Power Controller
for Electric
Convector Heaters
By Gérard Guiheneuf (France)
In Autumn or Spring, the weather may be
warm enough that we'dlike to save money
by shutting down the main heating system in
courhome and just use supplementary heat-
ingbased onone ormore electric convector
heaters
Even though these convectorsare quite heavy
consumers of electricity this can be reduced
by fitting a power controller between the
heatersand the AC power outlet, which will
affectthe effective power consumption of the
convectors,
The circuit diagramis based around the use
of the emblematic NE5SSIC, used here as
an astable multivibrator with variable duty
cyde (D~ tysh/ 7), but at a fixed operating
frequency, given by:
1(0.693xP1 x6)
‘The duty cydeD of the signal at the output
(0in 3) of IC2 will change depending on the
position of the wiper of potentiometer PI
+ Ifthe wiperis at mid-travel, the duty cycle
Dwillbeo 5;
+ Ithewiperisat the +12 Vend, the cz
‘output signaliszeroand hence D=0;
+ Ifthe wiper position takes it down to the
voltage on, IC2's outputsupplies 2
constant voltage of around 11 V and D=
debtor 7/2200
aimed at reducing heating in the twocompo
nents and reducing the bulk of the heatsinks
cempbyed. Experimentally, thi solution gives
rise to low heating of the heatsinks when the
controlleris powering a2 kW-ated convector
constanthy (duty cycle D = 1)
‘The power consumed by the convector with
controller is easy to calculate from the sim=
ple formula
By way of transistor T1, 1€2 drives two
MOC3021 phototriacs (IC3 & IC4) which
provide the isolation between the circuit's
“driver section and the ‘power’section, which
isdirectly connected to the AC povreitines
Each phototriac drives a power triac (TRN &
W=PxtxD
where
We power consumed in watt-hours (Wh)
P=rated convector power in watts (W)
erating time of the convector{controller
unit in hours (i);
D=duty cycle setby potentiometer PI
TRI). These two triacs are fitted in parallel
and share thetask of supplying the convector
(®)-onetriac supplies the postive hal-cycle
while the other triac supplies the negative
halfscycle. The overeating ofthe triacs (high
rmscurrent rating: 16 4) combined with their
sein parallel and the alternating switching is
45
Example: fora duty cydeD of Sand anoper
ating time of one hour, a2 kW convector will
consume 1 kWh
(ows
Internet Link
[1] wwacelektor.comj1 10185