Lecture 9

Controlled Rectifiers

The Controlled Half-wave Rectifier

Normal rectifiers are considered as uncontrolled rectifiers.
Once the source and load parameters are established, the
dc level of the output and power transferred to the load are
fixed quantities.
quantities
A way to control the output is to use SCR instead of diode.
Two condition must be met before SCR can conduct:
The SCR must be forward biased (V SCR>0)
Current must be applied to the gate of SCR

Controlled, Half-wave R load

A gate signal is
applied at t = ,
where is the
delay/firing angle.

I o , rms

Vo , rms
R

Vs

2R

Example
Design a circuit to produce an average voltage of
40V across 100 load resistor from a 120Vrms 60 Hz
ac source. Determine the power absorbed by the
resistor and the power factor.

Briefly describe what happen if the circuit is replaced

by diode to produce the same average output.

Example (Cont)
Solution
In such that to achieved 40V
average voltage, the delay angle
must be

Vs
[1 cos ]
2
120 2
40
[1 cos ]
2
61.2o 1.07 rad

Vo

Vo , rms

Vm
sin( 2 )
1
2

120 2
1.07 sin 2(1.07)
1

2
75.6V

V 2 rms 75.6 2
P

57.1W
R
100
pf

57.1
0.63
75.6
(120)

100

If an uncontrolled diode is used,

the average voltage would be

Vs
2 (120)
Vo
54V

That means, some reducing

average resistor to the design must
be made. A series resistor or
inductor could be added to an
uncontrolled rectifier,
rectifier while
controlled rectifier has advantage
of not altering the load or
introducing the losses

Controlled, Half-wave R-L load

The analysis of the circuit is very
much similar to that of uncontrolled
rectifier.

m

[sin( wt ) sin( )e
i ( wt ) Z
0
otherwise

and

for t

L
L
,
R
R

Z R 2 (L) 2 , tan 1

rms current ,
I rms

1 2
i
(

t
)
d
(

t
)

i (t ) d (t )

2
2

and , average current ,

1
Io
i (t ) d (t )

Controlled, Half-wave R-L

load
The average output voltage,
Vm
[cos cos ]
1 Vm sin(t )dt
Vo
2

The average power absorbed by load ,

2
P I rms
R ;

Controlled full-wave rectifiers

Resistive load

1
Vo Vm sin( wt )d ( wt )

Vm

( 1 cos )

delay angle

Vo Vm
Io

(1 cos )

R R

I rms

The

Vm
2
(
sin
wt
)
d ( wt )
R

Vm 1 sin( 2 )

R 2 2
4

power delivered to the load P I 2 rmsR

The rms current in source is the same as the rms curr

the load.

Full wave Controlled Rectifier

with RL load

Discontinuous and Continuous

Operations

Discontinuous Mode

discontinuous current :

Vm
io ( wt )
sin( t ) sin( )e ( t ) /( )
Z

for

Z R 2 ( L ) 2

tan 1 (

L
)
R

, L

For discontinuous current

Analysis of the controlled full-wave rectifier operating

in the discontinuous current mode is identical to that
of the controlled half-wave rectifier, except that the
period
for the output current is .

Continuous Mode

continuous current
wt

, i ( ) 0

sin( ) sin( )e ( ) /( )

sin( ) 1 e /( )
sin( - ) 0
( - ) 0

v0 ( wt ) Vo Vn cos(nwt n)
n 1

L
Tan ( )
R
for continuous current

1
Vo

-1

Vm sin wt d ( wt )

Vn an bn

n Tan -1 (

bn
)
an

2Vm
cos

an

2Vm cos(n 1) cos(n 1)

n 1
n 1

bn

2Vm sin( n 1) sin( n 1)

n 1
n 1

n 2,4,6,....

In Vn

Zn

Vn

Irms Io
2

| R jnwL |

n 2 ,4...

Io Vo

In
2

)2

R-L Source load Fig.4-14

SCRS may be turned on at any time that they

are forward biased, which is at an angle

The

sin 1 (Vdc Vm)

 For

continuous current case, the average bridge output volta

Vo

2 Vm
cos

average load current is

Io

Vo Vdc
R

ac voltage terms are unchanged from the

controlled rectifier with an R-L load. The ac current
terms are determined from circuit.
Power absorbed by the dc voltage is

The

Pdc Io Vdc

Power absorbed by resistor in the load is

P I 2 rmsR Io 2 R if

L is l arg e

Controlled Single-phase converter operating as

an inverter

Average DC output voltage

2 2
Vd
Vs cos

Assuming AC side inductance is zero

Note that output voltage can go negative for
alpha > 90 degrees.
This means negative power flow or inversion
Copyright 2003
by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Chapter 6 Thyristor Converters