Summary of Rectifiers:-

• A rectifier is a power electronic converter which converts ac voltage or current sources to dc voltage
and current.
• In a rectifier, electrical power flows from the ac input to the dc output.
• In many rectifier circuits, power can also flow from the dc side to the ac side, where upon, the rectifier
is said to be operating in the “inverter mode”.
• Rectifiers can be classified based on the type of device they use, the converter circuit topology,
number of phases and the control mechanism.
• All rectifiers produce unwanted harmonies both at the out put and the input. Performance of a rectifier
is judged by the relative magnitudes of these harmonies with respect to the desired output.
• For a given input voltage and load, the output voltage (current) of an uncontrolled rectifier can not be
varied. However, the output voltage may vary considerably with load.
• Single phase uncontrolled half wave rectifier with resistive or inductive load have low average output
voltage, high from factor and poor ripple factor of the output voltage waveform.
• Single phase uncontrolled full wave rectifier have higher average output voltage and improved ripple
factor compared to a half wave rectifier with resistive and inductive load.
• With highly inductive load the output voltage waveform of a full wave rectifier may be independent of
the load parameters.
• With a capacitive load the output voltage form factor approaches unity with increasing capacitance
value for both the half wave and the full wave rectifiers. However, THD of the input current also
increases.
• A full wave bridge rectifier generates higher average dc voltage compared to a split supply full wave
rectifier. However it also uses more number of diodes.

• Single phase fully controlled converters are obtained by replacing the diodes of an uncontrolled
converter with thyristors.
• In a fully controlled converter the output voltage can be controlled by controlling the firing delay
angle (α) of the thyristors.
• Single phase fully controlled half wave converters always operate in the discontinuous conduction
mode.
• Half wave controlled converters usually have poorer output voltage form factor compared to
uncontrolled converter.
• Single phase fully controlled bridge converters are extensively used for small dc motor drives.
• Depending on the load condition and the firing angle a fully controlled bridge converter can operate
either in the continuous conduction mode or in the discontinuous conduction mode.
• In the continuous conduction mode the load voltage depends only on the firing angle and not on load
parameters.
• In the discontinuous conduction mode the output voltage decreases with increasing load current.
However the output voltage is always greater than that in the continuous conduction mode for the
same firing angle.
• The fully controlled bridge converter can operate as an inverter provided (i) π2α>
, (ii) a dc power source of suitable polarity exists on the load side.

• Single phase half controlled converters are obtained from fully controlled converters by replacing two
thyristors by two diodes.
• Two thyristors of one phase leg or one group (top or bottom) can be replaced resulting in two different
topologies of the half controlled converter. From the operational point of view these two topologies
are identical.
• In a half controlled converter the output voltage does not become negative and hence the converter
cannot operate in the inverter mode.
• For the same firing angle and input voltage the half controlled converter in the continuous conduction
mode gives higher output voltage compared to a fully controlled converter.
• For the same input voltage, firing angle and load parameters the half controlled converter has better
output voltage and current form factor compared to a fully controlled converter.
• For the same firing angle and load current the half controlled converter in the continuous conduction
mode has better input power factor compared to a fully controlled converter.
• Half controlled converters are most favored in applications requiring unidirectional output voltage and
current.

• Three phase uncontrolled rectifiers are available in half wave and full wave configuration.
• Three phase uncontrolled half wave rectifier require three phase four wire power supply.
• The input ac line current in a three phase uncontrolled half wave rectifier contain dc component which
may cause “dc saturation” of input transformer.
• Three phase full wave uncontrolled rectifier is most widely used in the medium power applications
particularly as the input stage of the dc link inverter.
• Three phase full wave uncontrolled rectifier uses six diodes instead of three of the half wave rectifier.
• Full bridge rectifier does not require neutral connection.

• The output voltage of a three phase full bridge rectifier contains multiplies of 6 th harmonic of input
cycle.
• The input ac current of a three phase full bridge rectifier contain only odd harmonics but no dc
component or triplen harmonics.
• The input displacement factor of the three phase bridge rectifier is always unity.
• Three phase full bridge converter supplying an R – L – E load usually operate in the continuous
conduction mode.
• Compared to single phase rectifiers, three phase bridge converter require smaller inductor to obtain the
same output current ripple factor.
• Three phase bridge rectifier supplying a capacitive load has very good output voltage form factor but
very poor input current THD.
• Compared to single phase converters three phase bridge rectifier require smaller capacitor to obtain a
given output voltage form factor.

• A three phase fully controlled converter is realized by replacing the diodes of an uncontrolled
converter with thyristors.
• A three phase fully controlled converter can operate either as a rectifier or as an inverter.
• The output voltage of a three phase fully controlled converter contains multiple of sixth harmonic of
the input frequency in addition to the dc component.
• The input current of a three phase fully controlled converter contains only odd harmonics other than
tripler harmonics.
• The input current displacement factor of a three phase fully controlled converter is cos α. α being the
firing angle.
• In the continuous conduction mode a three phase fully controlled converter may operate in the
inverting mode by increasing α beyond 90º.
• In the inverting mode the firing angle should be less than 180º for safe commutation of the thyristors.
• Several units of three phase fully controlled converters can be connected in series parallel to form
higher pulse number (12, 18, 24 etc) converters.
• In higher pulse number converters all component converters are fired at the same firing angle while
their input supplies are phase shifted from one another by a predetermined angle.
• Two three phase fully controlled converter can be connected in anti parallel to form a dual converter
which can operate in all four quadrants of the V-I plane.
• Dual converters can be of circulating and non circulating current type.
• Fully controlled converters employ “inverse casine control” strategy for generating firing pulses which
gives linear relationship between the output voltage and the control voltage. In a three phase fully
controlled converter, a three phase delta/zig-zag connected signal transformer is used to generate the
required carrier waves for this purpose.

• Three phase half controlled converters are obtained by replacing three thyristors of either the top
group or the bottom group of fully controlled converters by three diodes.
• Three phase half controlled converters can not operate in the inverting mode.
• Three phase half controlled converters have nine operating modes as compared to six of a fully
controlled converter.
• The three free wheeling modes of a half controlled converters appears only when the firing angle is
larger than 60º.
• The output voltage and current waveforms of a three phase half controlled converter consist of a dc
component and triplen harmonics of the input voltage frequency.
• For the same input ac voltage and firing angle a half controlled converter has higher output average dc
voltage compared to a fully controlled converter.
• The input ac line current of a three phase half controlled converter contains harmonics of all (odd and
even) order except triplen harmonics.
• For the same average dc load current and firing angle the half controlled converter has better input
current displacement factor but poorer distortion factor compared to a fully controlled converter.
• The triggering circuit of a three phase half controlled converter is similar to that of a fully controlled
converter. However, only three are required.

• Ac power sources supplying an ac-dc converter have internal impedances which are not always
negligible.
• The internal impedance of an ac source is predominantly inductive with negligible resistive
component.
• Due to the presence of the source inductance in the ac line the thyristors in a ac-dc converter can not
commutate instantaneously.
• The period over which the commutation process continuous is called the overlap period.
• The length of the overlap period increases with increasing source inductance and load current.
• In a single phase converter all four thyristors conduct during the overlap period.
• In a three phase converter, three thyristors conduct during the overlap period provided it is less than
60º.
• The average output voltage of a converter decreases as a result of commutation overlap.
• The voltage drop due to commutation overlap can be represented as a drop across a commutation
resistance the value of which is proportional to the ac line reactance per phase.
• The commutation resistance is “loss less” since the actual process of overlap does not involve any real
power loss.
• Commutation overlap reduces the margin angle (γ) of a converter and may cause commutation failure.
• Commutation overlap introduces “notches” in the ac supply voltage waveform which may affect other
equipment connect to the same power source.