DC to DC

Choppers
STEP DOWN DC CHOPPER AND STEP UP DC CHOPPER
Step Down Choppers

 DC Chopperst provide variable d.c. voltage from a fixed voltage

d.c. source.
 Common applications of choppers
 DC drivers for electric vehicles
 Act as d.c. link for variable frequency inverters and in switched mode
power supplies.
 Common Semiconductor Switch
 IGBT
 BJT
 MOSFET
Choppers with Resistive Load
 Figures on the right shows different
DC to DC Choppers with various
semiconductor switches.
 All switches are assumed ideal.
 No voltage drop across the switch
during ON state.
 Full bias voltage appear at the
switch during OFF state.
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
 Frequency is adjusted and the
Duty cycle ratio is adjusted to
achieved the require voltage.
 Any type of power switch can be
PWM WAVEFORM
used as long as the required
waveform is achieved.
 𝑉𝑏 - Bias voltage
 𝑉𝑎𝑣 - Average voltage
 𝑡𝑛 - On time
 𝑡𝑓 - Off time
 T – Period
1
 𝑇=
𝑓

 f - frequency
Average and RMS Load Voltage

 From the PWM Waveform

 Average load voltage
 𝑉𝑎𝑣 - area under the curve divided
by length of the base.
𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛
 𝑉𝑎𝑣 =
𝑡𝑛 +𝑡𝑓
 RMS load voltage
𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛
 𝑉𝑎𝑣 = = 𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛 𝑓 𝑡𝑛
𝑇  𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 𝑉𝑏 = 𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛 𝑓
𝑉𝑎𝑣 𝑇
 𝐼𝑎𝑣 =
𝑅 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠
 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 =
𝑅
Example 1
 A d.c. to d.c. chopper operates from a  TRY IT!
48 V battery source into a resistive load of
 Repeat the problem for a chopper that
24 ohms. The frequency of the chopper is
has an on-time of 3 ms.
set to 250Hz. Determine the average and
rms load current and load power values
when (a) chopper on-time is 1 ms,
 Solution
 𝑉𝑎𝑣 = 𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛 𝑓 = 48 1𝑚 250 = 𝟏𝟐 𝑽
𝑉𝑎𝑣 12
 𝐼𝑎𝑣 = = 24 = 0.5𝐴
𝑅

 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 24 1𝑚(250) = 𝟐𝟒𝑽

𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 24
 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 𝑅
= 24 = 1𝐴
2
 𝑃 = 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 R = 12 24 = 𝟐𝟒 𝑾
 (b) chopper on-time is 3 ms.
Choppers with Inductive Load

 A practical load of a chopper is a DC

motor (Inductive load).
 Inductive load opposes the change in
current by storing it during ON state.
 During OFF state of the switch, the
inductor releases the charge.
 A “Free wheeling diode” is connected
in parallel to the load to protect the
power switch from the large current
that will be discharged by the inductor.
 Analysis of Chopper with inductive
load during ON STATE
 Using laplace transform
𝑉𝑏
+𝐿𝐼𝑜 𝑏 𝑉 𝑜 𝐿𝐼
𝑠
 𝑖 𝑠 = = 𝑠(𝑅+𝑠𝐿) + 𝑅+𝑠𝐿
𝑅+𝑠𝐿
𝑏 𝑉 𝑜 𝐿𝐼
 𝑖 𝑠 = 𝑠(𝑅+𝑠𝐿) + 𝑅+𝑠𝐿
 Where:
𝑅
 𝑎= 𝐿
 Transform back to time domain:
𝑹𝒕 𝑹𝒕
𝑽𝒃 −𝑳 −𝑳
 𝒊 𝒕 = 𝑹
𝟏−𝒆 + 𝑰𝒐 𝒆
 Analysis of Chopper with inductive
load during OFF STATE
 Using laplace transform
𝐿𝐼1 𝐼1
 𝑖 𝑠 = =
𝑅+𝑠𝐿 𝑆+𝑎
 Where:
𝑅
 𝑎=
𝐿
 Transform back to time domain:
𝑹𝒕
−𝑳
 𝒊 𝒕 = 𝑰𝟏 𝒆
Chopper Waveforms (Voltage and
Current)
Example 2  At the end of the ON period
𝑖 𝑡 = 𝐼1
 A d.c. to d.c. chopper has an therefore
inductive load of 1ohm resistance
𝐼1 = 9.44 + 0.607𝐼𝑜 → 𝑒𝑞. 1
and 10mH inductance. Source
voltage is 24V. The frequency of  At the end of the OFF period
the chopper is set to100Hz and the
𝑖 𝑡 = 𝐼𝑜
on-time to 5 ms. Determine the
average, maximum and minimum therefore
load currents.
𝐼𝑜 = 0.607𝐼1 → 𝑒𝑞. 2
 Solution
Substitute eq. 2 to eq 1
 𝑉𝑎𝑣 = 𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛 𝑓 = 24 5𝑚 100 = 𝟏𝟐 𝑽
𝑉𝑎𝑣 12 𝐼1 = 9.44 + 0.607 0.607𝐼1
 𝐼𝑎𝑣 = = = 12𝐴
𝑅 1 9.44
During ON Period
𝐼1 = = 𝟏𝟒. 𝟗𝟓 𝑨
 1−0.6072
 𝒊 𝒕 =
𝑽𝒃
𝟏−𝒆
𝑹𝒕
−𝑳
+ 𝑰𝒐 𝒆
𝑹𝒕
−𝑳 𝐼𝑜 = 0.607 14.95 = 𝟗. 𝟎𝟕 𝑨
𝑹
𝟏(𝟓𝒎) 𝟏(𝟓𝒎)
𝟐𝟒
 𝒊 𝒕 = 𝟏− 𝒆− 𝟏𝟎𝒎 + 𝑰𝒐 𝒆− 𝟏𝟎𝒎
𝟏
Chopper RMS load current with
Inductive Load
(𝑰𝟏 −𝑰𝒐 )𝟐
 𝑰𝒓𝒎𝒔 = 𝑰𝒐 𝑰𝟏 + 𝟑
 Solving for rms load current of
example number 2
14.95−9.07)2
 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 9.07(14.95) + 3

 𝑰𝒓𝒎𝒔 = 𝟏𝟐. 𝟏𝟑 𝐀
DC Series Motor
 Assuming steady state condition:
 Armature Voltage
 𝑽𝒂 = 𝑰𝒂 (𝑹𝒂 + 𝑹𝒇 ) + 𝐄 → (𝐕)
 Generated Voltage
 𝑬 = 𝒌𝒗 𝝎𝑰𝒂 → (𝑽)
 Armature Current
𝑽 −𝑬
 𝑰𝒂 = 𝑹 𝒂+𝑹 → (𝑨)
𝒂 𝒇
𝑬 𝒓𝒂𝒅
 𝝎=𝒌 →( )
𝒗 𝑰𝒂 𝒔
 Torque
 𝑻 = 𝒌𝒗 𝑰𝟐𝒂 → (𝐍𝐦)
 Power
 𝑽𝒂 = 𝑬𝑰𝒂 → (𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒔)
Series Motor with Chopper Drive

 In this slide the chopper circuit is  Voltage and Current Waveforms

now connected in a series motor.
 𝑉𝑎𝑣 = 𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛 𝑓 = 𝑉𝑎
 𝑉𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼𝑎 →
𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 & 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡
  Solution for (a)

Example 3  𝑉𝑎 = 𝑉𝑏 𝑡𝑛 𝑓 = 96 6𝑚 125 = 72 𝑉
 𝐸 = 𝑉𝑎 − 𝐼𝑎𝑣 𝑅 = 72 − 100𝐴 0.1 = 62𝑉
𝑬 𝟔𝟐
 𝝎=𝒌 = 𝟏𝟎𝒎(𝟏𝟎𝟎𝑨) = 𝟔𝟐 𝒓𝒂𝒅/𝒔
𝒗 𝑰𝒂

𝟔𝟎 𝒔 𝟏 𝒓𝒆𝒗
 A d.c. series motor chopper drive  𝑁 = 62 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠 𝟏 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝟐𝝅
has the following parameters:
battery voltage = 96V, 𝑅𝑎 + 𝑅𝑓 =  𝑵 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝑹𝑷𝑴
10𝑚𝑉
1 𝑜ℎ𝑚, 𝑘𝑣 = 𝐴−𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠 , f = 125 Hz.  Solution for (b)
 Calculate:  At T = 10 Nm
 (a) armature speed and torque 10
with an average armature current  𝐼𝑎 = = 31.62𝐴
10𝑚
of 100A and a chopper on-time of
6ms.  𝐸 = 𝑉𝑎 − 𝐼𝑎𝑣 𝑅 = 72 − 31.62𝐴 0.1 = 68.84𝑉
 (b) Determine the motor speed  𝝎=𝒌
𝑬 𝟔𝟖.𝟖𝟒
= 𝟏𝟎𝒎(𝟑𝟏.𝟔𝟐𝑨) = 𝟐𝟏𝟕. 𝟕𝟏 𝒓𝒂𝒅/𝒔
and armature current at a torque 𝒗 𝑰𝒂
of 10Nm with on-time and off-time 𝟔𝟎 𝒔 𝟏 𝒓𝒆𝒗
as in (a) above.  𝑁 = 217.71 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠
𝟏 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝟐𝝅

 𝑵 = 𝟐𝟎𝟕𝟖. 𝟗𝟖 𝑹𝑷𝑴
Step Up Choppers
 Operating Principle
 When T is ON
 Inductor charges.
 When T is OFF
 Inductor and Vb aid each other then it
forward biases the diode D.
 Capacitor C charges.
 When T is ON again
 Capacitor discharges through the load
resistor.
 Type equation here.
Equations  Average Battery Current
𝑽𝒐 𝑰𝒐
 𝑰𝒃 = 𝑰𝒐 = 𝟏−𝑫
𝑽𝒃
∆𝒊
 When T is ON  𝑰𝒃𝟏 = 𝑰𝒃 + 𝟐
𝑽𝒃 ∆𝒊
𝒊 𝒕 = 𝒕 = 𝒌𝒕  𝑰𝒃𝟏 = 𝑰𝒃 −
𝑳 𝟐
 Change in current during ON time

 ∆𝒊 = 𝒌𝒕𝒏
 During off period, 𝒕𝒇
𝑽𝒃
 𝑽𝒐 = (𝟏−𝑫)
 Example 4
𝑉𝑏 𝑉𝑜 −𝑉𝑏 30−12
 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑉𝑜 = →𝐷= = =
(1−𝐷) 𝑉𝑜 30
 A step-up chopper is to deliver 3A into the 0.6
10 ohm load. The battery voltage is 12 V, L 1
= 20 mH, C = 100 uF and the chopper  𝑡𝑛 = 𝐷𝑇 = 0.6 = 𝟏𝟐 𝝁𝒔
frequency is 50kHz. Determine the on-time 50𝑘ℎ𝑧
of the chopper, the battery current 𝑉𝑏 12
variation and the average battery  𝑘= 𝐿
= 20𝜇
= 0.6𝑥106 𝐴/𝑠
current.
 Solution:  ∆𝑖 = 𝑘𝑡𝑛 = 0.6𝑥106 𝐴/𝑠(12 𝜇𝑠)
 By ohms law
 ∆𝒊 = 𝟕. 𝟐 𝑨
 𝑉𝑜 = 𝑅𝐿 𝐼𝑜 = 10 3 = 30 𝑉 ∆𝒊 𝟕.𝟐
 Average battery current  𝑰𝒃𝟏 = 𝑰𝒃 +
𝟐
= 𝟕. 𝟓 + 𝟐 = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟏 𝑨
𝑉𝑜 30 ∆𝒊 𝟕.𝟐
 𝐼𝑏 = 𝐼𝑜 = 3 = 𝟕. 𝟓𝑨  𝑰𝒃𝟏 = 𝑰𝒃 − = 𝟕. 𝟓 − = 𝟑. 𝟗 𝑨
𝑉𝑏 12 𝟐 𝟐
Activity

1. A 60V chopper drives a resistive load of 12 ohms. The chopper

frequency is set to 1 kHz. Calculate the values of average and rms
load currents and load power for a turn-on time of (a) 0.2ms, (b)
0.6ms.
2. A transistor PWM chopper supplies power to a parallel combination
of inductive load and freewheel diode. The battery supply is 24V,
the load has a resistance of 1 ohm and inductance of 10mH, and
the chopper frequency is 100Hz. Determine average load voltage,
and minimum and maximum load currents for a turn-on time of (a)
8 ms, (b) 2ms.
Activity

3. A 5kW d.c. series motor is to be used in a variable-speed drive controlled

by a chopper. The motor field and armature resistances both equal 0.2
ohm. With light load on the motor shaft, the armature runs at 3000rev/min
and takes 8 A from a 48 V supply. Determine the armature voltage
constant kv. With the supply above the frequency above the chopper set
to 250 Hz, and the on-time to 3.5ms, the average armature current is found
to be 80A. Calculate the values of armature speed and torque.

Answers
1. (a). Vav = 12 V, Iav = 1 A, Vrms = 26.83 V, I rms = 2.24 A, P = 60 W
2. (a). Vav = 19.2V, 𝐼𝑜 = 17.1 𝐴, 𝐼1 = 20. 9𝐴
3. Kv = 0.0178 V/A-rads/s, T = 113.9 Nm , N = 67 rpm