A C VOLTAGE REGULATORS

They convert fixed AC Voltage to variable AC Voltage without any charge in the frequency.
By connecting a triac (or) 2 SCRs in anti parallel direction, between the source and load, the
voltage applied can be controlled by varying applied firing angle.
AC Voltage controllers are also known as phase control Devices and some of the applications are
Speed control of 1- & 3- IM, Domestic heating, Tap charging etc.
Triac is used for low and medium power applications and SCR for high power applications.
Advantages are high efficiency, compact in size, low maintenance etc.
Types of Power Control:-
Two types are commonly used
On-off control
Phase-angle control
In on-off control, the thyristor switches connect the load for few cycles and for cycles, they are
disconnected.
In phase control, the load as connected to the AC source for a position of each cycle of I/P
Voltage.
Basic circuit




Integral cycle control
It is also known as on-off control. For the Resistance load, the waveforms are as shown below.




From above figure, It is observed that even though the thyristors are triggered for less no of
times, speed control of the Devices does not change as their time constant is marginally high.
Rms output
2
2
2 2 2 2
0
0
1
sin sin ( ) ............
nms
E Em w dcw Em w d wt
periodicity
t
t ( | |
= + + + + +
( |
(
\ .
} }

2
m
RMS
E a
E
a b
=
+


2
m
E
K =
K Duty cycle =
a
a b +
.
RMS load current =
RMS
RMS
E
I
R
=
Power Delivered to the load
= I/P VA X PF
I/P P.F =
RMS
S
E
K
E
=
FULL-WAVE AC VOLTAGE REGULATOR
There are 3 possible configurations.
a) Using 2 thyristors connected in anti-parallel.
b) Using 4-Diodes and a thyristor
c) Triac based AC voltage Regulators.
The 3 configurations are shown below.






AC VOLTAGE REGULATOR WITH R-LOAD
It consists of 2 thyristors connected in anti-parallel Direction to each other.
Its operation may be explained is 2 modes.
MODE-1:- (0<wt<)
During the +ve half cycle,

is forward Biased and

is reverses biased condition.

Thyristor triggers at wt = , and the path would be
1
Es T Load Es
+

During this cycles, the power gets Delivered from source to load during the period o to t .
At t , both E0 and I0 fall to 0 At this, T
1
is subjected to Reverse Bias and therefore gets turned
off naturally.
MODE 2:- ( 2 t t e t < < )
During this cycle,

is +ve biased and

is reverse beased condition at

2
, t TH T e o = gets turned
on and conducts from ( t o + ) to 2 t .
Derivation.

1
sin ( ).
2
Eavg Em td t
t
o
e e
t
=
}


| | cos
2
Em
t
t
o
e
t
=

| | 1 cos
2
Em
Eavg o
t
= + Ans.
Associated waveforms.
Derivation of output Voltage

( )

()

Harmonic analysis
From 0 o , t t o + , no SCR will conduct. The output voltage is 0.
The voltage waveform is not pure sinusoidal as it contains harmonies.

Where n=1,3,5,7 ( an odd Integer)
Peak value of n
th
harmonic is Given by

The phase angle can be calculated by

]
The above equations are applicable for odd harmonies.
In some applications such as heaters, Lamps, ovens, both the fundamental and other harmonies
produce heat. These cause radio Interference and reduces power factor.
AC VOLTAGE CONTROLLER WITH RL- LOAD:
The operation of AC Voltage controller is to be explained in the following 2 modes.
a) Mode 1:- ( 0 o t < < )
During the +ve half cycle, T1 is forward Biased and T2 reverse Biased.
When Gate pulse is Given to the thyristor at t e o = , it starts conducting and the load currents
traces the path,

At t e t = , load Voltage and Supply Voltage become zero but load current will not be zero
immediately due to the presence of Inductance.
At instant | t > , load current becomes zero and hence

gets turned off.

The figure is shown below.
| Is known as the extinction angle.
Now thyristor

is reverse Bias and

is forward biased conduction.

When Grater signal is Given to the thyristor

, it gets turned on and starts conducting till the

next half cycle.





MODE-2:-
During this cycle

is reverse biased condition and

is forward Biased condition. When

is
triggered, it follows the path of

At the Instant 2 t e t = ,

must be turned off as the supply and load voltage is zero. But it does
not happen due to presence of inductance in load circuit.
At ( t o + + ), i

= 0 and

gets turned off.

DISCONTINUOUS CONDUCTION MODE:-

The solution of above equation is

( )

Where [

)
At

( )

)

Substituting the value of A, we get

[( ) ( )

)
]
At

( ) ( )

)

By knowing the solution of above equation, | can be obtained
AC VOLTAGE REGULATOR WITH RL-LOAD
When o | s
Under steady state condition, when o | s AC Voltage controller works as following.

conducts from 0 | s ,

from | to t | + .
When o | s ,

does not turn on due to reverse Bias Voltage applied across it by

gets turned on at o | s , only when i

and reverse Bias due to the voltage Drop across it

becomes zero.
When o | s , then the control Range of firing angle may be given as
0
180 | o < < .
BIDIRECTIONAL TRIODE THYRISTOR (TRIAC)
There are certain applications where Bi-directional conduction is required, under such
circumstances R SCRs connected in anti-parallel serves the purpose.
Disadvantages are
Cost of SCRs becomes high.
Heat sinks reg will be more.
TRIAC can be used for low and moderate power applications where SCRs can be used for high
power applications.
TRIAC is five layer Device having 3 terminals and 3 Junctions.
The terminals are

and Gate terminals.

is always used as ref terminals.

TRIGGERING MODES OF TRIAC
There are 4 Important modes
MODE 1:

positive and Gate current positive.

MODE 2:

positive and Gate current negative.

MODE 3:

negative and Gate current positive.

MODE 4:

negative and Gate current negative.

MODE 1:
When

is +ve used

, Junctions

are forward Biased and Junctions

is
reversed Biased.
When Gate current is Injected, Avalanche Break Down occurs.
In these conditions, TRIAC will operate in 1
st
Quadrant.






MODE 2:-

is +ve and Gate current is ve, current will flow through

initially.
Trice operates in second Quadrant which is less sensitive compared to first Quadrant.





MODE 3:

is +ve with ve Gate current:

When

is ve and

is +ve, Trice can be turned on by giving +ve pulse bet Gate and
terminal

.
Layer

injects

into

layer, as shown by Dotted Lines in figure.

The main structure that Leads to turn-on of Device is

where

acts as remote gate.

The excess

liberated are at the centre and they result in the Destruction of Device due to the
regenerative current.
So to avoid the Breakdown, the Device must be controlled by connecting a load Resistor. The
Device operates in the III Quadrant.



MODE 4:-

ve with ve gate current.,

When

is ve with

+ve, Triac may be turned on by giving negative Gate current.

The main structure that Leads to turn on the triac

. With

acting as remote gate.

Layer

injects

into

as shown by Dotted unes and these are conducted by Junction

causing Increase in current through Junction

.
Regenerative process of

emussion will take place at the layer and leads to Breakdown.

TRIAC WITH R-LOAD:
During the +ve half cycle of AC supply,

is +ve current

.
MODE 1: ( 0 t e t < < )
At , t e o = , Give the Gate pulse current

. TRIAC can be brought into conduction state often

giving gate pulse at t e o = , The load current follows the path.

At t e t = , source voltage becomes zero so the current flowing through TRIAC is less than the
holding current so the TRIAC gets commutated.

MODE 2:- ( 2 t t e t < < )
During the ve half cycle,

is ve current to

. At t e t o = + , give the gate signal current

.
TRIAC can be brought into conduction state by applying the +ve gate signal.
The path would be

At 2 t e t = , the source Voltage, and load output voltage becomes zero, at that instant load
current becomes zero.

TRIAC WITH R-LOAD
diagram

Derivation of RMS load voltage

By applying units

[ [

Power delivered to load

.
TRIAC WITH R-LOAD







Its operation can be explained in following mode.
MODE 1:- ( t e | < < )
During +ve cycle, trioc is forward Biased when gate signal is applied to the triace, it conducts.
The load current traces the path,

At the Instant t e t = , the source voltage and load voltage becomes zero.
But due to inductance, the wave from will draft from the original shape.
MODE 2:- ( 2 t | e t < < )
As the TRIAC is Bidirectional, it is forward biased in the ve cycle also.
The load current flows through the following path

COMPARISON BETWEEN SCR AND TRIAC
SCR TRIAC
+ve gate pulse is required for triggering Both +ve and ve pulse can perform the triggering
No of heat sinks required is high Single heat sink of large size is enough
Larger rating of thyristor are available TRIACS have smaller rating
High reliability Low reliability
It requires 2 fuses. It requires single fuse.
TRIAC FIRING CIRCUITS
A TRIAC may be fired with the help of the following.
a) DIAC
b) UJT
c) Triggering circuit using negative line and npn transistors.
a) Diac





It consists of 3 resistors namely R1,R,r2
R1:R2 is constant resistor which is used to protect the DIAC.
R2 units the current flowing
Variable resistor R changes the charging time of capacitor. Operation may be explained in 2
modes.
MODE 1:- ( 0 o t < < )
During this cycle, capacitor charges to voltage of about Breakdown voltage.
The capacitor charges with upper plate positive and lower plate negative which helps the
triggering of DIAC.
Triac gets on at a firing angle o , and when Es becomes 0 at t e t = , Triac gets turned off.
MODE 2:- ( 2 t o t < < )
During ve half cycle, capacitor gets charged with lower plate +ve and upper plate ve, which
results in the turn on process of Triac.
At t o + , the reverse Bias is observed and so the Triac turns off.
TRIGGERING OF TRIAC BY UJT.
The figure is shown below.
Operation principle
Capacitor gets charged through R
2
and R
4
at the rate det by the setting of R4.
The typical range of capacitor would be 100nf to 1 F.
The time const (R
2
+R
4
) C1 must exceed the time period of cycle in order to very the firing angle
upto
0
180
For 50H maine
1 2 4
( ) 10 . t C R R ms = + >

2
max
min
BB
x
V
R
I
> where = Valley current of UJT.
Range of R
3
should be bet 100 to 1K.
Range of R
5
should usually be below 100.
The pulse T/f should provide ve pulse.
C) BY NEGATIVE SUPPLY LINE METHOD:-
Circuit is shown below.
There are many types of triggering
a) AC
b) DC
c) Pulse
DC triggering is used here
max
min max
max
GT
C
Vcc V
R
Igt
(
=
(


Collector load resistance must not be too small,
max max
max
min
GT
Vcc V
Vgt Pg
Rc
(
s
(

.
Triac gets triggered when it satisfies the following condition.
max max
max
min
GT B
B CC BE
FE
I R
V V V
h
<