Unit 6: Power supply

1. Uninterrupted Power supply (UPS): A UPS is a device which provides an

uninterruptable power supply so as to maintain the continuity of supply in case
of power outage. There are several applications where even a temporary power
failure can cause a great deal of public inconvenience leading to large
economic losses. Examples of such applications are major computer
installations, process control in chemical plant, safety monitors, general
communication systems, hospital intensive care units (ICUs) etc. For such
critical loads, it is of paramount importance to provide an uninterruptable
power supply.
 Major parts of UPS:
 Battery − the battery works as the energy storage unit in the
UPS system. It provides the stored electrical energy for a
sufficient amount of time during main power failure.
 Rectifier or Charger Circuit − It converts the supply voltage
of 240 VAC into 12 V (or any other battery voltage) DC. It
supplies this rectified DC power to the battery for storage.
 Inverter − It converts the DC output power of the battery into
ac power to supply the load during mains power failure.
 Static Switch − It is a semiconductor device such as a thyristor
which transfers the load from the utility to the inverter (and the
inverter to the utility) without any interruption in the power
supply to the load.

The uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems are broadly classified into the
following two types:
 Off-Load UPS
 On-Load UPS

A. Off-Load UPS: In the case of Offline UPS, the upper static switch is normally
ON and lower static switch is normally OFF. So in normal condition, the power
directly flows from the main supply to the load. At the same time, the battery
will charge. When the main power supply is not available, the upper static
switch will be OFF and the lower static switch will be ON. So the load takes
power from the battery. Components of the Off line UPS are discussed below:
a. EMI Filter: It is made using inductors and capacitor. The main function
of this EMI filter circuit is to reduce or filter the electromagnetic
interferences.
b. Rectifier Circuit: The rectifier circuit is used to convert AC to DC. As
the UPS has the battery inside it, and the battery can store only DC that is
why we need to convert input AC supply into DC.
 c. DC Filter Circuit: The DC filter circuit is used to filter the impure DC
comes from the rectifier circuit. The DC output from the rectifier has
some AC component. So the filter circuit is used to remove those AC
components from the DC supply.
d. Battery: The battery is connected with the output of the DC filter circuit.
When the UPS is connected to the power supply the battery will charge.
Now a days lithium ion batteries are used.
e. Inverter Circuit: Now we have DC supply but, we need AC supply as
output to drive the load. So the inverter circuit is used to convert the DC
to AC. The inverter Circuit is made high-speed solid state switches such
as MOSFET, SCR, etc.
f. AC Filter Circuit: The AC filter circuit is used to filter the impure AC
coming from the inverter circuit.
g. Static Switch: A static switch is connected between the AC filter Circuit
and the Critical Load. Which allow or disallow the power flow from the
UPS to load according to the given condition. Another static switch is
connected between the critical load and the main power supply after the
EMI filter Supply. This switch allows or disallows the power flow from
the main supply to the load.

B. On-Load UPS: In the case of Online UPS, the lower static switch is normally
ON and the upper static is normally OFF. So in normal condition the power
flow from the main supply to the load through the total UPS circuitry. When
the main power supply is not available, then the load takes power from the
battery. There is no transfer delay when the main supply is off.
 Advantages of UPS:
1. Installing a UPS system is considered to be an easy process. It does not
require much space. In fact it can be easily fitted inside a small space.
2. UPS is extremely responsive when it comes to power failure. Having a UPS
system guarantees that there will be immediate power supply in the event of a
power failure. There is no manual intervenes involved here.
3. Having a UPS system essentially means that it is going to be ultimate
protection for your electrical devices. There are numerous protection circuits
present on this device which constantly monitors the electricity levels.
Whenever there is over voltage or under voltage in main power supply, the
UPS immediately begins to provide power from the battery source.

 Disadvantages:
1. Cost
2. Maintenance
3. Since the battery is behind the functioning of a UPS system it is not made to
last forever. Similar to other types of batteries it function degrades over
time. A standard UPS can last for an average of 10 years after which the
unit is going to die.
4. Heavy load like refrigerator, air conditioning cannot run on UPS.
5. High power consumption.
2. Switched-mode power supply:

A switched-mode power supply (switching-mode power supply, switch-

mode power supply, switched power supply, SMPS, or switcher) is an
electronic power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert
electrical power efficiently. It generate the regulated DC at output from AC
supply by using semiconductor switching technique. SMPS is introduced to
overcome the disadvantages of Linear Power Supply (LPS). In Linear Power
Supply AC voltage is stepped down by transformer then rectified with rectifier
and at last the unregulated Dc is fed to the voltage regulator to get regulated
output. So, here power loss is more and heat generation is high. Since the
regulator is used so it cannot be used for high power application. To overcome
these problem semiconductor switching technic is used in SMPS. It is suitable
for high voltage or high current application.

Working principle:

a. The first block is the Bridge rectifier circuit. So the input voltage AC
supply(230V) is given to the rectifier and it converted into high voltage DC.
b. Then the unfiltered DC is filtered by the filter circuit.
c. Then the filtered high voltage DC is converted into very high-frequency
square wave by using semiconductor switching. When semiconductor devices
like Power MOSFET, IGBT is turn on total current pass through it. But when
the switch is turned off no current flows through them. Since the turn on off is
so fast that it generates high frequency square wave.
d. The high-frequency square wave is step down into low voltage ( may be
12V, 6V, etc) by a high-frequency transformer. Since the supply frequency to
the transformer is high then size of transformer is small.
e. Then again a rectifier circuit is used to convert the low voltage AC to DC.
f. A filter circuit is used to filter the DC.
g. The output voltage is fed back to the high frequency switch via PWM
control circuit to control the turn on off of the high frequency switch.
SMPS is classified into two types:
1. Non isolated: The non-isolated SMPS are the ones whose input and
output circuitry are not isolated from each other. Though there many
non-isolated SMPS exists, the three main types of non-isolated
SMPS are Buck, Boost, and Buck-Boost SMPS.

2. Isolated SMPS: The isolated SMPS are the ones where there is
isolation maintained between the input and output circuitry. Despite
the existence of several isolated SMPS, the two types majorly known
are Flyback Converter and Forward Converter.

 Flyback Converter: Here the switching device is in complete

isolation with the output circuit. Here flyback transformer which
accumulates energy in its primary magnetic field and then after a
specific period of time the energy gets transferred to the secondary
winding, is used. Here, the voltage rectification is done by the rectifier
on the secondary winding of the transformer which makes a pulsating
type of DC. This rectified voltage is then filtered using the capacitor
where augments the DC level and it can be applied for the desired
application.
 1. During the high input pulse, the transistor (Q1) will get on and
the current will flow through the primary winding of the
transformer. Due to this flow of current, energy stored in the
primary of flyback transformer in magnetic field. At the time of
this, there will be no current flow in the secondary winding
because the diode is in reverse biased condition. In this condition,
the load demand will be delivered by the output capacitance.

2. However, during the low input pulse, the transistor (Q1) will be
off the primary winding of the transformer withstands to a quick
change in the current and the polarity of the winding gets
reversed. This tends for forward biasing of the output diode. The
accumulated energy in the primary winding will get transferred
to the secondary winding and then to the load section through the
diode. At this condition, the output capacitor tends to gain its
charge.

 Application of flyback converter:

1. Mobile chargers, standby supplies in computers, and in many
others.
2. Solar type of micro inverters
3. Used in telecom sector.
4. Employed for high range of voltage supply for oscilloscopes in
monitors and televisions
 Forward converter:
1. The basic circuit of a forward converter is basically a dc-to-dc buck
converter with the addition of a transformer for output voltage
isolation and scaling.
2. When positive pulse is given to transistor it turned on, current flow through
primary winding and simultaneously a scaled voltage appears across the
transformer secondary. Dotted sides of both the windings are now having
positive polarity. Diode ‘D0’, connected in series with the secondary winding
gets forward biased and the scaled input voltage is applied to the low pass
filter circuit preceding the load.
3. When the control pulse is low then the transistor is off. No current through the
primary winding. The energy stored in the inductor placed in secondary
winding of transformer supplied power to the load through the diode D. Here
D acts a freewheeling diode.

4. During freewheeling the filter inductor current will be decaying as it

flows against the output voltage (Vo), but the presence of relatively
large filter capacitor ‘C’ still maintains the output voltage nearly
constant. The ripple in the output voltage must be within the
acceptable limits.