234 4IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTROMCS AND CONTROL INSTRUMENTATION, VOL. IECI-28, NO.
3, AUGUST 1981
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank W. Lemmens for the formula-
tion of the stability problem and for guidance in the initial
stages of this research.
REFERENCES
[1] G. W. Wester and R. D. Middlebrook, "Low-frequency charac-
terisation of switched dc-dc converters," IEEE Trans. Aerosp.
Electron. Syst., vol. AES-9, pp. 376-385, May 1973.
[21 R. D. Middlebrook and S. Cuk, "A general unified approach to
modeling switching converter power stages," Int. J. Electron., vol.
42, no. 6, pp. 521-550, 1977.
[3] R. P. Iwens, Y. Yu, and J. E. Triner, "Time domain modeling and
stability analysis of an integral pulse frequency modulated dc to dc
converter," in IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conf. Rec., pp.
Analysis of and Inductance Estimation for Half-Controlled
Thyristor Converters
S. PALANICHAMY, MEMBER, IEEE, AND
Abstract-Operating diagrams are developed for single-phase as
well as three-phase half-controlled thyristor converters connected to a
general resistive, inductive, and EMF load. With the help of these
diagrams, modes of operation of such converters are identified. Once
the operating mode is identified for any given set of load circuit
parameters and trigger angle, then the corresponding equations can
be chosen with which the performance analysis can be carried out.
Minimum inductance necessary in the load circuit for continuous
current operation of three-phase converters is evaluated through a
method wherein the load circuit resistance is neglected. A graphical
solution is given for the evaluation of minimum inductance in those
cases where the load circuit resistance may not be negligible.
NOMENCLATURE
R Load circuit resistance, Q.
L Load circuit inductance, H.
E Load circuit EMF, V.
id Instantaneous value of the load current, A.
Id Average value of the load current, A.
Vd Instantaneous value of the load voltage, V.
Vd Average value of the load voltage, V.
Vm Peak value of the ac line voltage, V.
m =E/Vm.
ae Trigger angle of the thyristors, rad.
Manuscript received February 17, 1979; revised November 26,
1979, and October 6, 1980. This work was supported by the Univer-
sity Grants Commission, Government of India.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering,
PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India.
0018-9421/81/0800-0234$00.75 ( 1981 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS. Downloaded on August 09,2010 at 08:34:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
80-90, June 1975.
[4] F. C. Y. Lee, R. P. Iwens, Y. Yu, and J. E. Triner, "Generalized
computer-aided discrete time-domain modeling and analysis of dc-
dc converters," IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. Contr. Instrum., vol.
IECI-26, pp. 58-69, May 1979.
[51 P. Burger, "Analysis of a class of pulse modulated dc-to-dc power
converters," IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. Contr. Instrum., vol.
IECI-22, pp. 104-116, May 1975.
[6] A. Capel, J. G. Ferrante, and R. Prajoux, "Dynamic behavior and
z-transform stability analysis of dc-dc regulators with a non linear
P.W.M. control loop," in IEEE Power Electronics Specialists
Conf. Rec., pp. 149-157, 1973.
[7] , "Stability analysis of a P.W.M. controlled dc-dc regulator
with dc and ac feedback loops," in IEEE Power Electronics
Specialists Conf. Rec., pp. 246-254, 1974.
[8] R. S. Varga, Matrix iterative analysis. Englewood Cliffs. NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1962, pp. 9-15.
V. SUBBIAH
,3 Extinction angle of the load current, rad.
ly Angle at which the instantaneous ac line voltage
is equal to the load circuit EMF, rad,
= sin-1 m.
co Angular frequency of the ac supply voltage,
rad/s.
=tan-'1 (L/R), rad.
Z -= R2 + c2L2,2.
b and 0 Constants appearing in the system equations.
K Inductance constance = Vm I2r-coId.
I. INTRODUCTION
THYRISTOR converters are nowadays extensively used in
many fields, such as electric drives. The bridge converters
have marked advantages over center-tap arrangements and are
normally preferred. These bridge converters can be of fully or
half-controlled type depending on whether all or half the
number of devices are controllable. Fully controlled converters
can be operated as rectifiers as well as line-commutated in-
verters whereas half-controlled converters can be used only
as rectifiers. Nevertheless, half-controlled configuration offers
advantages of economy and improvement in power factor of
ac current [1], [2]. It offers also substantial reduction in the
harmonic content of the output dc voltage particularly in the
case of single-phase configuration. The half-controlled con-
verters are, therefore, preferred in many applications where
regeneration is not an essential requirement. In this paper, the
operation of such converters is discussed.
 PALANICHAMY AND SUBBIAH: HALF-CONTROLLED THYRISTOR CONVERTERS
In the operation of converters, the load current can be
either continuous or discontinuous depending upon the load
circuit parameters and trigger angle [11-[4]. With the half-
controlled converters for continuous as well as discontinuous
current operation, different types of load voltage waveforms
are possible. These are hereinafter referred to as "modes." In
the analysis of such converters, it is necessary to identify the
exact operating mode so that the load current, load voltage,
and other desired parameters can be evaluated from the cor-
responding set of equations. Such mode identification is pos-
sible with the help of the so-called "operating diagrams."
Operating diagrams for fully controlled converters were de-
veloped by Dewan and Straughen [3]. In line with the above
work, operating diagrams are developed in this paper for the
half-controlled converters. Additional modes pointed out by
Mehta and Mukhopadhyay [5] have also been incorporated
in the operating diagrams presently developed.
In the discontinuous current operation, overvoltages
could occur at the instants the current becomes zero due
to the combined effects of stray capacitances and system
reactances, particularly if there were a source of EMF in
the load circuit [6]. In converter-fed dc drives, discontinuity
in the current could make the steady-state characteristic and
the dynamic response of the drive inferior to that obtained
when the motor is operating with continuous current [7].
Further, the ripple content of the current can result in extra
losses which will increase the heating and decrease the com-
mutating ability of the motor [8]. Continuous current opera-
tion is preferred, therefore, especially in converter-fed dc
drive applications. With this consideration in mind additional
inductance is normally added to the load circuit [41, [7].
However, the addition of extra inductance in the load circuit
will not only add to the cost but also affect the transient re-
sponse of the system. It is necessary, therefore, to keep
the value of the extra inductance to a minimum. A method to
evaluate the minimum inductance required so as to make the
current continuous is discussed in [41 where the case of a
single-phase converter connected to an inductive and EMF
load is considered. The analysis has, however, not been carried
out for the entire range of operation. The above evaluation
has been extended in [5] to cover the complete range. Fol-
lowing the aforementioned method, the minimum inductance
evaluation is carried out in this paper for the case of three-
phase converters, covering the entire range of operation.
In the method of estimation of the minimum inductance
referred to above the load circuit resistance is neglected, which
may be justifiable in most of the practical cases. However,
there are certain situations where it may not be admissible to
neglect the load circuit resistance. An approach making use
of the operating diagram, suggested by the authors [9] , to find
out the minimum inductance in such situations for the fully
controlled converters, is extended here for the half-controlled
converters.
II. MODE IDENTIFICATION
A. Single-Phase Converters
Fig. 1 (a) shows a single-phase half-controlled thyristor
bridge converter connected to a general load comprising re-
sistance R, inductance L, and EMF E. The operating diagram
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235
t A N.
m~~~
0.4
0.3 0
o 30 60 so 12b.0 |
0.2-
01i
0.000'0
30 60 so )20 so iSo
(X_
(b)
Fig. 1. (a) Single-phase half-controlled thyristor converter. (b) Oper-
ating diagram for single-phase converter.
for such a converter is developed and given in Fig. 1(b), which
depicts a family of curves for various values of load impedance
angle 4. For any chosen 4 and the normalized EMF m, the
curves define the values of trigger angle a, at which the transi-
tion from continuous current operation to discontinuous cur-
rent operation takes place as the trigger angle is increased.
For a given 0b, any point lying below the curve represents
continuous current operation and any point above represents
discontinuous current operation. The limit of operation is
shown by the boundary HGCDH.
It was generally believed that with an EMF present in the
load circuit, the thyristors could not be turned on earlier
than the moment at which the instantaneous ac supply voltage
equals the EMF. The trigger angle is less than y, the angle at
which the instantaneous ac voltage equals the load circuit
EMF, then the prevalent impression was that the thyristors
will start conducting only at ct = y for all load conditions.
If that were to be the case, then, in the region HGDH of Fig.
l(b), which corresponds to a < y, the lines dividing the
region into continuous and discontinuous current operation
would be horizontal as could be drawn from points like B.
However, it was pointed out in [5] that if at the instant of
triggering a load current were flowing, then the EMF in the
load circuit would not appear as a reverse bias and, therefore,
the thyristors could be turned on at any desired instant. This
possible condition of operation in the region HGDH modifies
the dividing lines into curves like BA.
In the operating diagram of Fig. l(b), the border lines
between regions of continuous and discontinuous current
operation are shown for various values of 0. For 0 = 600,
as an example, the curve ABC is the border line. In the dia-
gram is also shown the limit of free-wheeling action for 0 =
600, by the dotted curve EFC. There will be no free-wheeling
 236 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS AND CONTROL INSTRUMENTATION, VOL. IECI-28, NO. 3, AUGUST 1981
FGCF
1f/ \MODE 4

IfI/
I I

Ii IT 1

4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a I -
n.a Vn -i t i a p nr.a wt
(a) (d)
EFBE
MODE 2 s y
m
E t V

i-

L
I
ut I 2 TY

a zi Ab
I n
nf.a
(f)
(b) (e)

DISCONTINUOUS
CURRENT OPERATION

(c) CONTINUOUS CURRENT OPERATION

MODE 6
(g)
Fig. 2. Steady-state load voltage and current waveforms for the dif-
ferent modes of operation of single-phase converter.

action for 0 = 600, corresponding to operating points lying
above the curve EFC. There exist two different modes in the
subregion BAEFB, the dividing line being indicated by the
dot-dashed curve BE.
1) Discontinuous Current Operation (Modes 1 to 5): A
point in the region CBAHGC (Fig. 1(b)) represents a condi-
tion of discontinuous current operation, the left portion
BAHGB corresponding to a < y, and the right portion CBGC
corresponding to > y. The whole region of discontinuous
a ditional performance parameters such as rms load current,
current operation is divided into five subregions resulting in
five different types of load voltage waveforms (Fig. 2(a)-
(e)), denoted as modes 1 through 5. The expressions for the
instantaneous values of the load current are available in [5]
value of the trigger angle resulting in a particular type of load
voltage waveform (Fig. 2(f) and (g)). There is, therefore,
only one mode of operation (Mode 6) in the entire region.
The expression for the instantaneous value of the normalized
load current for this mode of continuous current operation
is given in Table I (Appendix). Although, in this case, the
expression may not be necessary for the mere evaluation of
average load current, they will be useful in arriving at ad-
rms supply current, and supply power factor.
With the help of the operating diagram it would then be
possible to identify the exact mode of operation for any
. given set of ca, and m. Once the operating mode is identified
b,

Modes 3 and 5 are the "bordering" discontinuous current
modes in the sense that the operating regions of these two
modes are adjacent to that of continuous current operation.
The expressions for the Modes 3 and 5 are used in determin-
ing the segments like AB and BC, respectively, of the limiting
curves like ABC.
2) Continuous Current Operation (Mode 6): A point in
the region ABCDA (Fig. 1(b)) represents a condition of
continuous current operation, the portion on left, ABDA,
corresponding to <_ y, and the portion on right, BCDB,
a For
then the desired performance can easily be evaluated.
B. Three-Phase Converters
The operating diagram developed for the three-phase half-
controlled bridge converter is given in Fig. 3. The family of
curves in the diagram are computed from the appropriate
expressions for the normalized load current in the case of
discontinuous current operation (Table II-A, Appendix). The
limit of operation is given by the boundary GFDCHG.
300, as an example, the curve ABMLC divides
=

corresponding to > y. In this entire region, the thyristors

a the diagram into regions of continuous and discontinuous
turn on right at the instant of triggering irrespective of the current operation. In three-phase operation, free-wheeling

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 PALANICHAMY AND SUBBIAH: HALF-CONTROLLED THYRISTOR CONVERTERS 237
TABLE I
(SINGLE PHASE) SYSTEM EQUATION' bVm sin .A X R Id + L E CONTINUOUS CURRENT OPERATION

PARAMETERS EXPRESSION FOR THE NORMALISED LOAD CURRENT (Zwd) INTERVALON

sin (it-O)- Cos
-s- - sin (a-0) exp +(o.t-) Co [l+ I1eoxp -A)w)Cot a< ± b
o
Cosa
w
t
MOO>E 6

OODEoCosO Cos -IFexxp {-wt-TT

Co Cot iT
* tE FT w
bwOi

WHERE I a[sin C -
sn(a-*) CoOT}.Ca)c
-O
eP{x -( exp []
{-FT CotCo]/ exp FT Cot .4
{e

TABLE Il-A
(THREE PHASE) SYSTEM EQUATION: bVm sin (wt - ) Rid.L dj-4 E DISCONTINUOUS CURRENT OPERATION

PARANGEs
OF
EXPRESSION FOR THE NORMALISED LOAD CURRENT (I id) CONDUCTIE N REMARKS
MODE 1 sin (wt.)- m r m -sin ( ) ex p{ C bzl
(ti co' t , a
. 3 . 0
a in wtj rr
o!c- a 3TT-,) CO
m -sin,
4
expf
op{-4.0 3 )Cot) mCOYASt00,F
C(St- [Cosin 4)] bt
|

ex p { - (wt * ~ ~~ ~
t) Coto O.TT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)3~~~~~~~~~I2fl
} 3 ~ ~T 3e
aITT!Srr TT. . ....... .
sin(-t--TT-O )- C05 +sin oo- a X exp {-+ n- )Cto sin + w
[ | { ( ~~~~~3
Cos* [C6l^n(w)txp-Ti-a ilCot O} bzl3_
-3

ex Ps sTT+ sin t
5- I0)--iOx{(t2
y~~~CE~~~TT ~ ~ ~ ~ ep (W 3-$13sicotCot4 *' ~~~a-T
cot3[<4>si«-lop-l
.~~~f~~i5~~~0JIt
-

z FTT
MOJ 3 .~ 1

3 C |Cos sin(0)] p 3 3 0 --
MODE 2
SAME AS MODE 3 I

3 Ta !!_ Coi.ss{-L.CosJ33Co J[3s n)4)]q

TABLE II-B
THREE PH1ASE ) SYSTEM EQUATION wbVm sinIot rm) Rid. L E CONTINUOUS
d CURRENt OPERATION
~
4LT ~ mT 3 ! Coms's ] eox _ sin
(at-*3)] 3 3 o bXtT
tZnX
PARAMETERS EXPRESSION FOR THE NORMALIjSED LOAD CURRENT (yi) ItRA EMARKS
sinII-4)--.5<-
| OOES MODEj (wt - S -Sin((X-+}-
n( s@n(a)c
e [ sn3{(.3 t4ll Ca t - n. b

_-j. 1VWla
TI 3 11S__ '1 ' _. 1, IFI
_3 9_
| tat
6 sin ('t 1 -) m r m_ sin (- { ( -a-
bp 3)coteJ.fiIz. jI n
53 a en fx (-t-ia-.o)
3ot C} 3 aC. b

WHERE Isi ( sin*)-expin(-_)esp{t(lCoa) CotrY{n-sin(a-.)1]

* Pt- t C }J/f.P{A! Cot*} ]

PHAS *-)
I- S-STE EQUAtTO{-T-b1)Csn(w + Riedix {L ijt Cot*E /CONTINUOU CoRN
-OPt
.] O

action is possible only when a > 600. For the above value discontinuous current operation. There are many possible
of - 300, the dotted curve MNC gives the limit of free- modes in this region. However, the most significant modes
wheeling action. only are discussed here and the corresponding expressions for
1) Discontinuous Current Operation (Modes I to 4): A the load current are given in Table II-A and the waveforms in
point in the region GFDCLMBAG represents a condition of Fig. 4(a)-(d). The modes considered above cover most part of

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 238 2EEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS AND CONTROL INSTRUMENTATION, VOL. IECI-28, NO. 3, AUGUST 1981

m ots

0.4

0.3

0.2

01

0
x _
Fig. 3. Operating diagram for three-phase converter.

ar-
E

I I A
11

1M AEBA

III (Ea)
1I

U+,,..
i.a pa

DISCONTINUOUS CURRENT OPERATION CONTINUOUS CURRENT OPERATION

Fig. 4. Steady-state load voltage and current waveforms for the sig-
niflcant modes of operation of three-phase converter.

the operating region except the tiny subregions GFBQAG
and FDEF. Although in these subregions a few other modes
of operation are possible they are quite insignificant.
Mode 1 (Fig. 4(a)) occurs in the subregion AQBA. Al-
though the operating region where this mode occurs is rather
small, it is a bordering discontinuous current mode and hence
required in the analysis. Mode 2(Fig. 4(b)) occurs in a larger
portion of the subregion BFEMB. It may be noted that a few
other modes are also possible in this subregion, which are,
however, insignificant. Mode 3 (Fig. 4(c)) and Mode 4 (Fig.
4(d)) occur in the subregions MEDCNM and MNCLM, re-
spectively.
Modes 1, 2, and 4 are the bordering discontinuous current
modes and the expressions for the load current of these modes
are used in arriving at the limiting curves such as ABMLC.
2) Continuous Current Operation (Modes S and 6): A point

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 PALANICHAMY AND SUBBIAH: HALF-CONTROLLED THYRISTOR CONVERTERS
Fig. 5. Minimum inductance for continuous current operation of the
converters.
in the region ABMLCHA represents a condition of continuous
current operation. The entire region of continuous current
operation is divided into two subregions, corresponding to
Mode 5 (Fig. 4(e)) and Mode 6 (Fig. 4(f)). The pertinent
expressions for the load current are given in Table II-B.
The expressions given in Table II-B for these two con-
tinuous current modes may not be required, as already pointed
out under single-phase converter, for the mere evaluation of
average load current. Nevertheless, they will be useful in ar-
riving at other performance parameters.
MINIMUM INDUCTANCE ESTIMATION
III.
As discussed earlier, whenever the converter operation is
found to be one of discontinuous current type, extra induct-
ance is normally added to the load circuit to make the load
current continuous. The evaluation of the minimum induct-
ance required for continuous current operation is treated
below.
1) When Resistance Can Be Neglected: Following the
method given in [5], the evaluation of minimum inductance in negligible.
the load circuit for continuous current operation is carried out
for three-phase converters and the result is presented in graphical
form in Fig. 5. The evaluation for the case of single-phase
converter, although available in literature [4], [5], is re-
produced here for the sake of completeness as well as for
enabling a comparison of the two cases. the assumption that the ac source and the thyristors are ideal.
2) When Resistance Cannot Be Neglected: If the load circuit The duration of the gating signals is assumed to be sufficiently
resistance can be neglected, then the expressions for the re- longer.
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239
IdR
vm
a.-
Fig. 6. Minimum ¢ for continuous current operation of single-phase
converter.
quired minimum inductance are obtained in a closed form.
However, if the resistance cannot be neglected then it will
not be possible to obtain the corresponding expressions in a
closed form. An analytical solution will be tedious and hence
a graphical approach is preferred. This was developed by the
authors earlier for the case of fully controlled converters and
reported in [9]. The same approach is used here and the
curves for minimum k are given in Fig. 6 for the single-phase
half-controlled converters.
Fig. 6 provides data regarding minimum p for continuous
current operation. As an example, for single-phase operation
with IdR/Vm = 0.1 and (x = 300, the operating point is
marked as point A in Fig. 6. For this operating point, the
minimum value of b for continuous current operation amounts
to 700. Since the values of load circuit resistance and induct-
ance will be known, the minimum extra inductance to be in-
serted in the load circuit to make the current continuous
can now be evaluated.
IV. CONCLUSION
Operating diagrams are developed for single-phase as well
as for three-phase half-controlled thyristor converters and
with the help of these diagrams the different modes of con-
verter operation are identified and explained. Neglecting the
load circuit resistance, the evaluation of minimum inductance
necessary for continuous current operation of three-phase
converter is carried out for the entire range of operation.
A graphical solution is given for the evaluation of minimum
inductance whenever the load circuit resistance may not be
APPENDIX
STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS FOR DIFFERENT
MODES OF OPERATION
The steady-state analysis given below is carried out with
 240 IEEE TRANTSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS AND CONTROL
A. Single-Phase Half-Controlled Converter
The equation describing the converter operation is given
by
+Ldid
bVm sin t t=Rid dt
+E.
Solving the above equation, the expressions for the instanta-
neous value of the normalized load current in the case of con-
tinuous current operation are obtained and are given in Table
B. Three-Phase Half-Controlled Converter
The equation describing the converter operation is given by
bVm sin (t+0)Rid+L d + E.
dt
Solving this equation, expressions are obtained for the instan-
taneous values of the normalized load current in the case of
the significant modes of discontinuous current operation
and in the case of the two modes of continuous current opera-
tion, Table II-A and Table II-B, respectively.
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INSTRUMENTATION, VOL. LECI-28, NO. 3. AUGUST 1981
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to Prof. R. Subbayyan, Principal
of PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, for the encourage-
ment and for the laboratory and computer facilities made
available for carrying out the work reported here.
(1)
REFERENCES
[1] B. R. Pelly, Thvristor Phase-Controlled Converters and Cvclo-
converters. New York: Wiley-Interscience. 1971.
[21 R. M. Davis. Power Diode and Thvristor Circuits. Cambridge,
England: University Press. 1971.
[31 S. B. Dewan and A. Straughen, Power Semiconductor Circuits.
New York: Wiley-Interscience. 1975.
[41 G. Moltgen, Line Commutated Thvristor Converters. London,
England: Pitman, 1972.
[51 P. Mehta and S. Mukhopadhyay, "Modes of operation in con-
verter-controlled d.c. drives," Proc. Inst. Elec. Eng.. vol. 121, no.
3, pp. 179-183, Mar. 1974.
[61 J. Seymour. Ed., Semiconductor Devices in Power Engineering.
London, England: Pitman, 1968.
(2) [71 K. G. Black, "The effect of rectifier discontinuous current on
motor performance." IEEE Trans. Appl. Ind., pp. 377-382, Nov.
1964.
[81 C. E. Robinson, "Redesign of d.c. motors for application with
thyristor power supplies," IEEE Trans. Ind. Gen. Appi., vol. IGA-
4. pp. 508-514. Sept./Oct. 1968.
[91 V. Subbiah and S. Palanichamy. "Mode identification and
minimum inductance estimation for fully controlled thyristor
converters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. Contr. Instrum., vol.
IECI-26, pp. 48-50, Feb. 1979.