4 IEEE TRANSACTIOSS OK DIIAGKETICS, VGL. MAG-6, S O .

1, MARCH 1970

A Feedback-Controlled Ferroresonant
Voltage Regulator

Abstract-A new regulated rectifierwhichcombines a ferro- R

resonant regulator with a simple control circuit i s described herein.
The voltage regulatingfunctionnormally provided in a ferro-
resonant regulator by the saturating core is provided by the control
circuit in this new regulated rectifier. The control circuit provides
regulation by varying theamplitude of thealternating voltage
feeding the rectifier and filter. By incorporating feedback into the
controlcircuit,regulation of better than f1/2 percentforline,
load, frequency, and temperature changes can easily be attained.
Thenew feedback-controlled circuit retainsmanydesirable Fig. 1. Basic line voltage regulator.
properties of conventional ferroresonant regulators such as half-
cycle transient response, good input power factor, ideal output
waveform for rectification and filtering, high efficiency, short circuit
protection, and suppression of input voltage spikes. Additional
features are level set, improved efficiency, lower stray magnetic
fields than observed with conventional ferroresonant regulators,
and, primarily, precision regulation.
Data on an 800-watt regulated rectifier employinz the new cir-
cuit are also presented.

I. INTRODUCTIOK
I
F EIXRORESONANT voltage regulators havebeen used
to advantage for more than two decades. Their advan-
tages are well known. Even though they provide only line
Fig. 2. B-H characteristic of SR.

voltage regulation, they are efficient, simple, and reliable. Assume the input voltage is sufficiently large so that the
Theirmajordisadvantage is that theiroutput voltage core of XR is driven from -da to +6,a in less than a half-
varies directly with the input frequency, but this is not a cycle. Then from Faraday’s law, the voltage induced in
problem when commercial power is used. the secondary will be
New requirementson power supplies formany Bell e(t) = -N(d6,/dt) X volts (1)
System applications require that the supply be regulated where
when the power source is a standby generator whose fre-
quency can vary from 57 t o 63 Hz. I n order to overcome N number of turns on the secondary
the problem of frequency sensitivity, a new circuit con- 6, flux in the core in lines
sisting of a ferroresonantregulator in cascade with an t timein seconds.
electronic control circuit incorporating feedback was de- Integrating, and assuming that the core saturates atsome
veloped. The new circuit not only regulates for frequency time ‘T before the end of the half-cycle,
changes, but provides load regulation and improves line
regulation. This paper discusses ferroresonant regulators
and the new feedback-controlled ferroresonant regulator
p t ) dt = -N x 10-8 /+& d+.
-6s
(2)
as applied to a rectifier. The half-cyclic average value of the output voltage Pois
then given by
11. THE CONVENTIOKAL FERRORESONAKT REGULATOR
7,= -4N5fh f x 10-8 (3)
The ferroresonant regulator may be described in several
ways. One simplified explanation is as follows: consider the where f is the input frequency. Equation (3) says that the
circuit of Fig. 1. SR is a transformer which has a well- half-cyclic average voltage induced in any winding on XR
defined saturation characteristic as illustrated in Fig. 2. is a constantas long as the core saturates and the frequency
is fixed. This is true regardless of the magnitude or wave-
Manuscript received May 22, 1969. Paper 1.3, presented a t t h e
form of the input voltage. Note also that regardless of the
1969 Workshop on Applied Magnetics,Washington, D. C., May number of turns on the primary winding, as long as the
22-23. core is driven into saturation, the output voltage follows
The author is with Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., Whippany,
N.J. 07981. thenumber of turnsonthe secondary winding. If a
KAKALEC: FEEDBACK-CONTROLLED FERROBESONANT VOLTAGE REGULATOR 5

rectifier and averaging filter follow theoutput of the

transformer in Fig. 1, the dc output will be regulated for
line voltage changes. This is the most fundamental type
of line voltage regulator.
A more efficient line voltageregulator would use a n
inductor L in series with SR rather than aresistor to
eliminate power loss. This circuit is shown in Fig. 3. For
this circuit as for the circuit of Fig. 1, the output voltage Fig. 3. Lossless line voltage regulator.
is given by (3).
Clearly this circuit also regulates the half-cyclic average
of the outputvoltage regardless of the magnitudeor wave-
form of the inputvoltage. If a rectifier and averaging filter
follow the output of SR in Fig. 3, the output voltage will
f
-p SR

be regulated for line voltage variations.

A more effective and efficient technique for regulating
the output voltage is to use a capacitor Cfin parallel with
SR, and tune C f with L near the input frequency. This
arrangement provides almost unity power factor and effi-
cient power transfer. This circuit, illustrated in Fig. 4,is
u
Fig. 4. Ferroresonantregulator.
called a “ferroresonantregulator,” or simplya “ferro.”
Fig. 5 shows the schematic diagram for a ferro emp oying
a high leakage transformer, often

shows atypicaloutput
called a ferroresonant
transformer. Here the magnetic functions of L and SR are
combined on a single core structure. The leakage induct-
ance provided by the shunts take the place of L. Fig. 6
voltage waveform fromeither
arrangement and may be explained as follows: SR satu-
rates at some time T before the end of the half-cycle. At
this time the capacitor discharges and recharges in the
---)E-2-E -
- -

Fig. 5. High leakage or ferroresonant transformer.

e
opposite direction through the saturated inductance L, of
SR at a frequency

f = (l/2?r) ( 1/L8Cf)1’Z.
t

When t.he currentthrough SR goes through zero, and

reverses, the core of SR comes out of saturation. Since the
capacitor has an initial charge on it, the voltage on the
capacitor remains high until the end of the next half-cycle
when the core of SR again saturates.
As in the case of the two previously mentioned circuits
the output voltage is given by ( 3 ) , so that the half-cyclic
average value of the output voltage is regulated. Because
of the near square waveform of the output voltage, and
since for asquare wave Vpk = V , = V,,,, this circuit
regulates all three values. Therefore, with this circuit, the
filter may be either capacitor input or inductor input-it
does not matter-the dc output will be the same and will
be regulated for line voltage changes. I n practice,a
capacitor-terminated rectifier is usually used because some
of the filter capacitance is reflected in parallel with Cf,
reducing the value of C f required to resonate with L.
Another advantage of this circuit is that the tuning of
L and C f provides a low-pass filter between the input and
the output,. Regardless of the input waveform, primarily
the fundamental passes to the transformer. Therefore the
ferro output isinsensitive to input voltage spikes. I n
ferroresonantregulators it is incorrect to say that the
input voltagemust be sufficient tosaturatethe core;
T
Fig. 6. Output voltage of SR.
ratherthestatementmustbe rephrased to “sufficient
voltage at the fundamentalfrequency tosaturatethe
core.” This is important when the input voltage is not
sinusoidal. Adding the capacitorprovides threemajor
advantages: improved power factor, ideal output wave-
formfor rectification and filtering, and insensitivity to
input voltage spikes. The capacitorcanbephysically
placed on any winding of SR, as long as its impedance
reflected to the primary of SR is constant.
Ferroresonant regulators havefour major disadvantages:
1) the output voltage is frequency sensitive, 2) since the
core operates in saturation thecore losses are high and the
external magnetic field is high, 3) since the output varies
directly with the cross sectional area of the core, normal
core tolerances cause unit to unit output voltage differ-
ences, 4) since the core is the regulating element, the out-
put voltagevarieswithload current changes dueto
voltage drop in the secondary resistance.
6 IEEE TRBKSACTIONS O N MbGNETICS, NARCH 1970

FERRORESONANT
111. THEFEEDBACK-CONTROLLED FERRORESONANT
TRANSFORMER
VOLTAGE REGULATOR
CONTROLCIRCUIT7
Consider the circuit of Fig. 7 which consists of a ferro-
resonant regulator, a control circuit, and a rectifier and
filDer. The voltage e ( t ) is as shown in Fig. 6. In thecontrol
circuit the R-C combination is an integratorused to meas-
ure the voltage-time area of the output voltage. L, is an
inductor chosen to have a value approximately equal to
the value of the saturated inductance of the secondary of
the ferroresona,nttransformer.Finally, the "triac" is a
switch which closes between T I and Tawhen there is suffi-
cient gatecurrent flowing into the device. The control
circuit operates asfollows : the R-C combination integrates
the output voltage, and therefore the peak voltage across
the capacitor C at anyinstant isproportional tothe
voltage-time area of the voltage e ( t ). When the voltage
on the capa,citor C reaches a peak value sufficient to break LTRIACFIRES WHEN e, REACHES
eCM= VZ+V~+VG,WHERE
over the Zener diode Z,(Z, on alternate half-cycles) , gate Vz=REVERSEBREAKDOWNOF Z, OR Z,
current flows and the triac conducts current through its V, = FORWARD VOLTAGE DROP OF 2, OR ZI
VG = GATE TO TI VOLTAGE OF THE TRlAC
main Oerminals T I and Ta. This causes the capacitor Cf to (iJ V,)
rapidly discharge and recharge cosinusoiddly through t,he
Fig. 7. Ferroresonantregulated rectifier with control circuit.
inductor L,. At this time, the voltage across the triac and
the current through it are reversed, causing the triac to
come out of conduct'ion, thus completing the half-cycle.
The sameaction occurs the next half-cycle with the @!I
opposite polarity. Clearly this action cannot, occur if the
core saturates since the necessary volt time area t o fire the
triac cannot be obtained.
Specifically, the output voItage e ( t ) in Fig. 7 is approx-
imately a syua.re wave and can be represented inits
Fourier series form as
) (4VO/a)
~ ( t= [:(sinnwt)/n]
n odd

where
P
O = -4N$j x lop8, 4 5 4s-
Fig. S. Feedback controlled ferroresonant regulated rectifier.
However, in a given half-cycle
e(t) = &PO. Since e,, = V,+ V I + VG,(4) can be writ,ten as
Consider t'he circuit operation in a half-cycle when - 4&cf(v,+ f'T +
J7--0 T7G;).
(3)
e(t) = +To. I n a given half-cycle, (5) is the equation for the voltage
e ( t ) feeding the rectifier and filter in Fig. 7. Obviously,
The voltage across the capacitor e, in differential form is
since all the terms in (5) areindependent of the input
de, = ( l / C ) i dt voltage, the output voltage is regulat,ed for line voltage
changes. Furthermore, since the controlcircuit is the
where i is the. current through the R-C network. Inte- regulating element, voltage drops in the secondary of the
grating over a half-cycle, and since the voltage across C is transformer are obviated. Since 4 5 the stray magnetic
clamped at' ecn (see Fig. 7), field is reduced.
Referring to (5), it can be seen that the output voltage
i ,
+ecm

,, de, = (I/c) /
0
TI2
i dt. e ( t ) is still frequency dependent. And although some load
regulation has been gained, the voltagedrops inthe
Define w = 2nf, where f is the fundamental of the input rectifier bridge still affect edc. However, it can be seen
frequency. If R >> l/wC, t'hen i N v,,/R. Substituting and from (5) that if R can be varied (electronically), POcould
solving the above integ-ral, be controlled so as to keep e d e in Fig. 7 const'ant.
Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of the new- circuit incor-
ecm = PcT/4RC. (4) porating feedback. Here the control circuit' has been placed
FEEDBACK-COKTROLLED
RORESONdNT KAKALEC: VOLTAGE REGULATOR 7

then fires earlier in the immediate half-cycle, and since the

total value of the integrating resistor is lower, the value of
e ( t ) is lowered in subsequent half-cycles. This is shown in
the dotted partof Fig. 9(a). The outputvoltage e d o is then
lowered to its previous value as shown in tthe dotted part
of Fig. 9 (c) . Note that in thehalf-cycle during which the
correction is made the frequency of the output changes,
and in subsequent half-cycles the phase of the output e ( t )
is shifted from its previous value. The time required for
this correction, depending on when the disturbanceoccurs,
is at most half a cycle.
The circuit operates similarly for increases in frequency
or any other parameter change that would cause e d c to
rise. If e d c is decreased, the action just described is reversed.
The accuracy of the regulation is a function of the design
of the feedback circuit.
Use of the new feedback-controlled circuit in conjunc-
tion with a ferroresonant regulator has many- important
tl features in addition to precision regulation. As can be seen
Fig. 9. (aj 1-oltage feeding rectifiers, e ( t ) . (b) Voltage across from Fig. 9, the output voltage is regulated by controlling
integrating capacitor C. (c) Voltage edc across CO.
the amplitude of the voltage feeding the rectifier bridge
and filter. Another advantage of the new circuit is that L,
across an isolated winding of the transformer.This is can be made very small, causing the voltage across the
necessary to obta,in theisolation required forthe feedback triac to reverse more rapidly, making e ( t ) a squarer wave,
circuit. The integrating resistor in Fig. 8 consists of R, RI, and reducing the required filter capacitance. Since the
and Ro, where Rois the impedance seen looking into a - a'. transformer core does not saturate, core losses are reduced
The Zener diode 2,is the reference, and transistorQ1 is the and the circuit is more efficient. The half-cycle response of
error detector and amplifier. The diode bridge is added to theferro is retained,andas previously mentioned, the
keep the current flow Ohrough QI unidirectional. In this stray magnetic field is reduced.
arrangement Ro is an impedance whose value is decreased
by the feedback circuit as e d c tries to increase. Defining IV. PERFORMANCE
CHARACTERISTICS
R, as The first prototype model employing this new circuit
Res = RRo/(R + Ro) has been designed and tested. The requirements were
then in a given half-cycle, the voltage e ( t ) in Fig. 8 is Vi, = 10.5-129 or 186-253 volts
e(t) = 70= 4Cfe,,(R,, + RI). ( 6) fin = 57 to 63 HZ
As can be seen from (6), the voltage e ( t ) can be as low- as Vout= 52.08 f 1 percent volts
e(t) = 4Cjec,Rl, RoN 0 rout= 0.1 to 1 5 amperes
if the transistor is in saturation, and ashigh as transient response = less than 50 ms.
e(t) = 4Cfe,,(R + R I ) , Ro" The circuit was tested and satisfactorily met all require-
if the transistor is cut off. R and R1 can be chosen to ments. Fig. 10 compares the efficiency of t8henew circuit
obtain therequired range for e ( t ). to that of a conventional ferroresonant regulated rectifier.
The operabion of the circuit in Fig. 8 canbebetter Fig. 11 compares their regulatingproperties. Note that
understood with the aid of Fig. 9. Fig. 9shows the idealized thiscircuithas the decided droopcharacteristicin the
waveforms of the voltages across GI, C, and Co of Fig. 8. overload region typical of ferroresonant regulators.
The solid portion shows the steady-state operation for a It has been estimated that this circuit could be manu-
given line, load, and frequency. At time tI the triac fires; factured for 25 percent less cost than other arrangements
the voltage e ( t ) is reversed and the triacis cut off at time proposed for this application. The size is about 1/10 larger
tS. On the negative half-cycle the same action occurs at than a conventional ferroresonant regulated rectifier.
times tz and t d . If suddenly the load is removed a t time t5,
the output voltage e d c suddenly increases. This increases V. CONCLUSIOX
the base current intoQ1 and increases the collector current. A new method of regulationhas been developed and
+
This corresponds to lowering Ro, reducing (Res R1). successfully tested.Although not discussed specifically,
This causes the capacitor C to charge to ec, a t a faster this method could be adaptedfor ac applications. The units
rate, as is shown in the dotted partof Fig. 9 (b) . The triac originally developed were designed for 60-Hz operation,
8 IEEE TRANS-4CTIOXS ON MAGNETICS, MARCH 1970

““I
90f FEEDBACK
CONTROLLED
CIRCUIT

70
CONVENTIONALFERRORESONANT
REGULATEDRECTIFIER HYSTERESIS LOOP
SATURATING
REACTOR FOR SATURATING
REACTOR

LL
W
30

2otII
IOL II I

0
1 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 BOO 900 1000
I
I I HYSTERESIS LOOP
INPUT’ WATTS I FOR SI MULATED
I I SATURATING REACTOR
Fig. 10. Comparison of open loop and closed loop efficiency.

Fig. 12.
r
fore this network can replace any saturating reactor, with
60
--------- the important advantageof overcoming the inflexibility of
I-
the core characteristics by means of feedback.

ACKNOU‘LEDGMENI’

The author wishes to thank B. E. Stevens, under whose

20 - CONDITIONS
0 3 6 9 12 15
‘OUT
Fig. 11. Comparison of open loop (ferroresonant) and
closed loop regulation.
but inprinciple this method could be used a t any frequency
with the proper semiconductors.
The control circuit actually simulates an electronically
controllable saturating core, as is shown in Fig. 12. I n this
electronically controllable simulated saturating core, the
saturated inductance L, is externallyvariable. The un-
saturated inductance (thenonconducting triac) is infinite.
The “core loss,” which consists of the current through t’he
R-C network required to fire the triac, is negligible. There-
supervision this workwasperformed, H. P. Hart, who
contributed to thedevelopment of the circuit, and R. Walk
for his va,luable comments on the original manuscript.
18
REFERENCES
[l]J. H. Galloway, “Using thetriac for control of ac power,”
G. E. Applicat,ion Note 200.35.
[2] R. N. Basu, “A new approach in the analysis and design of a
ferroresonant transformer,” IEEE Trans. Magnetics, vol. MAC-
3, pp. 43-49, March 1967.
[3] H. F. St,orm and D. L. Watrous, “Silicon gate-controlled ac
switch anditsapplications,” IEEE Trans. Magnetics, vol.
MAG-1, pp. 36-42, March 1965.
[4]T. Buchhold and E. Stuhlinger, “Oscillating circuit incor-
porating a choke with rect,angular magnetization curve,” Ited-
stone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala., Tech. Rept. ’70, Januaw 15,
1952. DO. 1-44.
[5] H. P.”Hart, “Study of ferroresonantregulatoractionona
half-cycle basis” (unpublished).
[6] E. W. Manteuffel and R. 0. McCary, “The d-c controlled a-c
voltage source, a new magnet.ic amplifier,” A l E E Trans. (Com-
munication and Electronics). vol. 76. WD. 562-566. November