Three Phase Rectification
Three Phase Rectification
We saw in the previous tutorial that the process of converting an AC input supply
into a fixed DC supply is called Rectification with the most popular circuits used
to perform this rectification process is one that is based on solid-state
semiconductor diodes. In fact, rectification of alternating voltages is one of the
most popular applications of diodes, as diodes are inexpensive, small and robust
allowing us to create numerous types of rectifier circuits using either individually
connected diodes or with just a single integrated bridge rectifier module.
Single phase supplies such as those in houses and offices are generally 120 Vrms
or 240 Vrms phase-to-neutral, also called line-to-neutral (L-N), and nominally of
a fixed voltage and frequency producing an alternating voltage or current in the
form of a sinusoidal waveform being given the abbreviation of “AC”.
Three-phase rectification, also known as poly-phase rectification circuits are
similar to the previous single-phase rectifiers, the difference this time is that we
are using three, single-phase supplies connected together that have been
produced by one single three-phase generator.
The advantage here is that 3-phase rectification circuits can be used to power
many industrial applications such as motor control or battery charging which
require higher power requirements than a single-phase rectifier circuit is able to
supply.
3-phase supplies take this idea one step further by combining together three AC
voltages of identical frequency and amplitude with each AC voltage being called
a “phase”. These three phases are 120 electrical degrees out-of-phase from each
other producing a phase sequence, or phase rotation of: 360o ÷ 3 = 120o as
shown.
Three-phase Waveform
The advantage here is that a three-phase alternating current (AC) supply can be
used to provide electrical power directly to balanced loads and rectifiers. Since a
3-phase supply has a fixed voltage and frequency it can be used by a rectification
circuit to produce a fixed voltage DC power which can then be filtered resulting
in an output DC voltage with less ripple compared to a single-phase rectifying
circuit.
Three-phase Rectification
Having seen that a 3-phase supply is just simply three single-phases combined
together, we can use this multi-phase property to create 3-phase rectifier
circuits.
As with single-phase rectification, three-phase rectification uses diodes,
thyristors, transistors, or converters to create half-wave, full-wave, uncontrolled
and fully-controlled rectifier circuits transforming a given three-phase supply
into a constant DC output level. In most applications a three-phase rectifier is
supplied directly from the mains utility power grid or from a three-phase
transformer if different DC output level is required by the connected load.
As with the previous single-phase rectifier, the most basic three-phase rectifier
circuit is that of an uncontrolled half-wave rectifier circuit which uses three
semiconductor diodes, one diode per phase as shown.
Half-wave Three-phase Rectification
So how does this three-phase half-wave rectifier circuit work. The anode of each
diode is connected to one phase of the voltage supply with the cathodes of all
three diodes connected together to the same positive point, effectively creating
a diode-“OR” type arrangement. This common point becomes the positive (+)
terminal for the load while the negative (-) terminal of the load is connected to
the neutral (N) of the supply.
Assuming a phase rotation of Red-Yellow-Blue (VA – VB – VC) and the red phase
(VA) starts at 0o. The first diode to conduct will be diode 1 (D1) as it will have a more
positive voltage at its anode than diodes D2 or D3. Thus diode D1 conducts for the
positive half-cycle of VA while D2 and D3 are in their reverse-biased state. The
neutral wire provides a return path for the load current back to the supply.
120 electrical degrees later, diode 2 (D2) starts to conduct for the positive half-
cycle of VB (yellow phase). Now its anode becomes more positive than diodes
D1 and D3 which are both “OFF” because they are reversed-biased. Similarly,
120o later VC (blue phase) starts to increase turning “ON” diode 3 (D3) as its anode
becomes more positive, thus turning “OFF” diodes D1 and D2.
Then we can see that for three-phase rectification, whichever diode has a more
positive voltage at its anode compared to the other two diodes it will
automatically start to conduct, thereby giving a conduction pattern of:
D1 D2 D3 as shown.
Half-wave Three-phase Rectifier Conduction Waveform
From the above waveforms for a resistive load, we can see that for a half-wave
rectifier each diode passes current for one third of each cycle, with the output
waveform being three times the input frequency of the AC supply. Therefore
there are three voltage peaks in a given cycle, so by increasing the number of
phases from a single-phase to a three-phase supply, the rectification of the supply
is improved, that is the output DC voltage is smoother.
For a three-phase half-wave rectifier, the supply voltages VA VB and VC are
balanced but with a phase difference of 120o giving:
VA = VP*sin(ωt – 0o)
VB = VP*sin(ωt – 120o)
VC = VP*sin(ωt – 240o)
Thus the average DC value of the output voltage waveform from a 3-phase half-
wave rectifier is given as:
As the voltage supplies peak voltage, VP is equal to VRMS*1.414, it follows that VP is
equal to VP/1.414 giving 0.707*VP, so the average DC output voltage of the
rectifier can be expressed in terms of the rms (root-mean-squared) phase voltage
giving:
In 3-phase power rectifiers, conduction always occurs in the most positive diode
and the corresponding most negative diode. Thus as the three phases rotate
across the rectifier terminals, conduction is passed from diode to diode. Then
each diode conducts for 120o (one-third) in each supply cycle but as it takes two
diodes to conduct in pairs, each pair of diodes will conduct for only 60o (one-sixth)
of a cycle at any one time as shown above.
Therefore we can correctly say that for a 3-phase rectifier being fed by “3”
transformer secondaries, each phase will be separated by 360o/3 thus requiring
2*3 diodes. Note also that unlike the previous half-wave rectifier, there is no
common connection between the rectifiers input and output terminals.
Therefore it can be fed by a star connected or a delta connected transformer
supply.
So the average DC value of the output voltage waveform from a 3-phase full-
wave rectifier is given as:
Where: VS is equal to (VL(PEAK) ÷ √3) and where VL(PEAK) is the maximum line-to-line
voltage (VL*1.414).
As the supply is 3-phase, the phase to neutral voltage (VP-N) of any phase will be:
Thus the average DC output voltage from the 3-phase full-wave rectifier is given
as:
Again, we can reduce the maths a bit by correctly saying that for a given line-to-
line RMS voltage value, in our example 127 volts, the average DC output voltage
is:
2. the rectifiers load current.
The output from the rectifier is feeding a 150Ω resistive load. Then using Ohms
law the load current will be: