Unit 3

AC VOLTAGE
CONTROLLERS

 Introduction

Variable AC supply Requirement for loads like
heaters, blowers, lights etc

Switches used triac,SCRs

RMS value of load voltage controlled

Also includes AC regulators variable ac input to

fixed ac output
 Control strategies in
ACVC

ON-OFF CONTROL (integral cycle
control)

PHASE CONTROL
 ON-OFF CONTROL/
INTEGRAL CYCLE CONTROL

Switches conduct fully
for N cycles and are OFF
for M cycles

Power supplied to load

intermittently

Firing angle of SCR

always zero (why??)
OUTPUT VOLTAGE WAVEFORMS
 RMS VALUE OF OUTPUT VOLTAGE

Duty cycle

 INPUT POWER FACTOR

Active load power= =

Input VA =

RMS AND AVERAGE SCR CURRENT

= +

= =

= =
PRINCIPLE OF PHASE CONTROL

SCRs conduct load current for a chosen period of
each input cycle of voltage >0

is phase angle

SCRs turn-off by line/natural commutation

 SINGLE PHASE HALF-WAVE ACVC
(UNIDIRECTIONAL ACVC)

Only positive cycle is

controlled

Output voltage waveform

asymmetric

Vo has DC component

Not used for RL loads (why??)

Not suitable if input is fed

from transformer (why????)

Suitable only for heating loads

OUTPUT VOLTAGE WAVEFORM
RMS VALUE OF OUTPUT VOLTAGE
TO PROVE Vo HAS DC COMPONENT
 BIDIRECTIONAL ACVC
RESISTIVE LOAD

T1 Conducts during
positive half cycle

T2 conducts during
negative half cycle

Instead of using two

SCRs in parallel, a
TRIAC can be used
OUTPUT VOLTAGE WAVEFORM
RMS VALUE OF OUTPUT VOLTAGE
 INPUT POWER FACTOR

Active load power= =

Input VA =

 BIDIRECTIONAL ACVC
INDUCTIVE LOAD

= firing angle = conduction angle

= phase difference
Discontinuous load current operation occurs for >and <
 EXPRESSION FOR OUTPUT CURRENT, IO

Let us assume that the thyristor T1 is triggered by applying the gating signal
at wt= during to can be given by:

The solution of the above differential equation gives the general

expression for the output load current which is of the form

The value of the constant A1 can be determined from the initial
condition. i.e.
initial value of load current io = 0, at t = .

Substituting the value of A1 , Io can be written as:

To
Calculate Extinction Angle

Io falls to zero at t = . Using this in the above equation:

can be determined from this transcendental equation by using the
iterative method of solution (trial and error method).
 Case 1: < and >
The load current waveform appears as a discontinuous current
waveform as shown earlier

Case2: If= and =

T1 conducts from t = to ( + ) and provides a positive load current.

T2 conducts from ( + ) to (2 + ) and provides a negative load current

Continuous load current

Output voltage waveform appears as a continuous sine wave identical

to the input supply voltage waveform

Control on the output is lost.

 WAVEFORM OF Vo & Io FOR CASE 2: = and =
RMS VALUE OF OUTPUT VOLTAGE
THE AVERAGE THYRISTOR CURRENT I T(avg)

Maximum value of I T(avg) occurs at = and = .

=
 RMS THYRISTOR CURRENT I T(rms)

Maximum value of I T(rms) occurs at = and = .