AIR UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

EXPERIMENT NO 8

Lab Title: SINGLE PHASE CONTROLLED RECTIFIERS

Student Name: Muhammad Omar Janjua Reg. No: 200708

Objective:
1. To analyze the working and performance of a 1-phase half wave controlled rectifier.
2. To analyze the working and performance of a 1-phase full wave controlled rectifier.
3. Observe the effect of inductive load on working of a controlled rectifier.
4. Observe the effect of freewheeling diode on working of a controlled rectifier.
LAB ASSESSMENT:

Excellent Good Average Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Attributes (5) (4) (3) (2) (1)
Ability to Conduct
Experiment
Ability to assimilate the
results
Effective use of lab
equipment and follows
the lab safety rules

Total Marks: Obtained Marks:

LAB REPORT ASSESSMENT:

Excellent Good Average Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
Attributes
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

Data presentation

Experimental results

Conclusion

Total Marks: Obtained Marks:

Date: 4-12-22 Signature:

 LABORATORY
EXPERIMENT
NO. 09

SINGLE PHASE
CONTROLLED
RECTIFIERS

OBJECTIVE
5. To analyze the working and performance of a 1-phase half wave controlled rectifier.
6. To analyze the working and performance of a 1-phase full wave controlled rectifier.
7. Observe the effect of inductive load on working of a controlled rectifier.
8. Observe the effect of freewheeling diode on working of a controlled rectifier.
DISCUSSION
Single phase uncontrolled rectifiers are extensively used in a number of power electronic based
converters. In most cases they are used to provide an intermediate unregulated dc voltage source
which is further processed to obtain a regulated dc or ac output. They have, in general, been
proved to be efficient and robust power stages. However, they suffer from a few disadvantages.
The main among them is their inability to control the output dc voltage / current magnitude when
the input ac voltage and load parameters remain fixed. They are also unidirectional in the sense
that they allow electrical power to flow from the ac side to the dc side only. These two
disadvantages are the direct consequences of using power diodes in these converters which can
block voltage only in one direction. As will be shown in this module, these two disadvantages are
overcome if the diodes are replaced by thyristors, the resulting converters are called fully
controlled converters.

Thyristors are semi-controlled devices which can be turned ON by applying a current pulse at its
gate terminal at a desired instance. However, they cannot be turned off from the gate terminals.
Therefore, the fully controlled converter continues to exhibit load dependent output voltage /
current waveforms as in the case of their uncontrolled counterpart. However, since the thyristor
can block forward voltage, the output voltage / current magnitude can be controlled by
controlling the turn on instants of the thyristors. Working principle of thyristors based single
phase fully controlled converters will be explained first in the case of a single thyristor half-wave
rectifier circuit supplying an R or R-L load. However, such converters are rarely used in practice.
A thyristor circuit and thyristor model is shown in figure below:
This model works well with a converter circuit in which the thyristor current falls to zero itself:
for example, in half-wave controlled rectifiers and AC voltage controllers. But in full wave
converters with a continuous load current, the current of a thyristor is diverted to another
thyristor, and this model may not give the true output. This problem can be remedied by adding
diode D as shown in Figure (b). The diode prevents reverse current flow through the thyristor
resulting from the firing of another thyristor in the circuit.

Single Phase Half Wave Controlled Rectifier with R Load:

A Single Phase Half Wave Controlled Rectifier circuit consists of SCR / thyristor, an AC voltage
source and load. The load may be purely resistive, Inductive or a combination of resistance and
inductance. For simplicity, we will consider a resistive load. A simple circuit diagram of Single
Phase Half Wave Controlled Rectifier is shown in figure below.

Where,
v0 = Load output voltage i0
= Load current
VT = Voltage across the thyristor T

Following points must be kept in mind while discussing controlled rectifier:

• The necessary condition for turn ON of SCR is that, it should be forward biased and gate
signal must be applied. In other words, an SCR will only get turned ON when it is
forward biased and fired or gated.
 • SCR will only turn off when current through it reaches below holding current and reverse
voltage is applied for a time period more than the SCR turn off time.

Let us assume that thyristor T is fired at a firing angle of α. This means when wt = α, gate signal
will be applied and SCR will start conducting. Refer the figure below.

Thyristor T is forward biased for the positive half cycle of supply voltage. The load output
voltage is zero till SCR is fired. Once SCR is fired at an angle of α, SCR starts conducting. But
as soon as the supply voltage becomes zero at ωt = π, the load current will become zero and after
ωt = π, SCR is reversed biased. Thus thyristor T will turn off at ωt = π and will remain in OFF
condition till it is fired again at ωt = (2π+α).

Therefore, the load output voltage and current for one complete cycle of input supply voltage
may be written as

v0 = VmSinωt for α≤ωt≤ π

i0 = VmSinωt / R for α≤ωt≤ π
Single Phase Half Wave Controlled
Rectifier with RL Load:

The circuit diagram of a single phase half wave controlled rectifier with RL load is shown below.
This circuit consists of a thyristor T, source Vs and RL load. The output voltage is the voltage
across the load and shown as Vo. Output current is the current through the load and shown as i o.
The waveform of source voltage, load voltage, load current and voltage across thyristor is shown
below.

It is assumed that the thyristor T is fired at an angle ωt = α. As soon as the thyristor T is fired at
ωt = α, load voltage equal to the source voltage instantaneously appears across the load terminal.
This is because, the thyristor is forward biased in between ωt = 0 to α. Hence, once the thyristor
is gated, it stars conducting.
However, the current does not start at this instant of firing. This is just because of the nature of
load. Since, the load is inductive, it will not allow any sudden change. Therefore, at ωt = α, the
output current will be zero and will gradually increase. The output current will become
maximum and then start decreasing. It should be noted here that, this behavior of load current i o
will not be observed for purely resistive load.
At ωt = π, the load voltage Vo reduces to zero. However, the load current will not be zero at this
instant because of inductance L. Due to this, thyristor will not turn off, even though it is reversed
biased. Rather it will continue to conduct till ωt = β. At ωt = β, the load current becomes zero and
thyristor is reversed biased, hence it will turn off. This is a case of natural commutation.
After ωt = β, vo = 0 and io = 0. At ωt = (2π+α), the SCR is triggered again, vo is applied to the
load and load current develops as discussed before. The angle β where the load current becomes
zero is called extinction angle and the angle (β-α) for which thyristor is ON is called conduction
angle.
Carefully observe the voltage across the thyristor. The SCR is reverse biased from ωt = β to ωt =
2π. During this period, the current through thyristor is also zero. Therefore, circuit turn off time
is tc = [(2π – β) / ω] second. This time must be greater than the thyristor turn-off time otherwise
thyristor may turn on at undesired instant and will lead to commutation failure.

Single Phase Full Wave Controlled Rectifier with R Load: Figure below
shows the Single phase Full Wave Controlled Rectifiers with R load:

The single phase fully controlled rectifier allows conversion of single phase AC into DC.
Normally this is used in various applications such as battery charging, speed control of DC
motors and front end of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and SMPS (Switched Mode Power
Supply).
All four devices used are thyristors. The turn-on instants of these devices are dependent on the
firing signals that are given. Turn-off happens when the current through the device reaches zero
and it is reverse biased at least for duration equal to the turn-off time of the device specified in
the data sheet. • In positive half cycle thyristors T1 & T2 are fired at an angle α . When T1 &
T2 conducts
Vo=Vs
IO=is=Vo/R=Vs/R
• In negative half cycle of input voltage, SCR's T3 &T4 are triggered at an angle of (π+α)
Here output current & supply current are in opposite direction is=-
io
T3 & T4 becomes off at 2π.

Single Phase Full Wave Controlled Rectifier with RL Load:

Figure below shows Single phase Full Wave Controlled Rectifiers with RL load.

Operation of this mode can be divided between four modes Mode 1 (α toπ)
• In positive half cycle of applied ac signal, SCR's T1 & T2 are forward bias & can be turned on
at an angle α.
• Load voltage is equal to positive instantaneous ac supply voltage. The load current is positive,
ripple free, constant and equal to Io.
• Due to positive polarity of load voltage & load current, load inductance will store energy.

Mode 2 (π toπ+α)
• At wt=π, input supply is equal to zero & after π it becomes negative. But inductance opposes
any change through it.
• In order to maintain a constant load current & also in same direction. A self inducedemf
appears across 'L' as shown.
• Due to this induced voltage, SCR's T1 & T2 are forward bais in spite the negative supply
voltage.
• The load voltage is negative & equal to instantaneous ac supply voltage whereas load current is
positive.
• Thus, load acts as source & stored energy in inductance is returned back to the ac supply.

Mode 3 (π+α to 2π)

• At wt=π+α SCR's T3 & T4 are turned on & T1, T2 are reversed bias.
• Thus , process of conduction is transferred from T1,T2 to T3,T4.
• Load voltage again becomes positive & energy is stored in inductor
• T3, T4 conduct in negative half cycle from (π+α) to 2π
• With positive load voltage & load current energy gets stored

Mode 4 (2π to 2π+α)

• At wt=2π, input voltage passes through zero.
• Inductive load will try to oppose any change in current if in order to maintain load current
constant & in the same direction.
• Induced emf is positive & maintains conducting SCR's T3 & T4 with reverse polarity also. •
Thus VL is negative & equal to instantaneous ac supply voltage. Whereas load current
continues to be positive.
• Thus load acts as source & stored energy in inductance is returned back to ac supply • At
wt=α or 2π+α, T3 & T4 are commutated and T1,T2 are turned on.
Paste the input/output waveforms in the box below:
Paste the input/output waveforms in the box below:
Simulation Activity
Question#01
a) Simulate the circuit shown in the Figure in PSIM and observe the waveforms of
instantaneous output voltage Vo, the gating pulse Vg, the input current Is, and the load
current Io. Use parameter values: R=1.5kΩ, Source voltage V = 110V, Frequency f=
60Hz, delay angle α = 600 or of your own choice.
b) Perform part (a) again but this time add an inductor (of value of your choice) at the
output.

R LOAD:
L LOAD:
Simulation Activity
Question#02
a) Simulate the circuit shown in the Figure in PSIM and observe the waveforms of
instantaneous output voltage Vo, the gating pulse Vg, the input current Is, and the load
current Io. Use parameter values: R=1.5kΩ, Source voltage V = 110V, Frequency f=
60Hz, delay angle α = 600 or of your own choice.
b) Perform part (a) again but this time add an inductor (of value of your choice) at the
output.

R LOAD:
L LOAD:

Conclusion:

In this lab we got familiarization with the single phase controlled rectifiers. We have
discussed single phase uncontrolled rectifiers. We control single phase rectifiers using
thyristor and diodes. We connected the circuits of single phase half wave rectifier
with R-load, RL-load and free-wheeling diode. We also connected single phase full
wave rectifier with R-load, RL-load and free-wheeling diode on the hardware module
and verified the results and waveforms on the software