118 ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS

(b) In case there is voltage dip on the a.c. side, the life of thyristors is endangered due to
commutation failure.
This is shown in Fig. 5.15. Suppose that normal current Id is flowing and that is so
adjusted that > 0 as shown in Fig. 5.15(a). If, now, the voltage on a.c. side experiences a
symmetrical dip and assuming that the current does not change substantially, the same current
has to be commutated at reduced voltage. This requires that the shaded areas of the two figures
should be equal. As a result of Fig. 5.15 (b) is reduced below 0 with subsequent commutation
failure. However, if was kept large in anticipation of voltage dip, the inverter V Ar requirements
would be excessive.

d > d0 d < d0

d0 d
d g
g d0
b (b) b
(a)
Fig. 5.15 Symmetrical reduction of a.c. system voltage.
(=) > 0; (>) < 0

5.8 CONSTANT EXTINCTION ANGLE CONTROL

This control requires a fast compounding device. The current Id expression, for an inverter,
describes the nature of the control problem.
Vo
Id = (cos cos )
6x
In order to have certain value of Id, for a particular value of Vo and , value of can be
obtained from the expression above. If is continuously computed and the thyristors are fired
accordingly, there is a substantial risk of commutation failure for the following reasons:
d > d

d
d < d
Fig. 5.16 Asymmetrical reduction of a.c. system voltage.