UNIT - II
AC – DC CONVERTERS
Improving the Efficiency of AC/DC Converters through
Synchronous Rectification
• Active rectification, or synchronous rectification, is a technique for
improving the efficiency of rectification by replacing diodes with
actively controlled switches, usually power MOSFETs or power
bipolar junction transistors (BJT).
• Whereas normal semiconductor diodes have a roughly fixed voltage
drop of around 0.5-1 volts, active rectifiers behave as resistances, and
can have arbitrarily low voltage drop.
• Replacing a diode with an actively controlled switching
element such as a MOSFET is the heart of active
rectification.
• MOSFETs have a constant very low resistance when
conducting, known as on-resistance (RDS(on)).
• They can be made with an on-resistance as low as 10 mΩ
or even lower.
• The voltage drop across the transistor is then much lower,
meaning a reduction in power loss and a gain in efficiency.
However, Ohm's law governs the voltage drop across the MOSFET,
meaning that at high currents, the drop can exceed that of a diode.
This limitation is usually dealt with either by placing several
transistors in parallel, thereby reducing the current through each
individual one, or by using a device with more active area
• The control circuitry for active rectification usually uses
comparators to sense the voltage of the input AC and open the
transistors at the correct times to allow current to flow in the
correct direction.
• The timing is very important, as a short circuit across the input
power must be avoided and can easily be caused by one transistor
• Using active rectification to implement AC/DC conversion
allows a design to undergo further improvements (with more
complexity) to achieve an active power factor correction,
which forces the current waveform of the AC source to follow
the voltage waveform, eliminating reactive currents and
allowing the total system to achieve greater efficiency.
Single-phase half-wave rectifier with resistive load
Voltage and current waveforms of the Half-wave
rectifier
Bridge rectifier
Voltage and current waveforms of the bridge rectifier
Performance Parameters
Current Relationships
Rectification Ratio
Form Factor
Ripple Factor
Single-phase bridge rectifier
(a) fully controlled (b) half controlled
Waveforms of a fully controlled bridge rectifier with resistive load.
Waveforms of a fully controlled bridge rectifier with resistive-inductive
load
Behaviour of the fully controlled
rectifier with resistive-inductive load
• The high-load inductance generates a perfectly filtered current and the rectifier behaves like a
current source.
• With continuous load current, thyristors T1 and T2 remain in the on-state beyond the positive half-
wave of the source voltage vs.
• For this reason, the load voltage vd can have a negative instantaneous value.
• The firing of thyristors T3 and T4 has two effects:
i) they turn off thyristors T1 and T2; and
This is the main reason why this type of converter is called a ‘‘naturally commutated’’ or
‘‘line commutated’’ rectifier.
The supply current iS has the square waveform shown in Fig. for continuous conduction.
In this case, the average load voltage is given by
Analysis of the Input Current
• The input current in a bridge-controlled rectifier is a square waveform when
the load current is perfectly filtered.
• In addition, the input current is is shifted by the firing angle a with respect to
the input voltage vs, as shown in Fig.
• Input current can be expressed as a Fourier series, where the amplitude of
the different harmonics is given by
Power Factor of the Rectifier
• This equation shows clearly that due to the nonsinusoidal waveform of the
input current, the power factor of the rectifier is negatively affected by both
the firing angle “alpha” and the distortion of the input current.
• In effect, an increase in the distortion of the current produces an increase in
the value of Is in Eq. (11.16), which deteriorates the power factor.
Input current of the single-phase controlled rectifier in bridge connection: (a) waveforms; and (b) harmonics spectrum.
Commutation of the Thyristors
• Until now the current commutation between thyristors has been
considered to be
instantaneous .
This consideration is not valid in real cases due to the presence of the
line inductance L, as shown in Fig.
During commutation, the current through the thyristors cannot
change instantaneously, and for this reason, during the commutation
angle m, all four thyristors are conducting simultaneously.
Therefore, during the commutation the following relationship for the
load voltage holds
Three-Phase Controlled Rectifiers
• Three-phase controlled rectifiers have a wide range of
applications, from small rectifiers to large high voltage
direct current (HVDC) transmission systems.
• From the point of view of the commutation process, they
can be classified into two important categories:
Linecommutated controlled rectifiers (thyristor rectifiers);
and
Force-commutated PWM rectifiers.
Three-Phase Half-Wave Rectifier
• Figure 12.1 shows the three-phase half-wave rectifier topology.
• To control the load voltage, the half-wave rectifier uses three common-cathode
thyristor arrangement. In this figure, the power supply and the transformer are
assumed ideal.
• The thyristor will conduct (ON state), when the anode-to-cathode voltage nAK is
positive, and a firing current pulse iG is applied to the gate terminal. Delaying
the firing pulse by an angle a controls the load voltage.
• As shown in Fig. 12.2, the firing angle a is measured from the crossing point
between the phase supply voltages.
load average voltage can be
evaluated and is given by
where Vmax is the secondary phase-to-neutral peak voltage, Vrms f -N its root mean
square (rms) value, and o is the angular frequency of the main power supply.
AC current waveforms for the half wave Rectifier
Three-Phase Full-Wave Rectifier(Graetz Bridge)
• Parallel connection via interphase transformers permits the
implementation of rectifiers for high current applications.
• Series connection for high voltage is also possible, as shown in the
full-wave rectifier of Fig.
With this arrangement,
• It can be seen that the three common cathode valves
generate a positive voltage with respect to the neutral, and
the three common anode valves produce a negative
voltage.
• The result is a dc voltage twice the value of the half-wave
rectifier
• These characteristics make the so-called Graetz bridge the most
widely used line-commutated thyristor rectifier.
• The configuration does not need any special transformer, and
works as a 6-pulse rectifier.
• The load average voltage is given by
Harmonic Distortion
• The currents of the line-commutated rectifiers are far from being
sinusoidal. For example, the currents generated from the Graetz
rectifier have the following harmonic content
• The rms magnitude of the fundamental frequency is
The rms magnitude of the nth harmonic is
If either the primary or the secondary three-phase windings of
the rectifier transformer are connected in delta, the ac side
current waveforms consist of the instantaneous differences between two
rectangular secondary currents 1200 apart.
Special Configurations for Harmonic Reduction
• A common solution for harmonic reduction is through the
connection of passive filters, which are tuned to trap a particular
harmonic frequency.
• A typical configuration is shown in Fig.
• Another solution for harmonic reduction is the utilization of active
power filters.
• Active power filters are special pulse width modulated (PWM)
converters, able to generate the harmonics the converter requires.
• Figure 12.25 shows a current-controlled shunt active power filter.
Double Star Rectifier with Interphase Connection -
Isolation
• This topology works as two half-wave rectifiers in parallel, and is
very useful when high dc current is required.
• An optimal way to reach both good balance and eliminaton of
harmonics is through the connection shown in Fig.
• The two rectifiers are shifted by 180o , and their secondary neutrals
are connected through a middle-point autotransformer, called an
‘‘interphase transformer’’.
• The interphase transformer is connected between the two
secondary neutrals, and the middle point at the load return.
• Half the direct current flows in each half of the interphase transformer and
then its iron core does not become saturated.
• The potential of each neutral can oscillate independently, generating an
almost triangular voltage waveform (vT ) in the interphase transformer, as
shown in Fig. 12.9.
• As this converter works like two half-wave rectifiers connected in parallel, the
load average voltage is the same as in Eq. (12.1):
where Vrms f-N is the phase-to-neutral rms voltage at the valve side of the
transformer (secondary).