Experiment Name: Operation and Simulation Three phase Half/Full Wave

Controlled Rectifier

Abstract 

Analyze the operation In this report, an effort is made to design Three Phase (3-φ) Full Wave
Rectifier with (i)R Load, (ii)RL Load, using MATLAB simulation. Using the simulation, allow
us to get the graph of the parameters (Output voltage and output current, thyristor voltage
and thyristor current, source voltage and source current).

1. Instructional Objectives

On completion, the student will be able to

 Analyze the operation of three-phase half/full wave rectifier supply resistive,
inductive loads.
 Define and calculate the characteristics parameters of the voltage and current
waveforms
 Simulate the circuit with computer software package (MATLAB)

Introduction to Three Phase half Wave Controlled Rectifier

Three phase fully controlled converters are very popular in many industrial applications particularly
in situations where power regeneration from the dc side is essential. It can handle reasonably high
power and has acceptable input and output harmonic distortion. The configuration also lends itself
to easy series and parallel connection for increasing voltage and current rating or improvement in
.harmonic behavior
However, this versatility of a three phase fully controlled converters are obtained at the cost of
increased circuit complexity due to the use of six thyristors and their associated control circuit. This
complexity can be considerably reduced in applications where power regeneration is not necessary.
In that case three thyristors of the top group or the bottom group of a three phase fully controlled
converter can be replaced by three diodes. The resulting converter is called a three phase half
controlled converter. Replacing three thyristors by three diodes reduces circuit complexity but at the
same time prevents negative voltage appearing at the output at any time. Therefore the converter
.cannot operate in the inverting mode

[1]
 The three phase half-controlled converter has several other advantages over a three phase fully
controlled converter. For the same firing angle, it has lower input side displacement factor
compared to a fully controlled converter. It also extends the range of continuous conduction of the
converter. It has one serious disadvantage however. The output voltage is periodic over one third of
the input cycle rather than one sixth as is the case with fully controlled converters. This implies both
input and output harmonics are of lower frequency and require heavier filtering. For this reason,
.half controlled three phase converters are not as popular as their fully controlled counterpart
:The three phase controlled rectifiers provide a maximum dc output of
2V m
cdV xam =
π
Three Phase Controlled Rectifiers are extensively used in high power variable speed industrial dc
.drives
PHASE HALF WAVE CONVERTER-3

Three single-phase half-wave converters are connected together to form a three phase half-wave

converter as shown in the figure.

The 3-phase half wave converter combines three single-phase half wave controlled rectifiers in one
single circuit feeding a common load. The thyristor T1 in series with one of the supply phase
windings 'a-n' acts as one half wave controlled rectifier. The second thyristor T2 in series with the
supply phase winding 'b-n' acts as the second half wave controlled rectifier. The third thyristor T3 in
series with the supply phase winding acts as the third half wave controlled rectifier.

The 3-phase input supply is applied through the star connected supply transformer as shown in the
figure above. The common neutral point of the supply is connected to one end of the load while the
other end of the load connected to the common cathode point.

[2]
When the thyristor T1 is triggered at ωt=(π /6 + α)=(30° + α) , the phase voltage Van appears across
the load when T1 conducts. The load current flows through the supply phase winding 'a-n' and
through thyristor T1 as long as T1 conducts.

When thyristor T2 is triggered at ωt=(5 π /6 α), T1 becomes reverse biased and turns-off. The load
current flows through the thyristor and through the supply phase winding 'b-n' . When T2 conducts
the phase voltage Vbn appears across the load until the thyristor T3 is triggered.

When the thyristor T3 is triggered at ωt=(3 π /2 + α)=(270°+α) , T2 is reversed biased and hence
T2 turns-off. The phase voltage Van appears across the load when T3 conducts. When T1 is
triggered again at the beginning of the next input cycle the thyristor T3 turns off as it is reverse
biased naturally, as soon as T1 is triggered. The figure shows the 3-phase input supply voltages, the
output voltage, which appears across the load, where the load current has been assumed a constant
and ripple free, which is highly inductive load and the current through the thyristor T1.

For a
purely
resistive
load
where
the load inductance ‘L = 0’ and the trigger angle α > ( π /6), the load current appears as
discontinuous load current and each thyristor is naturally commutated when the polarity of the
[3]
 corresponding phase supply voltage reverses. The frequency of output ripple frequency for a 3-
phase half wave converter is 3fs, where fs is the input supply frequency.
The 3-phase half wave converter is not normally used in practical converter systems because of the
disadvantage that the supply current waveforms contain dc components (i.e., the supply current
waveforms have an average or dc value).

DERIVE AN EXPRESSION FOR THE AVERAGE OUTPUT VOLTAGE OF A 3-PHASE

HALF WAVE CONVERTER FOR CONTINUOUS LOAD CURRENT

The reference phase voltage is Van=V m sinwt . The trigger angle is measured from the cross over
points of the 3-phase supply voltage waveforms. When the phase supply voltage Van begins its
positive half cycle at ωt=0 , the first cross over point appears at ωt=(π /6) radians 30°.

The trigger angle α for the thyristor T1 is measured from the cross over point. The thyristor T1 is
forward biased during the period ωt=30° to 150° , when the phase supply voltage Van has higher
amplitude than the other phase supply voltages. Hence T1 can be triggered between 30° to 150°.
When the thyristor T1 is triggered at a trigger angle α, the average or dc output voltage for
continuous load current is calculated using the equation:
α + 5 π /6
3
V DC = ∫ V m sinwt dwt
2π α+ π/ 6

.Since the output voltage has three pulses per cycle (2 π), there for the equation is multiplied by 3
3V
xamL 3√ 3V m
VCD = αsoc = αsoc
2π 2π
Where V Lmaxis the maximum line to line supply voltage for three phase star connected transformer,
while Vismthe peak phase voltage. The maximum output voltage obtained at firing angle equal to
.zero
: The rms value of the output voltage is

1 √3
Vsmr = √ 3V m
√ + soc 2 α
6 8π

[4]
Three phase half wave controlled rectifier output voltage waveforms for different trigger angles
with RL load

[5]
Three-phase half wave controlled rectifier output voltage waveforms for different trigger angles
with R load.

Introduction to Three Phase Full Wave Controlled Rectifier

[6]
The three phase fully controlled bridge converter has been probably the most widely used power
electronic converter in the medium to high power applications. Three phase circuits are preferable
when large power is involved. The controlled rectifier can provide controllable out put dc voltage in
a single unit instead of a three phase autotransformer and a diode bridge rectifier. The controlled
rectifier is obtained by replacing the diodes of the uncontrolled rectifier with thyristors. Control
over the output dc voltage is obtained by controlling the conduction interval of each thyristor.

This method is known as phase control and converters are also called “phase controlled converters”.
Since thyristors can block voltage in both directions it is possible to reverse the polarity of the
output dc voltage and hence feed power back to the ac supply from the dc side. Under such
condition the converter is said to be operating in the “inverting mode”. The thyristors in the
converter circuit are commutated with the help of the supply voltage in the rectifying mode of
operation and are known as “Line commutated converter”. The same circuit while operating in the
inverter mode requires load side counter emf. for commutation and are referred to as the “Load
commutated inverter”.

In phase controlled rectifiers though the output voltage can be varied continuously the load
harmonic voltage increases considerably as the average value goes down. Of course the magnitude
of harmonic voltage is lower in three phase converter compared to the single phase circuit. Since
the frequency of the harmonic voltage is higher smaller load inductance leads to continuous
conduction. Input current wave shape become rectangular and contain 5th and higher order odd
harmonics. The displacement angle of the input current increases with firing angle. The frequency
of the harmonic voltage and current can be increased by increasing the pulse number of the
converter which can be achieved by series and parallel connection of basic 6 pulse converters. The
control circuit become considerably complicated and the use of coupling transformer and / or
.interphase reactors become mandatory

Three phase full converter is a fully controlled bridge controlled rectifier using six thyristors
connected in the form of a full wave bridge configuration. All the six thyristors are controlled
switches which are turned on at an appropriate times by applying suitable gate trigger signals.

The three phase full converter is extensively used in industrial power applications upto about
120kW output power level, where two quadrant operations is required. The figure shows a three
phase full converter with highly inductive load. This circuit is also known as three phase full wave
bridge or as a six pulse converter.

The thyristors are triggered at an interval of (π /3) radians (i.e. at an interval of 30°). The frequency
of output ripple voltage is 6fs and the filtering requirement is less than that of three phase semi and
half wave converters.

[7]
 At ωt=( (π /6+α) , thyristor is already conducting when the thyristor is turned on by applying the
gating signal to the gate of thyristor . During the time period ωt=( π /6 +α) to (π /2 +α), thyristors
and conduct together and the line to line supply voltage appears across the load.
At ωt=(π /2 +α), the thyristor T2 is triggered and T6 is reverse biased immediately and T6 turns off
due to natural commutation. During the time period ωt=( π /6+α) to (5 π /6+α),
thyristor T1 and T2 conduct together and the line to line supply voltage appears across the load.
The thyristors are numbered in the circuit diagram corresponding to the order in which they are
triggered. The trigger sequence (firing sequence) of the thyristors is 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 61, 12, 23,
and so on. The figure shows the waveforms of three phase input supply voltages, output voltage, the
thyristor current through T1 and T4, the supply current through the line ‘a’.

:We define three line neutral voltages (3 phase voltages) as follows

V na= V nis
m tw

V nb= V nis
m tw 021
( − )

V nc= V nis
m tw 042
( − )

.Where V mis the peak phase voltage of star connected source

:The corresponding Line- to- Line voltages are
π
V ba= V( na− V nb =) √ 3V nis
m tw
(⁡ + )
6
π
V cb= V( nb− V nc=) √ 3V nis
m tw
(⁡ − )
2
π
V ac= V( nc− V na =) √ 3V nis
m tw
(⁡ + )
2

[8]
To derive an expression for the average output voltage of three phase full converter with highly
inductive load assuming continuous and constant load current, and the output load voltage consists
of 6 voltage pulses over a period of 2 π radians, hence the average output voltage is calculated as:
5π
+α
6
6
V dc = ∫ V ab dwt
2π π
+α
6
3V Lmax 3√3Vm
V dc = cosα= cosα
π π

[9]