Purdue University Calumet

Department of Engineering Technology

ECET-31200, Power Electronics

Experiment 9, Three Phase Controlled Rectifier with Source Inductance

1. Source Inductance Circuit Operation


Figure-1 Three-Phase Full-wave Controlled Rectifier with Source Inductance

The circuit of a three-phase fully-controlled bridge rectifier with source inductance is
presented above. The presence of source inductance introduces an additional mode of
operation when the firing angle is less than a certain value. Let us assume that SCRS
S
1
and S
2
are in conduction when SCR S
3
is triggered. Then current from the 3-phase
supply does not transfer from S
1
to S
3
instantaneously, and the transfer of current,
called commutation, takes a while. During this commutation overlap, both S
1
and S
3

conduct in addition to S
2
. SCR S
1
continues to conduct till the current through S
3
rises
to equal the dc link current. The effects of commutation overlap are:
i. A slight reduction in output voltage,
ii. A notch in the supply voltage to the circuit during commutation overlap.
When the source has inductance, other loads connected to this source along with the
controlled rectifier are supplied voltages with notches in them and some of these loads
can be sensitive to these notches and they may operate improperly. Hence in order to
reduce the magnitude of notches, it is mandatory in some countries for the rectifier to
be provided with an inductance in series with each of its three-phase input lines. If
these inductors are much larger than the source inductance, the notch voltages are
absorbed by these inductances and the other loads connected to the same 3-phase
source are not supplied with distorted voltages. The internal inductances connected in
series with the source are sometimes referred to as 4% inductances. If the inductor is
such that the voltage drop across it is about 4% of the phase voltage at rated current, it
is normally sufficient to reduce the notches at the source terminals to an acceptable
level.
2. Mathematical Analysis
When there is an inductor in series with each input line, it is necessary to find out its
effect. We need to find out:
a. The reduction in output voltage.
b. The duration of commutation overlap.
c. The relationship between the firing angle and the commutation overlap.

Reduction of Output Voltage
Calculations by hand are carried out assuming that the dc link current remains steady
without any ripple. The source voltages at its terminals and the output voltage appear
as shown below, assuming that the inductances belong to the source.
It is seen that there are six notches in one input cycle. The reduction in average output
voltage can be found out as follows. Let SCR S
1
be in conduction and let S
3
be
triggered. Let current through the dc link be I
DC
. Then current through Y-phase has to
rise from zero to I
DC
, whereas current through R-phase has to fall from I
DC
to zero.
On the other hand, loop current i
LOOP
marked in the sketch below has to rise from zero
to I
DC.
This means that during commutation current through Y-phase would rise from
zero to I
DC
and the volt-second area the output misses out is L
2
I
DC
, that absorbed by
the inductor in the Y-phase.

Figure 2 Operation of controlled rectifier
From the volt-seconds lost per commutation, we can find the total volt-seconds lost in
one input cycle. Since there are six commutations per cycle, the total volt-seconds lost
per cycle is expressed as shown by equation (1). Dividing this area by the time
corresponding to one cycle, we get the average voltage reduction in output. The time
corresponding to one input cycle is 1/f, where f is the line frequency. Then the
average reduction in output voltage is obtained as shown in equation (2). In equation
(2), we make use of the relation that the angular frequency, w = 2tf. It is to be noted
that commutation overlap occurs only when there is continuous conduction through
the load and the average output voltage is expressed by equation (3). In equation (3),
U is the peak line-to-line voltage and o is the firing angle.


COMMUTATION OVERLAP ANGLE
The commutation of commutation overlap depends on:
a. the firing angle,
b. the dc link current and
c. the source inductance or the inductance in series with each phase.
To find out the commutation overlap, it is sufficient to analyze one commutation. Let
SCR S
5
be in conduction and let SCR S
1
be triggered at a firing angle of o. As seen
earlier, the loop current I
loop
builds up from zero to I
DC
. This means that the current in
the inductance in R-phase builds up to I
DC
, whereas it decreases to zero in the
inductance in the B-phase. Let the commutation last for an angle . Then during
commutation, the voltage across the source inductance is expressed as shown in
equation (4). It is assumed that the three phase voltages are defined as follows:
v
R
= E. Sin (u), v
Y
= E. Sin (u 2t/3), and v
B
= E. Sin (u + 2t/3).
The amplitude of phase voltage is denoted by 'E' and the amplitude of line voltage is
denoted by 'U'. In equation (4), the loop current is denoted as i. Since u = wt, the
equation for commutation overlap can be represented as shown in equation (5).
During this interval, the loop current changes from zero to I
DC
. Hence equation (6)
defines how current in R phase changes.


The solution of equation (6) is presented in equation (7). Equation (7) can be re-
arranged and presented as shown in equation (8). Solving for , we obtain equation
(9).

It is seen that overlap angle increases
a. as the firing angle moves closer to either 0
o
or 180
o
,
b. as the dc link current becomes larger, and
c. as the source inductance gets larger.
The above equation has been obtained based on the assumption that the dc link current
remains steady, which happens only when the dc link inductance is relatively large. In
practice, it is not true and hence the above equation yields only an approximate result.
The rest of mathematical analysis follows the familiar route. The items of interest are:
1. RMS output voltage of bridge circuit
2. Average output voltage of bridge circuit
3. Ripple Factor of output voltage of the bridge
4. RMS output voltage/voltage across load resistor
5. Average output voltage (across load resistor)
6. Ripple factor of output voltage (across load resistor)
7. RMS line current
8. RMS value of fundamental component in line current
9. THD in line current
10. Displacement power factor
11. Apparent power factor and Harmonic analysis
In order to simulate it is necessary to have an expression for line current and load
current. Let us consider one output cycle; starting from the instant SCR S
1
is triggered
till SCR S
2
is triggered. During this period, the R-phase voltage is defined as shown in
equation (10). When SCR S
1
is triggered, we have commutation overlap till the load
current is transferred from SCR S
5
to SCR S
1
and let the commutation overlap angle
be . During commutation overlap, the current through SCR S
1
rises from zero to load
current. At the end of commutation overlap, line current is obtained from the
expression in equation (11). During the period of commutation overlap, the voltage
source that is seen by the dc link circuit is described as shown in equation (12), where
v
OL
represents the source during overlap period.


On simplifying equation (12), we get equation (13). During this period, the source
appears to have a source inductance equaling 1.5L
2 ,
as viewed from the load. We get
this value because the path through SCR S
6
contains L
2
whereas the path through both
S
1
and S
5
appears to have an equivalent inductance of value equal to 0.5L
2
. The
current through the load at the instant when SCR S
1
is triggered can be expressed as
shown in equation (14).. The values of Z and | in equation (14) are expressed in
equation (15).

The constant A in equation (14) is to be evaluated and t
2
= tan (|). At the end of
commutation, this current would be equal to the line current. Hence we obtain
equation (16). The terms used in equation (17) are defined in equation (18).


Equation (16) is the first of the three equations we need in order to obtain a solution
and this equation equates the line current to the load current at the end of
commutation. Equation (17) expresses the load current at the end of commutation,
using another constant B and B is also to be evaluated. Another equation can be
formed as shown in equation (19), which equates the line current at the end of
commutation to the load current. Unlike equation (16), equation (19) makes use of
constant B. Equations (16) and (19) are two of the three equations required to solve
for A, B and o. The third equation is obtained as follows. The load current at the
instant when u = t /3 can be computed in two ways, one from equation (16) and the
other from equation (19) and these two expressions can be equated to yield equation
(20).


From these three equations, the three unknowns, A, B and , can be obtained.
3. Procedure

a. Using MULISIM to build the circuit shown in Figure 3.
b. Observe and record the waveforms of the supply voltage, the gate-to-cathode
voltage, the voltage across the SCR and the load voltage for the following values
of R2 (0, 100, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000 Ohms).
c. Calculate the output average and rms voltage for Figure-3.
d. Calculate the ripple and total harmonic distortion for Figure-3

XSC1
A B
Ext Trig
+
+
_
_
+
_
S2 S3
R2
10
S1
V6
120 V 60 Hz
3PH
S5 S6 S4
R1
1M

Figure 3 Full Wave Controlled Rectifier