PART-1 (1M)

a) What is an AC voltage controller?.

An AC Voltage Controller is a type of thyristor power converter which is used to convert a fixed
voltage, fixed frequency ac input supply to obtain a variable voltage ac output.
b) List out two differences between TRIAC and Thyristor?
1.Thyristor is unidirectional device but TRIAC is bidirectional device.
2. Thyristor control only DC power but TRIAC control DC as well as AC power
3. Thyristor operate at large current rating but TRIAC operate at less current rating.
c) What are the different types of control strategies used in AC voltage controller
There are two different types of thyristor control used in practice to control the ac power flow
1. On-Off control
2. Phase control
d) What are the applications of Cyclo converters?
 Lighting / Illumination control in ac power circuits.
Induction heating.
Industrial heating & Domestic heating.
Transformers tap changing (on load transformer tap changing).
Speed control of induction motors (single phase and poly phase ac induction motor control).
AC magnet controls.
e) What are the advantages and disadvantages of cyclo converters?
Advantages
 The cyclo converter is a single stage converter therefore its efficiency is very high.
 The cyclo converter operates on line commutation ( except step up cyclo converter ) therefore
extra force commutation components are not required.
The power transfer in the cyclo converter is possible from supply to load and vice versa at
any power factor.
Disadvantages
 The control circuit becomes complex because there are large numbers of SCRs in the cyclo
converter
 The supply gets short circuited due to failure of commutation circuit.

PART-2(3M)

a). Classification of AC Voltage Controllers

 According to the number of phases of the input alternating voltages:
 Single-phase
 Three-phase
 In the case of three-phase AC voltage controllers, according to the connection:
 In wye (Y)/star/tee (T)
 In delta (Δ)/triangle/pi (Π)

b) Mention the applications of AC Voltage Controller

 Lighting / Illumination control in ac power circuits.
 Induction heating.
 Industrial heating & Domestic heating.

Transformers tap changing (on load transformer tap changing).

Speed control of induction motors (single phase and poly phase ac induction motor


control).
AC magnet controls.

c) What are the three main limitations of a cycloconverter compared ac voltage controller
1.Harmonics
Cycloconverters can generate harmonics in the output waveform, which can cause harmonic losses and
torque pulsations
2.Semiconductor switches
Cycloconverters require a large number of semiconductor switches to achieve higher power ratings

3.It is possible to change the output frequency only in steps. Smooth stepless control of output frequency is not possible.

d) Draw and explain the control circuit block diagram for a cyclo converter with non-circulating current
mode.
Introduction to Cyclo converters
The Cycloconverter has been traditionally used only in very high power drives, usually above one
megawatt, where no other type of drive can be used. Examples are cement tube mill drives above 5 MW,
the 13 MW German-Dutch wind tunnel fan drive, reversible rolling mill drives and ship propulsion
drives. The reasons for this are that the traditional Cycloconverter requires a large number of thyristors, at
least 36 and usually more for good motor performance, together with a very complex control circuit, and
it has some performance limitations, the worst of which is and output frequency limited to about one third
the input frequency

The Cycloconverter has four thyristors divided into a positive and negative bank of two thyristors each.
When positive current flows in the load, the output voltage is controlled by phase control of the two
positive bank thyristors whilst the negative bank thyristors are kept off and vice versa when negative
current flows in the load. An idealized output waveform for a sinusoidal load current and a 45 degrees
load phase angle is shown in Figure 3.11. It is important to keep the non conducting thyristor bank off at
all times, otherwise the mains could be shorted via the two thyristor banks, resulting in waveform
distortion and possible device failure from the shorting current. A major control problem of the
Cycloconverter is how to swap between banks in the shortest possible time to avoid distortion whilst
ensuring the two banks do not conduct at the same time. A common addition to the power circuit that
removes the requirement to keep one bank off is to place a centre tapped inductor called a circulating
current inductor betwe en the outputs of the two banks. Both banks can now conduct together without
shorting the mains. Also, the circulating current in the inductor keeps both banks operating all the time,
resulting in improved output waveforms. This technique is not often used, though, because the circulating
current inductor tends to be expensive and bulky and the circulating current reduces the power factor on
the input In a 1-φ Cycloconverter, the output frequency is less than the supply frequency. These
converters require natural commutation which is provided by AC supply. During positive half cycle of
supply, Thyristors P1 and N2 are forward biased. First triggering pulse is applied to P1 and hence it starts
conducting. As the supply goes negative,P1 gets off and in negative half cycle of supply, P2 and N1 are
forward biased. P2 is triggered and hence it conducts. In the next cycle of supply,N2 in positive half cycle
andN1 in negative half cycle are triggered. Thus, we can observe that here the output frequency is 1/2
times the supply frequency.

e) Describe the principle of operation of cyclo converter

Operation Principles

The following sections will describe the operation principles of the Cycloconverter starting from the
simplest one, single-phase to single-phase (1f-1f) Cycloconverter.

Single-phase to Single-phase (1 Φ-1 Φ) Cycloconverter

To understand the operation principles of Cycloconverters, the single-phase to singlephase
Cycloconverter (Fig. 3.12) should be studied first. This converter consists of back-to-back connection of
two full-wave rectifier circuits. Fig 3.13 shows the operating waveforms for this converter with a resistive
load.
Zero Firing angle, i.e. thyristors act like diodes. Note that the firing angles are named as αP for
the positive converter and αN for the negative converter. The input voltage, vs is an ac voltage at a
frequency, fi as shown in Fig. 3.13. For easy understanding assume that all the thyristors are fired at α=0°
Consider the operation of the Cycloconverter to get one-fourth of the input frequency at the output. For
the first two cycles of vs, the positive converter operates supplying current to the load. It rectifies the
input voltage; therefore, the load sees 4 positive half cycles as seen in Fig. 3.13. In the next two cycles,
the negative converter operates supplying current to the load in the reverse direction. The current
waveforms are not shown in the figures because the resistive load current will have the same waveform as
the voltage but only scaled by the resistance. Note that when one of the converters operates the other one
is disabled, so that there is no current circulating between the two rectifiers.

PART-3(5m)

a). Explain the operation of TRIAC in detail.

Working and Operation of TRIAC

It is possible to connect various combinations of negative and positive voltages to the triac terminals
because it is a bidirectional device. The four possible electrode potential combinations which make the
triac to operate four different operating quadrants or modes are given as.
1. MT2 is positive with respect to MT1 with a gate polarity positive with respect to MT1.
2. MT2 is positive with respect to MT1 with a gate polarity negative with respect to MT1.
3. MT2 is negative with respect to MT1 with a gate polarity negative with respect to MT1.
4. MT2 is negative with respect to MT1 with a gate polarity positive with respect to MT1.
In general, latching current is higher in second quadrant or mode whilst gate trigger current is higher in
the fourth mode compared with other modes for any triac. Most of the applications, negative triggering
current circuit is used that means 2 and 3 quadrants are used for a reliable triggering in bidirectional
control and also when the gate sensitivity is critical. The gate sensitivity is highest with modes 1 and 4 are
generally employed.
Mode 1: MT2 is Positive, Positive Gate Current
When the gate terminal is made positive with respect to MT1, gate current flows through the P2 and N2
junction. When this current flows, the P2 layer is flooded with electrons and further these electrons are
diffused to the edge of junction J2 (or P2-N1 junction). These electrons collected by the N1 layer builds a
space charge on the N1 layer. Therefore, more holes from the P1 region are diffused into the N1 region to
neutralize the negative space charges. These holes arrive at the junction J2 and produce the positive space
charge in the P2 region, which causes more electrons to inject into P2 from N2. This results a positive
regeneration and finally the main current flows from MT2 to MT1 through the regions P1- N1 – P2 – N2.

Mode 2: MT2 is Positive, Negative Gate Current

When MT2 is positive and the gate terminal is negative with respect to MT1, gate current flows through
the P2-N4 junction. This gate current forward biases the P2-N4 junction for auxiliary P1N1P2N4
structure. This results the triac to conduct initially through the P1N1P2N4 layers. This further raises the
potential between P2N2 towards the potential of MT2. This causes the current to establish from left to
right in the P2 layer which forward biases the junction P2N2. And hence the main structure P1N1P2N2
begins to conduct. Initially conducted auxiliary structure P1N1P2N4 is considered as a pilot SCR while
later conducted structure P1N1P2N2 is considered as main SCR. Hence the anode current of pilot SCR
serves as gate current to the main SCR. The sensitivity to gate current is less in this mode and hence more
gate current is required to turn the triac.
Mode 3: MT2 is Negative, Positive Gate Current
In this mode, MT2 is made negative with respect to MT1 and the device is turned ON by applying a
positive voltage between the gate and MT1 terminal. The turn ON is initiated by N2 which acts as a
remote gate control and the structure leads to turn ON the triac is P2N1P1N3. The external gate current
forward biases the junction P2-N2. N2 layer injects the electrons into the P2 layer which are then
collected by junction P2N1. This result to increases the current flow through P2N1 junction.
The holes injected from layer P2 diffuse through the N1 region. This builds a positive space charge in the
P region. Therefore, more electrons from N3 are diffused into P1 to neutralize the positive space charges.
Hence, these electrons arrive at junction J2 and produce a negative space charge in the N1region which
results to inject more holes from the P2 into the region N1. This regenerative process continues till the
structure P2N1P1N3 turns ON the triac and conducts the external current. As the triac is turned ON by the
remote gate N2, the device is less sensitive to the positive gate current in this mode
Mode 4: MT2 is Negative, Negative Gate Current
In this mode N4 acts as a remote gate and injects the electrons into the P2 region. The external
gate current forward biases the junction P2N4. The electrons from the N4 region are collected by the P2N
junction increase the current across P1N1 junction. Hence the structure P2N1P1N3 turns ON by the
regenerative action. The triac is more sensitive in this mode compared with positive gate current in mode
3.

From the above discussion, it is concluded that the modes 2 and 3 are less sensitive configuration
which needs more gate current to trigger the triac, whereas more common triggering modes of triac are 1
and 4 which have greater sensitivity. In practice the more sensitive mode of operation is selected such that
the polarity of the gate is to match with the polarity of the terminal MT2.

b) Draw & Explain the V-I characteristics of TRIAC in detail

V-I Characteristics of TRIAC

The traic function like a two thyristors connected in anti-parallel and hence the VI characteristics of triac
in the 1st and 3rd quadrants will be similar to the VI characteristics of a thyristors. When the terminal T2
is positive with respect to MT1 terminal, the traic is said to be in forward blocking mode. A small leakage
current flows through the device provided that voltage across the device is lower than the breakover
voltage. Once the breakover voltage of the device is reached, then the triac turns ON as shown in below
figure. However, it is also possible to turn ON the triac below the VBO by applying a gate pulse in such
that the current through the device should be more than the latching current of the triac.
 Similarly, when the terminal MT2 is made negative with respect to MT1, the traic is in reverse blocking
mode. A small leakage current flows through the device until it is triggered by breakover voltage or gate
triggering method. Hence the positive or negative pulse to the gate triggers the triac in both directions.The
supply voltage at which the triac starts conducting depends on the gate current. If the gate is current is
being greater, lesser will be the supply voltage at which the triac is turned ON. Above discussed mode -1
triggering is used in the first quadrant whereas mode-3 triggering is used in 3rd quadrant. Due to the
internal structure of the triac, the actual values of latching current, gate trigger current and holding current
may be slightly different in different operating modes. Therefore, the ratings of the traics considerably
lower than the thyristors

c) A single phase voltage controller is employed for controlling the power flow from 230V, 50Hz Source
into a load circuit consisting of R=3 ohms, ѠL= 4ohms. Calculate (i) the range of firing angle, (ii) the
maximum value of RMS load current, (iii) The maximum power & power factor, (iv) the maximum values
of average and rms thyristor currents
d) Describe the working principle of 1 – phase to 1 - phase step-down midpoint type cyclo-converter
associated with waveforms for R load

Single phase midpoint Cyclo converters

Basically, these are divided into two main types, and are given below
Step-down cyclo-converter
It acts like a step-down transformer that provides the output frequency less than that of input, fo < fi.
Step-up cyclo-converter
It provides the output frequency more than that of input, fo > fi.
In case of step-down cyclo-converter, the output frequency is limited to a fraction of input frequency,
typically it is below 20Hz in case 50Hz supply frequency. In this case, no separate commutation circuits
are needed as SCRs are line commutated devices.
But in case of step-up cyclo-converter, forced commutation circuits are needed to turn OFF SCRs at
desired frequency. Such circuits are relatively very complex. Therefore, majority of cyclo-converters are
of step-down type that lowers the frequency than input frequency.
It consists of single phase transformer with mid tap on the secondary winding and four thyristors. Two of
these thyristors P1, P2 are for positive group and the other two N1, N2 are for the negative group. Load is
connected between secondary winding midpoint 0 and the load terminal. Positive directions for output
voltage and output current are marked in figure 3.14 In figure 3.14 during the positive half cycle of supply
voltage terminal a is positive with respect to terminal b. therefore in this positive half cycle, both p1 and
N2 are forward biased from wt= 0 to Π. As such SCR P1 is turned on at wt = 0 so that load voltage is
positive with terminal A and 0 negative. Now the load voltage is positive. At instant t1 P1 is force
commutated and forward biased thyristor N2 is turned on so that load voltage is negative with terminal 0
and A negative. Now the load voltage is negative. Now N2 is force commutated and P1 is turned on the
load voltage is positive this is a continuous process and will get step up cyclo converter output

e) Describe the working principle of 1 – phase to 1 - phase step-up midpoint type cyclo-converter
associated with waveforms for R load.
 Step-up cyclo-converter
 It provides the output frequency more than that of input, fo > fi.
 In case of step-down cyclo-converter, the output frequency is limited to a fraction of input
frequency,
 typically it is below 20Hz in case 50Hz supply frequency. In this case, no separate commutation
circuits
 are needed as SCRs are line commutated devices.
 But in case of step-up cyclo-converter, forced commutation circuits are needed to turn OFF SCRs
at
 desired frequency. Such circuits are relatively very complex. Therefore, majority of cyclo-
converters are
 of step-down type that lowers the frequency than input frequency.
It consists of single phase transformer with mid tap on the secondary winding and four thyristors. Two of
these thyristors P1, P2 are for positive group and the other two N1, N2 are for the negative group. Load is
connected between secondary winding midpoint 0 and the load terminal. Positive directions for output
voltage and output current are marked in figure 3.14 In figure 3.14 during the positive half cycle of supply
voltage terminal a is positive with respect to terminal b. therefore in this positive half cycle, both p1 and
N2 are forward biased from wt= 0 to Π. As such SCR P1 is turned on at wt = 0 so that load voltage is
positive with terminal A and 0 negative. Now the load voltage is positive. At instant t1 P1 is force
commutated and forward biased thyristor N2 is turned on so that load voltage is negative with terminal 0
and A negative. Now the load voltage is negative. Now N2 is force commutated and P1 is turned on the
load voltage is positive this is a continuous process and will get step up cyclo converter output

PART-4(10M)

a) Explain the operation of a single phase AC Voltage controller for R- load with neat circuit
diagram and necessary waveforms

Single phase AC voltage controller with R load

AC to AC voltage converters operates on the AC mains essentially to regulate the output voltage. Portions
of the supply sinusoid appear at the load while the semiconductor switches block the remaining portions.
Several topologies have emerged along with voltage regulation methods, most of which are linked to the
development of the semiconductor devices.
Fig. 2.35 illustrates the operation of the PAC converter with a resistive load. The device(s) is triggered at
a phase-angle 'α' in each cycle. The current follows the voltage wave shape in each half and extinguishes
itself at the zero crossings of the supply voltage. In the two-SCR topology, one SCR is positively biased
in each half of the supply voltage. There is no scope for conduction overlap of the devices. A single pulse
is sufficient to trigger the controlled devices with a resistive load. In the diode-SCR topology, two diodes
are forward biased in each half. The SCR always receives a DC voltage and does not distinguish the
polarity of the supply. It is thus always forward biased. The bi-directional TRIAC is also forward biased
for both polarities of the supply voltage.

The rms voltage Vrms decides the power supplied to the load. It can be computed as

Power Factor
The power factor of a nonlinear deserves a special discussion. Fig. 2.35 shows the supply voltage and the
non-sinusoidal load current. The fundamental load/supply current lags the supply voltage by the φ1,
'Fundamental Power Factor' angle. Cosφ1 is also called the 'Displacement Factor'. However this does not
account for the total reactive power drawn by the system. This power factor is inspite of the actual load
being resistive! The reactive power is drawn also y the trigger-angle dependent harmonics. Now

b) Explain the operation of a single phase AC Voltage controller for RL- load with neat circuit
diagram and necessary waveforms

Single phase AC voltage controller with RL load

With inductive loads the operation of the PAC is illustrated in Fig 2. 36. The current builds up from
zeroin each cycle. It quenches not at the zero crossing of the applied voltage as with the resistive load but
after that instant. The supply voltage thus continues to be impressed on the load till the load current
returns to zero. A single-pulse trigger for the TRIAC) or the anti parallel SCR has no effect on the devices
if it (or the anti-parallel device) is already in conduction in the reverse direction. The devices would fail to
conduct when they are intended to, as they do not have the supply voltage forward biasing them when the
trigger pulse arrives. A single pulse trigger will work till the trigger angle α > φ, where φ is the power
factor angle of the inductive load. A train of pulses is required here. The output voltage is controllable
only between triggering angles φ and 180o. The load current waveform is further explained in Fig. 26.6.
The current is composed of two components. The first is the steady state component of the load current, i ss
and the second, itr is the transient component.
With an inductance in the load the distinguishing feature of the load current is that it must always start
from zero. However, if the switch could have permanently kept the load connected to the supply the
current would have become a sinusoidal one phase shifted from the voltage by the phase angle of the
load, φ. This current restricted to the half periods of conduction is called the 'steady-state component' of
load current iss. The 'transient component' of load current itr, again in each half cycle, must add up to zero
with this iss to start from zero. This condition sets the initial value of the transient component to that of
the steady state at the instant that the SCR/TRIAC is triggered. Fig. 2. 36 illustrates these relations. When
a device is in conduction, the load current is governed by the equation

Since at t = 0, iload = 0 and supply voltage vs = √2Vsinωt the solution is of the form the instant when the
load current extinguishes is called the extinction angle β. It can be inferred that there would be no
transients in the load current if the devices are triggered at the power factor angle of the load. The load
current I that case is perfectly sinusoidal.

c) Describe the working principle of 1 – phase to 1 - phase step-up Bridge type cyclo-converter
associated with waveforms for R load

Single-phase to single-phase cyclo-converters

These are rarely used in practice; however, these are required to understand fundamental principle of
cyclo-converters. It consists of two full-wave, fully controlled bridge thyristors, where each bridge has 4
thyristors, and each bridge is connected in opposite direction (back to back) such that both positive and
negative voltages can be obtained as shown in figure below. Both these bridges are excited by single
phase, 50 Hz AC supply.

During positive half cycle of the input voltage, positive converter (bridge-1) is turned ON and it supplies
the load current. During negative half cycle of the input, negative bridge is turned ON and it supplies load
current. Both converters should not conduct together that cause short circuit at the input
To avoid this, triggering to thyristors of bridge-2 is inhibited during positive half cycle of load
current, while triggering is applied to the thyristors of bridge-1 at their gates. During negative half cycle
of load current, triggering to positive bridge is inhibited while applying triggering to negative bridge. By
controlling the switching period of thyristors, time periods of both positive and negative half cycles are
changed and hence the frequency. This frequency of fundamental output voltage can be easily reduced
in steps, i.e., 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 and so on.
The above figure shows output waveforms of a cyclo-converter that produces one-fourth of the input
frequency. Here, for the first two cycles, the positive converter operates and supplies current to the load.

It rectifies the input voltage and produce unidirectional output voltage as we can observe four positive
half cycles in the figure. And during next two cycles, the negative converter operates and supplies load
current.
Here current waveforms are not shown because it is a resistive load in where current (with less
magnitude) exactly follows the voltage
Here one converter is disabled if another one operates, so there is no circulating current between two
converters. Since the discontinuous mode of control scheme is complicated, most cyclo-converters are
operates on circulating current mode where continuous current is allowed to flow between the converters
with a reactor.
This circulating current type cyclo-converter can be operated on with both purely resistive (R) and
inductive (R-L) loads.