Chapter No 4

 DC-CHOPPERS
 DC Choppers

Contents

 Introduction
 Voltage Step down Choppers
 Voltage Step up choppers
 2 Quadrant Choppers
 Problems
 Introduction
 In AC application transformer serves to convert electric
power efficiently from one voltage level to another.

 Static Dc Choppers or DC to DC converters presented in

this chapter perform the same function as AC
Transformer but in DC

 DC to DC converters, the voltage conversion is achieved

by power semiconductor devices which work as static
switches and work at high repetitive frequency
 Contd
 The circuit configuration is either the step-up or
step-down that depends upon a factor called
Conversion ratio.

 If conversion ratio ( a = Output v / input v ) is

less then 1 than it is called step-down.

 Otherwise if it is (a > 1) the voltage step-up

configuration of chopper.
 Contd
 In any chopper converter, the voltage
conversion ratio is determined by the switching
times of the static switches that constitute the
chopper

 So we can smoothly vary the conversion ratio by

means of varying the adjustable input voltage to
the chopper control circuit to modify the timing of
switching pulses to the semiconductor switches.
 General block Diagrams
 Step-down Chopper
 Step-up chopper
 Step-up operation is helpful in regenerative braking which
convert the kinetic energy of Load and charge the source
voltage V 1 as diagram & power flow will be from Load to
source
 Contd
 The chopper that can utilized the both operation
of Step-up and step-down from the same circuitry, those
choppers are called Two Quadrant Choppers.

 Application:
Choppers are used in Dc motor control and also
used on SMPS switch mode power supplies in which
provide different output DC voltages required by the
electronic equipments such as in Computer etc.
 Voltage Step-down Choppers
 The Chopper is delivering adjustable DC power into resistive load from
a fixed DC voltage source

 Chopper power circuit is inside the dotted box and control circuit is
not shown for sake of clarity
 Contd
 The switch S1 is the controlled static switch it can either
be a GTO or Mosfet.

 The Second switch S2 that is actually a power Diode and

it will turn ON whenever forward current is possible and
turn OFF to prevent reverse current.

 The purpose of inductance to smooth out fluctuations in

the output current caused by the switching process in the
chopper
 Operation
 Important quantitative relationships

1) f = repetitive switching freq of chopper

2) T = Cycle time of Chopper = (1/ f) sec
3) TON = On time of Switch S1
4) TOFF = Off time of switch S1
5) D = Duty cycle of S1, TOD= N V2
=
T V1

 When S1 is turned On, so the voltage V1 is

appear across switch S2 in reverse polarity so
S2 will remain off until S1 is in ON state.
 When S1 is ON

 Due to S1 which is in On state a current I2 build up in load, this

current will increase exponentially because of inductor.

 When S1 turns Off the Inductor voltage will forward biased the
S2 switch, now diode will provide the free wheeling path for
stored energy in inductor.
 When S1 is OFF
 Therefore turned Off of the switch S1 will cause
turned ON switching of Switch S2 automatically due to
the presence of inductor.
Output Waveforms
 Voltage Relationships
 Output Voltage V2:
TON
V2 = V1 = V1 D
T
 Conversion ratio a :

V2 TON
a= =D=
V1 T
 Problems
 Q1: A chopper controlled electric train is powered from
a 1500 v DC supply, the power semiconductor switch as
On time of 40µs,.During starting and slow speed running,
the output of chopper has to go low as 15 V. What is the
highest chopper freq to satisfy this condition?

 Q2: If in the above question, chopper freq is increased

to 2000 hertz, what is the minimum possible motor
voltage ?
 Current relationships
 Valley current IV
 −TτOFF −T

V1  e −e τ 
IV =  −T 
R 
 1 − e τ

 Peak current I P

 −TON

V1 1 −e τ 
IP =  −T 
R  τ 
 1 −e 
 Contd
 Peak to peak ripple current:

I PP =I p −IV
 Diode Current ID
V2 DV1
ID = =
R R

Q3: In step-down chopper L=10mH, R= 5 ohm & V1 =

100v,if the switching freq is 1KHz and Duty cycle is
50% Determine diode current and IPP ?
 Dependence of ripple current on
Duty cycle
 Variation of duty cycle is the practical means employed
to vary the current in load.
 When we calculate the expression of ripple current by
putting the values in this equation

I PP = I p − IV
 Now the Expression will be as

   − ( 1− D ) T
 1 + e τ  − e τ + e τ  
 
−T − DT
V1  1
I PP =  −T     
R 
     

 1− e τ 
 Contd
 From the previous equation it is clear that ripple  −0.5T 2
 
current will be maximum when last parenthesis  1 − e τ  
term has minimum value. V1   
I PP =   −T
 
R 
 So we will have to differentiate that term with  1 − e τ

 
respect to D after putting it equal to zero. This will  
give the D=0.50 at which we have maximum
value of peak to peak ripple current .
 
 1 −e τ 
−0.5T
 
 When putting the D=0.50 in the previous 
V1    
expression it will give as
I PP =   
−0.5T
R 
 1 + e τ

 
 
 Chopper Operation when load
presents a Back emf
 Speed control of DC motor is very important application of
choppers.

 When chopper is used to vary the speed of motor so motor

has a Back emf which is produced in the motor circuit because
of rotational speed.

 So chopper will have to drive or force the current in opposition

of this back emf.

 Now the current relationships are different as compared to

previous section
 When S1 in ON
 During turn-On condition:
 The loop equation is as since initial condition are i= IV &
t=0, at t= TON & I = IP

di
V1 = L + Ri + E
dt

 −TON

− E V1  1 − e τ 
IP = +  −T 
R R 
 1 − e τ

 When S1 is OFF
 When switch S1 is turned off then the loop equation will be look like

 Since in this case initial condition are i=Ip & t=0

di
and at t = TOFF & I = IV.
Now by solving the above equation
0 =L + Ri + E

dt

 − TτOFF −T

E V1  e −e τ 
IV = − +  −T 
R R 
 1 − e τ

 Current relationships
 Peak to peak ripple current :

I PP = Ip − Iv
 Diode current or DC component of Output
current will be & V2 = DV1

ID =
( V2 − E )
R
 Problem
 An electric car employs a DC motor fed through a
chopper from a 200V battery. Chopper operates at fixed
frequency 2KHz. Motor resistance is 0.04Ω and
inductance is 0.1mH, At speed of 40 miles/ hr, the motor
induced a back emf of 60 v. The chopper duty cycle is
33.2%.Determine

1) peak to peak ripple current in motor

2) DC component of motor current
 Step-up Choppers
 The step-up choppers are used to step up the DC voltage.

 The only difference between the step-up and step-down

chopper is that we will have to interchanged the position of
two switches in step-down chopper.

 We also add the capacitor and inductor in the chopper

circuit as the part of filter circuit those are used for
smoothing the circuit Output.

 We will have to assume these filters elements values large

enough so that output of the chopper will have the less
load ripple current & voltage.
Block diagram of Voltage step-up
choppers
1) terminal y & z are low voltage terminals and Input terminals
2) Terminals X & z are Output terminals
 Operation of Chopper
 During turn ON
condition.
 When the switch S1 is in on
condition then voltage across the
input terminals are zero because
the switch S1 is closed.]

 The diode will be turn off because

the it is reverse biased due to the
polarity of V1 source.

 The energy of source Vs will be

stored in the inductor L2 due to
the flow of current I2 .
 During turn-off condition
di2
 The current produced in the low voltage side will create a voltage that willL
dt
appear in such a polarity that switch S2 is turned off .This inductor voltage
will adds with the Vs voltage and will forward biased the diode or switch
S2.

 Then the current will begin to flow in the higher voltage side, therefore
power is shifting from low voltage side to high voltage side.
 Contd
 The important point is that when turn on condition is
present the current that cause the voltage appear across
inductor of low voltage side is I p .

 But after turning off the switch S1, the current I2 will begin
to decrease up to a specific current named as valley
current I .
v
di2
 The current will decrease because the stored energy L dt
of inductor which was added to Vs, will begin to decrease
and after some time interval Toff diode will again reverse
biased mode.
 Voltage relationships
 These are the pulses which are appearing
across the terminals y & z of the chopper,
during on time these pulses has zero value
while in off time these has magnitude which is
opposite to the step down chopper.

 Voltage relationship for calculating V2 from

V1 the formula is as follows
 Toff 
V2 = V1   = V1 (1 − D )
T +T 
 ON Off 
 The Conversion ratio is as

V1 1
a= =
V2 (1 − D )
 Current relationship
 Peak Current:
di2
Loop equation will be L2 + R2i2 = VS
dt
 −TτON −T

VS V1  e −e τ 
IP = −  −T 
R2 R2  
 1 − e τ

 Valley current:
di2
 Loop equation will be L2 + R2i2 = VS − V1
dt

 −TOFF

VS V1  1 − e τ 
IV = −  −T 
R2 R2  
 1 − e τ

 Contd
 Peak t peak current:
I PP = I P − IV
 By putting the values of peak current and Valley current, the
equation will be

   −T
  − DT − ( 1− D )
T

V1  1  1 + e τ
I PP =  − e τ − e τ 
R2  −T     
1− e τ     
 DC Current:
Vs − V2 1
I2 = = (Vs − (1 − D )V1 )
R2 R2
 Operation with Discontinuous
current operation
 The discontinuous mode of operation is that if the valley current
will be zero before the end of turned-Off time interval. Then we
can say that chopper is working in discontinuous mode.

 The inductance value of L2 should not be to low that chopper will

move into discontinuous mode, when we are using some specific
value of inductor so that current will not become zero before the
turned-Off time complete. chopper will be in Continuous Mode.

 Because in discontinuous mode output waveforms are not

uniform as in continuous mode of operation.
 Contd
 The limiting condition which will define the discontinuous mode of
operation is that by putting the value of valley currentI v = 0 in the
valley current equation
 −TOFF

Vs 1 −e τ 
= −T 
V1  1 −e τ 
 
 From this equation we can calculate the value of duty cycle below
which chopper will operate in discontinuous mode.

 We will have to calculate the TOff time after that we can calculate
the duty cycle.
 Effect of chopper frequency on
Discontinuous Mode
 There are some ways through which we can operate our
chopper in continuous mode for lower values of duty cycle
and lower braking current magnitude,
 −TτOFF −T

E V1  e −e τ 
 Same case is valid for step-down chopper whose IV = − +  −T 
discontinuous equation is also derive by putting value of R R  1−e τ 
valley current to zero.  
 We can drive the choppers in continues mode of Operation by
increasing the chopper frequency or by increasing the
inductive time constant of chopper by changing the Inductor
value.
 −TτOFF −T

E e −e τ 
= −T 
V1  
 1 − e τ

 Two Quadrant Choppers
 These are the choppers that incorporate both step-down
chopper and step-up chopper with in a same circuit.

 Now the problem is that how can we change the places

of switches in circuit so that we can operate the chopper
in one of the operation either in step-up or step-down.

 There are basically two way to achieve this kind of

operation
 1) Mechanical Change-Over
 2) Static Change-Over
Mechanical Change Over
 Static Change Over
 For Step-down configuration we
will have to apply gate circuit to
S1 and block gate circuit of S2.
 So in this case S1 switch and
diode D2 will perform the step-
down operation.

 For Step-up operation, we will

have to apply the gate circuit only
to the Switch S2 and block the
input to S1.
 Problems
 Q1: In a battery powered car, the battery voltage is 120v.It is driven
by a DC motor and employs chopper control. The resistance of the
motor circuit is 0.2Ω. During regenerative braking, the chopper
configuration is changed to voltage step up mode. While going down
hill at a certain speed. The induced Emf of the machine is 110v and
braking current is 10A.Determine the chopper Duty cycle ? In
continuous mode of operation.

Q2: In the above question the total inductance L2 is 300µH. The

chopper freq is 1 KHz.
a) For induced voltage of 110V, during regenerative braking,
Determine the duty cycle below which discontinuous flow of current
will occur.
 contd
a) Determine the minimum DC braking current possible with
continuous current flow?

b) If the vehicle is being driven (not braked), with same value of

induced emf. what is the limiting duty cycle below which the motor
current would be discontinuous? Also what is the DC motor current
at this duty cycle?

Q3: Solve the previous question with chopper frequency of 6KHZ ?