Power Electronics

Winter 2023

Lecture 7

Dr. Walid Atef Omran

Today’s Lecture
 Three phase half wave rectifiers
 Principle of operation

 Highly inductive load

 Highly inductive load with free wheeling diode

 R load

 Three phase full wave rectifiers

 Principle of operation

2
Three Phase Rectifiers
 Three phase rectifiers are divided into two main categories: 1)
half wave rectifiers, and 2) full wave rectifiers.

 The advantages of using three phase rectifiers are:

 The output power of is high, and thus, are they are used to supply
power to large loads.
 The ripples in the output voltage are low, which means that the
output voltage waveform is closer to the DC waveform.
 The input power factor is higher as compared to single phase
rectifiers.

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Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier

Connection 1 Connection 2

Three phase half wave rectifier

4
Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier
 Principle of operation:
 The firing angles for the three thyristors are equal.
 The firing angle of each thyristor is measured from the intersection
between two phase voltages.
 α1 for T1 is measured from the intersection between vc and va
(when va, connected to the anode of T1, starts to be the most
positive voltage in the system). Thus, T1 is fired at angle α+30o
 α2 For T2 is measured from the intersection between va and vb.
Thus, T2 is fired at angle α+150o
 α3 For T3 is measured from the intersection between vb and vc.
Thus, T3 is fired at angle α+270o
 The voltage across T1 is: vT1 = va – vo (the voltage across the two
either thyristors can be obtained in a similar way).
 The output voltage has 3 pulses in the 2π period, thus, the period of
5
the output voltage is 2π/3.
1.5

α1 α2 α3
vc va vb vc
1

0.5

0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360

-0.5

-1

-1.5
6
Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier
1- Highly Inductive Load
 In this circuit, the inductance is very high, and thus,
the current has to always flow through the load.
Accordingly, there will be a thyristor conducting at
any instant.

 Each thyristor will conduct for 360o/3 = 120o.

 The output voltage waveform can be positive only or have a negative

portion depending on the firing angle.

 At a firing angle of 30o the output voltage waveform will touch the x-
axis 7
1- Highly Inductive Load
(α < 30o)

8
1- Highly Inductive Load
(α > 30o)

9
Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier
1- Highly Inductive Load
𝛼+150 𝛼+150
1 1
𝑉𝑜𝑎𝑣 = න 𝑣𝑎 (𝜔𝑡)𝑑𝜔𝑡 = න 2 𝑉 sin 𝜔𝑡 𝑑𝜔𝑡
2𝜋Τ3 2𝜋Τ3
𝛼+30 𝛼+30
3 2𝑉 𝑉𝑜𝑎𝑣
𝑉𝑜𝑎𝑣 = cos 𝛼 + 30 − cos 𝛼 + 150 , 𝐼𝑜𝑎𝑣 = = 𝐼𝑜
2𝜋 𝑅
𝛼+150
1 𝐼𝑜 𝜋 120 𝐼𝑜
𝐼𝑎 𝑎𝑣 = න 𝐼𝑜 𝑑𝜔𝑡 = 𝛼 + 150 − 𝛼 − 30 × = 𝐼𝑜 =
2𝜋 2𝜋 180 360 3
𝛼+30
𝛼+150
1 𝐼𝑜
𝐼𝑎 𝑟𝑚𝑠 = න 𝐼𝑜2 𝑑𝜔𝑡 =
2𝜋 3
𝛼+30

𝑉𝑃𝑅𝑉 = 𝑉𝑃𝐹𝑉 = 𝑉𝐿𝐿−𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 3𝑉 (V is the rms phase voltage)

10
Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier
2- Highly Inductive Load with free wheeling diode
The effect of the free wheeling diode will appear only
if the output voltage is negative, i.e., when α > 30o.
180
1
𝑉𝑜𝑎𝑣 = න 𝑣𝑎 (𝜔𝑡)𝑑𝜔𝑡
2𝜋Τ3
𝛼+30

180 𝛼+30
1 1
𝐼1𝑎𝑣 = න 𝐼𝑜 𝑑𝜔𝑡 , 𝐼𝐷𝑎𝑣 = න 𝐼𝑜 𝑑𝜔𝑡
2𝜋 2𝜋Τ3
𝛼+30 60

𝑉𝑃𝑅𝑉−𝑇 = 𝑉𝑃𝐹𝑉−𝑇 = 𝑉𝐿𝐿−𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 3𝑉

𝑉𝑃𝑅𝑉−𝐷𝑓 = 𝑉𝑝ℎ−𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2𝑉
11
2- Highly Inductive Load
with free wheeling diode
(α > 30o)

12
Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier
3- R load (α < 30o):
The output voltage will be continuous when α < 30o.
𝛼+150
1
𝑉𝑜𝑎𝑣 = න 𝑣𝑎 (𝜔𝑡)𝑑𝜔𝑡
2𝜋Τ3
𝛼+30

𝛼+270
1 𝑣𝑏 (𝜔𝑡)
𝐼2𝑎𝑣 = න 𝑑𝜔𝑡
2𝜋 𝑅
𝛼+150

𝑉𝑃𝑅𝑉−𝑇 = 𝑉𝑃𝐹𝑉−𝑇 = 𝑉𝐿𝐿−𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 3𝑉

13
3- R Load (α < 30o)

14
Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier
3- R load (α > 30o):
The output voltage will be discontinuous when α > 30o.
180
1
𝑉𝑜𝑎𝑣 = න 𝑣𝑎 (𝜔𝑡)𝑑𝜔𝑡
2𝜋Τ3
𝛼+30

180
1 𝑣𝑎 (𝜔𝑡)
𝐼1𝑎𝑣 = න 𝑑𝜔𝑡
2𝜋 𝑅
𝛼+30

𝑉𝑃𝑅𝑉−𝑇 = 𝑉𝑃𝐹𝑉−𝑇 = 𝑉𝐿𝐿−𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 3𝑉

15
3- R Load (α > 30o)

16
Three Phase Full Wave Rectifier
 The three phase full wave rectifier is also called the three phase bridge
rectifier.

 The controlled three phase bridge rectifier is composed of six

thyristors.

17
Three Phase Full Wave Rectifier
 To simplify the analysis, the three phase bridge circuit can be split into
2 three phase half wave connections by adding an imaginary neutral
node. This is called the auxiliary circuit.

 T1, T3, T5 form the first half wave

connection and is called the +ve group.

 T2, T4, T6 form the second half wave

connection and is called the -ve group.

 The output voltage can be obtained by

subtracting the output voltage of the +ve group and the output voltage
of the –ve group. 18
Three Phase Full Wave Rectifier
 Principle of operation:
 The firing angles for the six thyristors are equal.
 The firing angle of each thyristor of the +ve group is measured
from the positive intersection between two phase voltages.
 The firing angle of each thyristor of the –ve group is measured
from the negative intersection between two phase voltages.
 At any instant a thyristor from the +ve group will be conducting
with a thyristor from the –ve group and the output voltage is given
by:
𝑣𝑜 = 𝑣+𝑣𝑒 − 𝑣−𝑣𝑒

 The current will flow from the supply to a thyristor from the +ve
group (T1 or T3 or T5) to a thyristor from the –ve group (T2 or T4
or T6) to the supply again.
19
 Auxiliary waveform
1.5

α1 α3 α5
vc va vb vc
1

0.5

0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360

-0.5

-1

α2 α4 α6
20
-1.5
Three Phase Full Wave Rectifier
 Principle of operation:
 When T1 is ON → v+ve = va
T3 is ON → v+ve = vb
T5 is ON → v+ve = vc
 When T2 is ON → v-ve = vc
T4 is ON → v-ve = va
T6 is ON → v-ve = vb
 If T1 and T6 are conducting together then:
𝑣𝑜 = 𝑣+𝑣𝑒 − 𝑣−𝑣𝑒 = 𝑣𝑎 − 𝑣𝑏 = 𝑣𝑎𝑏

 T3 and T4 are conducting together then:

𝑣𝑜 = 𝑣+𝑣𝑒 − 𝑣−𝑣𝑒 = 𝑣𝑏 − 𝑣𝑐 = 𝑣𝑏𝑐

 The output voltage is the line to line voltage. 21

Three Phase Full Wave Rectifier
 Drawing the output voltage waveform (method 1):
 Thus, to help in drawing the output voltage of the bridge (line
voltages), the waveform for the output voltage of the +ve group
(phase voltage) and the –ve group (phase voltage) are drawn.
 The output voltage of the bridge is obtained by subtracting the
waveform of the output voltage of the –ve group from that of the
+ve group.
 Each thyristor will conduct for 120o for the case of a highly
inductive load.
 The output voltage has 6 pulses in the 2π period, thus, the period of
the output voltage is 2π/6.
 This method of using the auxiliary waveform is very useful in case
if the firing angles of the thyristors in the +ve group are not the
same as the firing angles of the thyristors in the –ve group.
22
 α1 α3 α5
va vb vc
Auxiliary waveform vc

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420

α2 α4 α6

α1 α2 α3 α4 α5 α6 α1
vcb vab vac vbc vba vca vcb vab

Main waveform

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420

23
Three Phase Full Wave Rectifier
 Drawing the output voltage waveform (method 2):
 Another method to draw the output voltage is to use the line to line
voltage directly without using the auxiliary drawing.
 This is useful for the case when the firing angles of the thyristors of
the +ve group and –ve group are the same.
 In this case firing angle of each thyristor is measured from the
intersection of each two line voltages as follows:
• The reference of firing of T1 is measured at the moment when vab
starts to be the most +ve voltage.
• The reference of firing of T2 is measured at the moment when vac
starts to be the most +ve voltage.
• The reference of firing of T3 is measured at the moment when vbc
starts to be the most +ve voltage.
 The sequence goes on till T6.
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 Main waveform
α1 α2 α3 α4 α5 α6 α1
vcb vab vac vbc vba vca vcb vab

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420

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