UNIT V

AC VOLTAGE CONTROLLERS
 Introduction
 AC voltage controllers are thyristor based devices which convert fixed
alternating voltage directly to variable alternating voltage without change in
frequency.

 Using these controllers, rms value of the voltage across the load is steplessly
varied from a maximum value to zero.
 The simplest way to control AC voltage to the load is by using AC switch
(bidirectional).

 The bi-directional conducting property can be achieved by simply connecting

two unidirectional thyristors in inverse parallel to each other.

 AC voltage controllers are naturally commutated.

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 AC Power Control
Control of AC voltage controllers is of two
kinds.

1. On-Off Control (Integral Cycle Control)

2. Phase Control

Single Phase AC voltage

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1- On-Off Control (Integral Cycle Control)
• The load power can be controlled by connecting the source to the load for
few complete cycles then disconnecting the source from the load for
another number of cycles, and repeating the switching cycle.

• Suitable for systems with large time constants.

• Average power to the load can be varied from 0% through 100%

• Integral cycle control finds applications in heating loads and for motor
speed control.
(In industry, there are several applications in which mechanical time constant or thermal
time constant is of the order of several seconds. For example, mechanical time constant
for many of the speed-control drives, or thermal time constants for most of the heating
loads is usually quite high. For such applications, almost no variation in speed or
temperature will be noticed if control is achieved connecting the load to source for some
on cycles and then disconnecting the load for some off cycles.)

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 For resistive load T

Voltage
across 2 2
thyristors
1
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RMS value of output voltage is:

Vo  Vi K
Ton
K
where Ton  Toff

Ratio of on time to total cycle time controls average load power as well as rms output
voltage.

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Power factor is:

PF=√(TON/T) = √d
Source current is always in time phase with source voltage. This does not
mean that integral cycle control circuit operates at unity power factor- for
part of time, the source current is not present at all and therefore is not in
phase with source voltage.

PF=√d

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2- AC Phase Control
• Phase control is kind in which thyristors are fired once every cycle and the
instant of firing can be delayed from the zero crossing. By this, only a part of
the voltage waveform appears across the load, providing voltage control. The
load current appears in pulses, the zero crossing of which can be used for
turn-off of the thyristors.

• Suitable for loads with short time constants.

• Firing instants of thyristors are 180° apart, each occuring in its respective half
cycle.

• By controlling this instant of firing, the effective voltage occuring across the
load can be varied.

• As the two thyristors have firing pulses delayed by 180° , the AC current
pulses are periodic and symmetrical and there is no DC current component.
The load voltage also does not have any DC component.

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Single-phase AC voltage controller with resistive load

Load power can be

varied by changing α
over the full range from
zero to 180°

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RMS value of output voltage is:

RMS value of output current is:

Output power is:

Po(avg.) = I²o(RMS) (R) Or V²o(RMS) /R

Power factor is given by:

Power factor is unity when firing angle (α) is zero; it becomes

progressively smaller as α increases, becoming approximately zero
for α=180°
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Variation of output voltage and power
With delay angle for resistive load

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Single-phase AC voltage controller with inductive (RL) load

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 THREE-PHASE AC VOLTAGE CONTROLLER
Classification of three- phase circuits

ia VT1 Ua0'
a
ia
ua VT a
3 VT4
b ua
n n'
ub b
VT5 VT6 n
c ub
uc c
VT2
uc
Y connection
Line- controlled Δ connection

ua ia
a
ua ia a

b ub b
n n
ub

uc
uc c
c

Branch-controlled Δ connection Neutral-point controlled Δconnection

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3- phase 3- wire Y connection AC
voltage controller
i a VT 1 Ua0'
a
ua
VT3 VT4
b
n n'
ub
VT5 VT6
c
uc
VT 2

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For a time instant, there are 2 possible conduction states:
–Each phase has a thyristor conducting. Load voltages are
the same as the source voltages.
–There are only 2 thyristors conducting, each from a phase.
The load voltages of the two conducting phases are half of
the corresponding line to line voltage, while the load
voltage of the other phase is 0.

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CYCLOCONVERTERS
 Cycloconverters
 Cycloconverters directly convert ac signals
of one frequency (usually line frequency) to ac
signals of variable frequency. These variable
frequency ac signals can then be used to
directly control the speed of ac motors.
 Thyristor-based cycloconverters are typically
used in low speed, high power (multi-MW)
applications for driving induction and wound
field synchronous motors
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 Introduction
• Cycloconverter is a frequency changer that
converts AC power at one input frequency to
AC output power at a different frequency.

• Variable frequency output can be obtained

by AC DC  AC using phase-controlled
converters (rectifier followed by inverter).
• This is two stage frequency conversion.

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 Introduction
• Single-stage frequency conversion is called cycloconversion.
• Cycloconversion can be anyone of following:
1- conversion of variable frequency to fixed one (aircraft or
shipboard power supplies or wind generators)
2- conversion of fixed frequency to a variable one (AC motor
speed control)

• Cycloconverters can be step-up or step-down

• For efficient operation, cycloconverters are usually operated
in frequency
range of zero to less than one-third the source frequency.

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 Applications
• Cement mill drives
• Ship propulsion drives
• Rolling mill drives
• Scherbius drives
• Ore grinding mills
• Mine winders
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Types of Cycloconverters

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Midpoint Cycloconverter

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Bridge type Cycloconverter

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Three phase cycloconverter

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 Three-Phase to Single-Phase (3f-1f)
Cycloconverter
There are two kinds of three-phase to single-phase (3f-
1f) cyclo-converters
•3f-1f half-wave cyclo-converter
•3f-1f bridge cyclo-converter

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 Three-Phase to Single-Phase (3f-1f)
Cycloconverter
• The 3f-1f cyclo converter 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 cyclo converter 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 Note that a is
sinusoidally modulated over the cycle to generate
harmonically optimum output voltage

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3f-1f half-wave cyclo-converter

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3f-1f half-wave cyclo-converter waveforms

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 Three-Phase to Single-Phase (3f-1f)
Cycloconverter
• The load always requires the fundamental voltage
to be continuous. Therefore, during the current
polarity reversal, the average voltage supplied by
both of the converters should be equal.
• Otherwise , switching from one converter to the
other one would cause an undesirable voltage
jump.
• To prevent this problem, the converters are forced
to produce the same average voltage at all times

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 Three-Phase to Single-Phase (3f-1f)
Cyclo-converter
The output phase voltage v0 can be written as:

v0  2V0 sin  0t
where V0 is the rms output voltage and 0 is the output angular frequency. :

MH1032/brsr/A.Y 2017-18/pe/AC
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