April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

CONTENTS:

1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY-------------------------------------------------------------------------3
2. INTRODUCTION-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----3
3. OBJECTIVE------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----3
4. AC-AC SILICON
CONTROLLER-----------------------------------------------------------------4
4.1. SILICON CONTROL
RECTIFIERS----------------------------------------------------------4
4.2. SINGLE PHASE AC VOLTAGE
CONTROLLER-------------------------------------------5
4.2.1. PHASE CONTROLLED SINGLE PHASE AC VOLTAGE
CONTROLLER----------5
4.2.2. SINGLE PHASE AC-AC VOLTAGE ON/OFF
CONTROL---------------------------6
4.3. AC/AC CONVERTER ANS ITS
PRINCIPLE------------------------------------------------8

5. THEORETICAL
ANALYSIS--------------------------------------------------------------------------9

5.1. DERIVATION OF ROOT MEAN SQUARE OF OUTPUT

VOLTAGE-------------------9

5.2. DERIVATION OF POWER

FACTOR--------------------------------------------------------9

5.3. DERIVATION OF An AND

Bn--------------------------------------------------------------10

6. PSPICE
ANALYSIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

6.1. ANALYSING VOUT

RMS-------------------------------------------------------------------12

6.2. ANALYSING POWER

FACTOR-------------------------------------------------------------13

1|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

6.3. ANALYSING
EFFICIENCY--------------------------------------------------------------------14

6.4. ANALYSING HARMONIC

CURRENT------------------------------------------------------15

7. PRACTICAL
ANALYSIS----------------------------------------------------------------------------18

8. COMPARING THE
RESULTS---------------------------------------------------------------------21

9.
LIMITATIONS---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23

10.
CONCLUSION--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24

11.
REFERENCE----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24

2|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

LIST OF FIGURES:
Fig 1: silicon control
rectifier--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Fig: 2 full wave two SCRs in inverse

parallel-------------------------------------------------------------------------5

Fig 3: waveform for single phase ac full wave voltage with R-

controller-------------------------------------6

Fig 4: Integral cycle control: (a) typical load voltage waveforms and
-----------------------------------------6
(b) power factor with the duty cycle k.

Fig 5: PMW ac chopper

circuit--------------------------------------------------------------------------------7

fig 6: Typical output voltage and current waveform of a single phase PMW ac
chopper circuit---------7

Fig 7: phase control AC/AC

controller----------------------------------------------------------------------------------8

Fig 8: vout rms using

pspice---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

fig 9: power factor using

pspice----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13

Fig 10: efficiency using

pspice------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

fig 11: harmonic currents using

pspice-------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

Fig 12: circuit for practical analysis

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------18

fig 13: obtained wave

form----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18

Fig :14 comparing the rms value of

vout-----------------------------------------------------------------------------21

3|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig: 15 efficiency
comparision------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21

Fig 16: power factor

comparision--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22

Fig:17 harmonic current

comparison---------------------------------------------------------------------------------22

Fig 18: total harmonic distortion comparison

—-------------------------------------------------------------------23

LIST OF TABLES:
Table 1: analysis of circuit using
pspice------------------------------------------------------------------------------16

Table 2: total harmonic

distortion------------------------------------------------------------------------------------17

Table- 3 practical analysis of ac

controller----------------------------------------------------------------------------19

4|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The analysis of the ac controller is carried out in three different ways; they
are theoretical, pspice and practical simulation. From those analyses we
come to know about,

• How to analyse, simulate and control AC/AC converter.

• Were able to calculate current and voltage harmonics in AC/AC system.

The values obtained, from the above methods of simulation, are compared
with each other and it is represented graphically. The theoretical and the
simulation works include the identification of theory and it is customised for
the experimental set-up. The experimental results are related to the
theoretical work and accuracy of their results was observed. The sources of
inaccuracy and the conclusions were also discussed in this assignment.

1. INTRODUCTION:
In general a power electronic ac-ac converter accepts electric power from
one system and converts it for delivery to another a.c. system with
waveforms of different amplitude, frequency and phase. The ac-ac
converters employed to vary the rms voltage across the load at constant
frequency are known as ac voltage controllers or ac regulators.An AC/AC
converter converts an AC waveform such as the mains supply, to another AC
waveform, where the output voltage and frequency can be set arbitrarily.
Since, the method of controlling the power flowing in an AC line by series of
resistors is inefficient, the new method was introduced for controlling the
power. That is, introducing thyristor a.c. line regulator. Since it is working on
the principle of blocking unwanted power rather than dissipating it across the
control device it is relatively more efficient than the resistors.

2. OBJECTIVE:
The main objective of the assignment is to,
• Understand the principles of AC voltage controllers.
• Understand the effect of AC voltage controllers on power systems
network i.e. power factor and current harmonics.

5|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

• Use PSpice to predict the performance i.e. the efficiency, power factor
and current harmonics and compare with experimental work.

1. AC-AC CONTROLLER
1.1.SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIERS:

A silicon-controlled rectifier (or semiconductor-controlled rectifier) is

a four-layer solid state device that controls current. In the normal "off" state,
the device restricts current to the leakage current. When the gate-to-
cathode voltage exceeds a certain threshold, the device turns "on" and
conducts current. The device will remain in the "on" state even after gate
current is removed so long as current through the device remains above
the holding current. Once current falls below the holding current for an
appropriate period of time, the device will switch "off". If the gate is pulsed
and the current through the device is below the holding current, the device
will remain in the "off" state.

If the applied voltage increases rapidly enough, capacitive coupling may

induce enough charge into the gate to trigger the device into the "on" state;
this is referred to as "dv/dt triggering." This is usually prevented by limiting
the rate of voltage rise across the device, perhaps by using a snubber. "dv/dt
triggering" may not switch the SCR into full conduction rapidly and the
partially-triggered SCR may dissipate more power than is usual, possibly
harming the device.

SCRs can also be triggered by increasing the forward voltage beyond their
rated breakdown voltage (also called as break over voltage), but again, this
does not rapidly switch the entire device into conduction and so may be
harmful so this mode of operation is also usually avoided. Also, the actual
breakdown voltage may be substantially higher than the rated breakdown
voltage, so the exact trigger point will vary from device to device. This
device is generally used in switching applications

6|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig 1: silicon control

rectifier

Applications
of SRC:

SCRs are mainly used in

devices where the control of high power, possibly coupled with high
voltage, is demanded. Their operation makes them suitable for use in
medium to high-voltage AC power control applications, such as lamp
dimming, regulators and motor control.

1.2. SINGLE PHASE A.C. VOLTAGE CONTROLLER:

The basic power circuit of a single-phase ac–ac voltage controller, as shown
in Fig.2, comprises a pair of SCRs connected back-to-back, also known as
inverse-parallel or anti-parallel, between the ac supply and the load.

Fig: 2 full wave two SCRs in inverse parallel

7|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

1.2.1.PHASE CONTROLLED SINGLE PHASE A.C. VOLTAGE

CONTROLLER:
For a full wave, symmetrical phase control, the SCRs T1 and T2 in Fig. 2 are
gated at α and π + α, respectively from the zero crossing of the input voltage
and by varying α, the power flow to the load is controlled through voltage
control in alternate half cycles. As long as one SCR is carrying current, the
other SCR remains reverse biased by the voltage drop across the conducting
SCR. The principle of operation in each half cycle is similar to that of the
controlled half-wave rectifier, and the same approach can be used for
analysis of the circuit.

Operation with R-load:

Figure 3 shows the typical voltage and current waveforms for the single-
phase bi-directional phase-controlled ac voltage controller of Fig. 2with a
resistive load. The output voltage and current waveforms have half-wave
symmetry and so no DC component.

8|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig 3: waveform for single phase ac full wave voltage with R-controller

1.2.2.SINGLE PHASE AC-AC VOLTAGE CONTROL WITH

ON/OFF CONTROL:

Integral Cycle Control: As an alternative to the phase control, the method of

integral cycle control or burst-firing is used for heating loads. Here, the switch
is turned on for a time tn with n integral cycles and turned off for a time tm
with m integral cycles. As the SCRs or triacs used here are turned on at the
zero crossing of the input voltage and turn off occurs at zero current, supply
harmonics and radio frequency interference are very low. However, sub-
harmonic frequency components may be generated which are undesirable as
they may set up sub-harmonic resonance in the power supply system, cause
lamp flicker and may interfere with the natural frequencies of motor loads
causing shaft oscillations.

For sinusoidal input voltage, v =√2Vs sin ωt, the rms output voltage, Vo =
Vs√k
Where, k = n/(n + m) = duty cycle
and Vs = rms phase voltage
The power factor =√k (18.16), which is poorer for lower values of the duty
cycle k.

9|Page
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig 4: Integral cycle control: (a) typical load voltage waveforms and (b)
power factor with the duty cycle k.

PMW AC chopper: Pulse-width modulation (PWM), is a commonly used

technique for controlling power to inertial electrical devices, made practical
by modern electronic power switches. As in the case of controlled rectifier,
the performance
of ac voltage controllers
can be improved in
terms of harmonics,
quality of output
current, and input power
factor by PWM control
in PWM ac choppers. The
circuit configuration
of one such single phase
unit is shown.

Fig 5: PMW ac chopper circuit

10 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Here, fully controlled switches S1 and S2 connected in anti-parallel are

turned on and off many times during the positive and negative half cycles of
the input voltage, respectively.S1l and S2l provide the freewheeling paths for
the load current when S1 and S2 are off. An input capacitor filter may be
provided to attenuate the high switching frequency currents drawn from the
supply and also to improve the input power factor. Fig 6.shows the typical
output voltage and load current waveform for a single-phase PWM ac
chopper. It can be shown that the control characteristics of an ac chopper
depend on the modulation index, M which theoretically varies from 0 to 1.

fig 6: Typical output voltage and current waveform of a single phase PMW
ac chopper circuit

11 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

1.3. AC/AC CONVERTER AND ITS PRINCIPLE:

The ac–ac converters employed to vary the rms voltage across the load at
constant frequency are known as ac voltage controllers or ac regulators.
The voltage control is accomplished either by (i) phase control under
natural commutation using pairs of silicon controlled rectifiers (SCRs) or
triacs or (ii) by on/off control under forced commutation/ self-commutation
using fully controlled self commutated switches like gate turn-off thyristors
(GTOs),power transistors, integrated gate bipolar transistor (IGBTs),MOS
controlled thyristors (MCTs), integrated gate commutated thyristor
(IGCTs), etc.

The ac–ac power converters in which ac power at one frequency is directly

converted to ac power at another frequency without any intermediate dc
conversion link are known as cycloconverters, the majority of which use
naturally commutated SCRs for their operation when the maximum output
frequency is limited to a fraction of the input frequency. With rapid
advancements of fast-acting fully controlled switches, forced commutated
cycloconverters, or recently developed matrix converters with bi-
directional on/off control switches provide independent control of the
magnitude and the frequency of the generated output voltage as well as
sinusoidal modulation of output voltage and current.

In AC/AC voltage controller, the

current and therefore the power
flowing into a load from an AC
source can be controlled by
having an AC switch in series
with the load .The ON time of the
thyristors can be controlled (through
delaying the triggering angle of
the thyristors) in order to allow some of the input voltage to appear across
the load.

12 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig 7: phase control AC/AC controller

APPLICATIONS:

While typical applications of ac voltage controllers include lighting and

heating control, online transformer tap changing, soft-starting and speed
control of pump and fan drives, the cycloconverters are mainly used for
high power low speed large ac motor drives for application in cement
kilns, rolling mills and ship propellers. The power circuits, control methods
and the operation of the ac voltage controllers, cycloconverters and
matrix converters are introduced in this chapter. A brief review is also
made regarding their applications.

2. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS:
2.1.Derivation of root mean square of output voltage

2.2.Derivation of power factor

13 | P a g e
April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

14 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

2.3. Derivation of an and bn :

15 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

By using above formulae the results were obtained and the graphs were also
plotted. The results were attached in a separate sheet.

16 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

3. PSPICE ANALYSIS:
In pspice the following circuit is analysed and the values for Vout rms,
power factor, efficiency and harmonic current were found and compared.
3.1. Analysing Vout rms:

• Pspice circuit and probes for measuring vout rms

17 | P a g e
April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig 8: vout rms using pspice

18 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

1.1.Analysing power factor:

• Pspice circuit and probes for measuring power factor

19 | P a g e
April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

fig 9: power factor using pspice

20 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

1.1. Analysing efficiency:

• Pspice circuit and probes for measuring efficiency

21 | P a g e
April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig 10: efficiency using pspice

22 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

1.1.Analysing harmonic currents:

• Pspice circuit and probes for measuring harmonic
currents:

23 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

fig 11: harmonic currents using pspice

From the above analysing methods the vout rms, efficiency, power factor
and harmonic currents are measured and the values are tabulated and the
corresponding graphs are plotted below.

Table 1: analysis of circuit using pspice

Graphs:

24 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Total harmonic
current:

Table 2: total
harmonic distortion

Where It is the total

harmonic current.

Thus the graphs are plotted for the measured reading.

1. PRACTICAL ANALYSIS:
In the practical analysis the following circuit is being analysed, and the
obtained results and graphs are plotted below.

Fig 12: circuit for practical analysis

1. Output Voltage (root mean square voltage)

vout rms
2. Load Current, I
3. Input Power, Pin
4. Output Power, Pout
5. Power Factor, P.F
6. Power Efficiency of the system

25 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

7. Fundamental Current Harmonics

8. Percentage Current Harmonics

Before starting the experiment proper precaution steps are to be followed in

order to avoid the probability of hazards from being occurred. One of the
crucial steps is to fill the distilled water in the distilled water fuse, because in
case of wrong connection in the circuit the current flowed is used up by the
water to turn the trip off. While starting, for sake of the experiment the
above reading were taken under some initial procedures, that is setting the
oscilloscope to measure the output voltage wave form at an interval of
18degrees which is equivalent to 1ms. And by doing so, a wave form is
obtained which is shown below.

fig 13: obtained wave form

26 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

table 3: Practical analysis of ac controller

GRAPHS:

27 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Thus the graphs for root mean square of the output voltage, power factor,
efficiency, harmonic currents and total harmonic distortion have been plotted
and they are compared below.

28 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

2. COMPARING THE RESULTS :

vout rms:

Fig :14 comparing the rms value of vout

On comparing the values of vout rms obtained from theoretical, pspice
and practical analysis, the vout values from the practical and theoretical
found to be more or less same but pspice observation is comparably lower
those observations.
Efficiency:

29 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig: 15 efficiency comparision

The efficiency obtained from theoretical calculation is 100% since there is
no external loss, but in case of practical and pspice analysis it is around
98% it is due to external losses and human errors.

30 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Power factor:

Fig 16: power factor comparision

From the graph, come to know that the graph for theoretical values is found
to be smooth all the way, but in case of practical and pspice the curves are
not smooth as that of from the theoretical.

Harmonic current:

Fig:17 harmonic current comparison

The values obtained from each method are found to be more or less same in
the case of harmonic current.

Total harmonic distortion:

31 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

Fig 18: total harmonic distortion comparison

While comparing the obtained thd values it is found that the theoretical
values got earlier peak values. The practical values take higher triggering
angle to attain the peak value when compared with other two observations.

3. LIMITATIONS:
From the above comparisons it is confirmed that the practical analysis is
the most inefficient method of analysis. In general, there are several
number of factors actually contributing to the reduction of the efficiency of
the ac voltage controllers.
1. Heat dissipation:
When a current of high capacity flows through the circuit and the
rheostat, eventually the rheostat starts to dissipate the current in the
form of heat. This is one of the major contributors in lowering the
efficiency of the circuit.
2. Error in setting of the triggering angle, since it is not a high precision
device it is to be adjusted to get desired wave format.
3. Internal resistance due to the measuring instruments, electrical wires
and also the electric devices as well. Even though that the above
stipulated results gave us the following characteristic graphs on the
PSPICE and Theoretical calculations, these where basically ideal
situations without consideration of all these effects

32 | P a g e
 April 1, 2011 AC-AC CONVERTER

1. CONCLUSION:
The input voltage should be maintained to 60V for each and every trial but
due to the unmaintained input voltage the result which we got from the
practical analysis is not matching exactly with the pspice and theoretical
analyses. From the above analysis we conclude that the minimum current
that the thyristors can conduct is 0.424A at the maximum triggering angle
of 164⁰. Therefore the operating cycle for one of the thyristors can be
10ms.

2. REFERENCE:
• DARWISH, M., ABBOD, M., (2010) The Essence of Electrical,
Electronic, Power Electronics and Mechatronics Engineering, 2nd
Edition, Essex UK, Pearson
• DARWISH, M. (2010) Power Semiconductor [Design of Mechatronic
Systems] Brunel University, 3rd February 2010.
• F.F.Mazda, (1973) Thyristors Control, pg 67-93
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon-controlled_rectifier accessed at 26/3/11
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC/AC_converter accessed at 28/3/11

33 | P a g e