductive Highly
Load D Inductive
Load
Vd = 24V Vd = 24V

vds

id

Circuit A. Resistive freewheeling Circuit B. Diode clamped (freewheeling)

Highly H ighly
Vz = 50V Inductive Inductive
Load 24V Load

24V

Circuit C. Diode-Zener diode freewheeling Circuit D. Diode freewheeling with

regenerative energy return.

Figure 3. Drive circuits for a highly inductive load.

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ELEC 4614 Power Electronics

4. Consider the diode-clamped circuit of Figure 4.

Highly
D Inductive
Load
Vd = 24V

vds

id

Figure 4

The free-wheeling diode D has the following has the following reverse recovery characteristic
data:

Snappiness factor, S = 5.5

Reverse recovery charge, Qrr = 2500 nC

The maximum load current is 30A. The switch current fall time tfi is 150 nsec.

Find the required peak current rating of the Mosfet, taking into account the reverse recovery
current of the diode.

[42.4A]

5. Find the DC and the RMS values of the fundamental and the first few harmonics of the
waveforms (a)-(i), in Figure 5. The waveforms in Figures 5(d), (f) and (g) consist of parts
of sine waves.

Id
i(t )

– Id
π π

(a) Input current waveform of a single-phase bridge rectifier with infinite load inductance.

4I d
Ans : I dc = 0, I n = for n = 1, 3, 5, …..
nπ 2

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ELEC 4614 Power Electronics

Id

− Id
2 π /3 π /3 2 π /3

(b) Input current waveform of a 3-phase bridge rectifier with negligible source inductance.
4I d ⎛ nπ ⎞
Ans : I dc = 0, I n = sin ⎜ ⎟ for n = 1, 3, 5, ….
nπ 2 ⎝ 3 ⎠

Imax
π/2 π/2
π/2 π/2
– Imax

(c) Magnetic flux in the inductor of a rectifier or a DC-DC converter.

8I
Ans : I dc = 0, I n = 2 max for n = 1, 3, 5, …
n π2 2

Vmax

π π π

(d) Output voltage waveform of a full-wave rectifier

2Vmax 4Vmax
Ans : Vdc = , Vn = for n = 2, 4, 6, …
π (n 2
)
−1 π 2

V dc

0 D T T t

(e) Output voltage waveform of a DC-DC converter.

2 × Vd
Ans : Vdc = DVd , Vn = sin (π nD ) for n = 1, 2, 3, ….
nπ

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ELEC 4614 Power Electronics

V max

2 π /3 2 π /3

(f) Output voltage waveform of a 3-phase (3-pulse) C-T AC-DC rectifier.

3 3Vmax 3Vmax ⎡ sin ( 3n + 1) π / 3 sin ( 3n − 1) π / 3 ⎤

Ans : Vdc = ; Vn = ⎢ + ⎥ for n = 1,2,3,…
2π 2π ⎣ 3n + 1 3n − 1 ⎦

V m ax

π /3 π /3

(g) Output voltage waveform of a 3-phase bridge (3-pulse) AC-DC rectifier.

3Vmax 6Vmax ⎡ sin ( 6n + 1) π / 6 sin ( 6n − 1) π / 6 ⎤

Ans: Vdc = ; Vn = ⎢ + ⎥ for n = 1, 2, 3, …
π π ⎣ 6n + 1 6n − 1 ⎦

Figure 5. Waveforms typically occurring in power electronic circuits.

6. Calculate the THD for the waveforms (a)-(c) in figure 5.

Ans: THD = (a) 48%, (b) 31%, (c) 12%

7. For the waveforms (d)-(g) in Figure 5, calculate the Ripple Factors.

1− D
Ans: (d) 48%, (e) , (f) 18%, (g) 4%.
D

8. A non sinusoidal periodic voltage of frequency f = 50 Hz is expressed in a Fourier series as

v( t ) = 10 + 20 cos( 2π ft − 25D ) + 30 cos( 4π ft + 20D ) Volts

Voltage v(t) is applied to a load resistor of 5Ω in series with and inductor of 15 mH.
Calculate the power absorbed by the load, using DC and AC steady-state circuit theory.

Ans: P = 60.94 W.

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ELEC 4614 Power Electronics

9. A sinusoidal voltage source of v( t ) = 340 cos ω t volts is applied to a converter which draws
an input current which is given by

i( t ) = 8 + 15 cos( 314t − 30D ) + 6 cos( 3 × 314t + 45D ) + 2 cos( 5 × 314t + 60D ) A

Calculate

(i) the power absorbed by the load, assuming that the converter absorbs no power
(ii) the distortion factor of the input current
(iii) the THD of the input current
(iv) the input power factor of the converter.

Ans: (i) P = 2209 W, (ii) IDF = 0.76, (iii) THD = 86%, (iv) IPF = 0.68 (lagging).

10. A sinusoidal voltage of 340× sinωt V is applied to a single-phase converter, the input
current of which is represented by the waveforms (a)-(b) of figure 5. Assume that the origin
of each waveform is 30° behind that of the input voltage waveform. Assume that the peak
value of these waveforms is 100 A. Calculate

(i) the average power drawn by the converter,

(ii) its input displacement factor
(iii) the input distortion factor and
(iv) the power factors for each of these waveforms.

Ans: (i) P = 14630 W, (ii) IDispF = 0.866, (iii) IDistF = 0.956, (iv) THD = 30.95%
for the waveform of figure 5(b).

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