Q. Define and explain the parameters of AC Regulators.

(7 marks)

A. An ac voltage regulator is a type of thyristor power converter which is used to convert

a fixed voltage, fixed frequency ac input supply to obtain a variable voltage ac output. The
RMS value of the ac output voltage and the ac power flow to the load is controlled by varying
(adjusting) the trigger angle ‘’.
V 0 (R M S )
AC Vs AC V a ria b le A C
In p u t V o lt a g e R M S O / P V o lt a g e
V o lt a g e fs C o n t ro lle r
fs fS

The parameters involved while considering the AC regulators are described below:

 RMS Output (Load) Voltage: The rms value of the output voltage is termed as the
‘RMS output voltage’.

1
 n
2
 2

VO RMS   0 V 2
sin  t 2
.d   t  
 2  n  m 
m


Vm n
VO RMS   V k  VS k
2  m  n  i RMS 
tON tON nT n
   k
TO tON  tOFF nT  mT  n  m 
Where = duty cycle (d).

VO RMS   Vi RMS  k  VS k

VS  Vi  RMS 
Where = RMS value of input supply voltage.

 Duty Cycle: Duty cycle is the proportion of time during which the device is operated.

tON tON nT
k  
TO  tON  tOFF   m  n  T
 n
k
Where,  m  n = duty cycle (d).

 RMS Load Current: The rms value of the load current.

VO RMS  VO RMS 

I O RMS   
Z RL ; For a resistive load
Z  RL
.

 Output AC (Load) Power: It is defined as the product of the resistance offered by

the load and the square of the rms value of the current flowing through it.

PO  I O2  RMS   RL
 Input Power Factor: The ratio of the output (load) power to the input power is called
the input power factor.

By definition,

PO output load power P

PF    O
VA input supply volt amperes VS I S

I O2  RMS   RL
PF 
Vi RMS   I in RMS  I S  I in RMS  
; RMS input supply current.

The input supply current is same as the load current I in  I O  I L

I in RMS   I O  RMS 

Hence, RMS supply current = RMS load current; .

I O2  RMS   RL VO RMS  Vi RMS  k

PF     k
Vi  RMS   I in RMS  Vi  RMS  Vi  RMS 

n
PF  k 
mn
IT  Avg 
W av e fAverage
o r m o f T Current
h y r i s t o r Cofu rThyristor
ren t : It the forward on state current required to
iT control the power loss in a thyristor.
m
n
Im

0  2 3 t
 
n
I m sin  t.d   t 
2  m  n  0
IT  Avg  
By definition,

nI m
sin  t.d   t 
2  m  n  0
IT  Avg  


nI m  
IT  Avg     cos  t 
2  m  n   0

nI m
IT  Avg     cos   cos 0
2  m  n 

nI m
IT  Avg      1  1
2  m  n  

n
IT  Avg    2Im 
2  m  n 

Imn k .I
IT  Avg    m
  m  n 
tON n Vm
k  duty cycle   Im 
Where  tON  tOFF   n  m  and RL = maximum or
peak thyristor current.

IT  RMS 
 RMS Current of Thyristor :
1
 n

 2

IT  RMS    I m2 sin 2  t.d   t  

By definition,  2  n  m  0 

1
 nI m2 
 2

IT  RMS    sin 2
 t .d   t  
 2  n  m  0 
1
 nI m2 
 1  cos 2 t  d  2

IT  RMS     t  
 2  n  m  0
2 
1
 nI m2  
 2

IT  RMS     d   t    cos 2 t.d   t  

 4  n  m   0 0 
 1
 nI m2  
 sin 2 t 

 2

IT  RMS     t    
 4  n  m   0  2  0 

1
 nI m2   sin 2  sin 0   
2

IT  RMS      0    
 4  n  m    2 

1
 nI m2  2

IT  RMS      0  0 
 4  n  m  
1 1
 nI m2  2
 nI m2  2

IT  RMS     
 4  n  m    4  n  m 

Im n I
IT  RMS    m k
2  m  n 2

Im
IT  RMS   k
2

REFERENCE:

1. Lecture Notes by Prof. M. Madhusudhan Rao (Edusat Programme)

2. Power Electronics, Dr. P.S. Bimbhra

Q. Draw a neat diagram of a step down chopper and explain its principle in detail.

(8 marks)

A. A chopper is a static device that converts fixed dc input voltage to a variable dc output
voltage directly. It is an on/off switch that connects and disconnects the dc supply to the load
at a very fast rate. There are basically two kinds of chopper circuits:

1. Step-up Choppers
2. Step-down Choppers
Basic Principle:

The figure shows a basic dc-dc converter with its output voltage waveform. When the switch
S is closed, the supply voltage appears across and when it is open, the load is disconnected
from the supply. Thus, the average dc output voltage is controlled by controlling the switch-
on period and switch-off period.

Step-Down Choppers (Buck Converter)

Figure shows the circuit for a step-down

chopper.

The operation of the buck converter is fairly

simple, with an inductor and switch that control the inductor. It alternates between connecting
the inductor to source voltage to store energy in the inductor and discharging the inductor
into the load.

A buck converter operates in continuous mode if the current through the inductor (IL) never
falls to zero during the commutation cycle. In this mode, the operating principle is described
below:

 When the switch pictured above is closed, the

voltage across the inductor is VL = Vi − Vo. The current
through the inductor rises linearly. As the diode is
reverse-biased by the voltage source V, no current
flows through it;
 When the switch is opened, the diode is forward biased. The voltage across the
inductor is VL = − Vo (neglecting diode drop). The current IL decreases.
The energy stored in inductor L is
Therefore, it can be seen that the energy stored in L increases during on-time (as IL increases)
and then decreases during the off-state. L is used to transfer energy from the input to the
output of the converter.

The rate of change of IL can be calculated from:

With VL equal to Vi − Vo during the on-state and to − Vo during the off-state. Therefore, the
increase in current during the on-state is given by:

Identically, the decrease in current during the off-state is given by:

If we assume that the converter operates in steady state, the energy stored in each component
at the end of a commutation cycle T is equal to that at the beginning of the cycle. That means
that the current IL is the same at t=0 and at t=T (see figure 4). Therefore,

So we can write from the above equations:

It is worth noting that the above integrations can

be done graphically: In figure,   is
proportional to the area of the lightly shaded
surface, and   to the area of the darkly
shaded surface, as these surfaces are defined by
the inductor voltage curve. As these surfaces are
simple rectangles, their areas can be found
easily:   for the lightly shaded
rectangle and − Vo toff for the darkly shaded one.
For steady state operation, these areas must be
equal.

As can be seen on figure,   and . D is a scalar called the duty cycle with

a value between 0 and 1. This yields:
From this equation, it can be seen that the output voltage of the converter varies linearly with
the duty cycle for a given input voltage. As the duty cycle D is equal to the ratio between ton
and the period T, it cannot be more than 1. Therefore,

This is why this converter is referred to as step-down converter.

REFERENCE:

1. Buck Converter, Wikipedia

2. Buck Converter, Video lecture, www.learnerstv.com
3. Power Electronics and Its Applications by Alok Jain
4. Power Electronics by Dr. P.S. Bimbhra