FIGURA 1.

Controlled rectifier bridge

The current flows through one thyristor of de top group (thyristors 1 and 3) and one thyristor of de bottom group (thyristors 2 and 4). If the gate currents to the thyristors were continuosly applied, the thyristors in fig 1 would behave as diodes. The instant of natural conduction for a thyristor referes to the instant at which the thyristor would begin to conduct if its gate currente were continuosly applied (or as if it was diode). Therefore, in fig 2,the instant of natural conduction is for thyristors 1 and 2 and for thyristors 3 and 4.

FIGURA 2. Thyristor and diode behavior for

 

Next, considerer the effect of applying gate current pulses that are deleyed by an angle (called the delay angle or firing angle) with repect to the instant of natural conduction. Now prior to , the current is flowing through thyristors 3 and 4, and . As shown in fig 3, the voltaje across thyristor 1 becomes forward biased beyond , but it cannot conduct until  when a gate current pulse is applied. The situation is identical for thyristor 2. As a consequence of this finite delay angle , becomes negative during the interval from 0 to .

FIGURA 3. Thyristor current in 3 and 4

At , the commutation of currente from thyristors 3 and 4 to thyristors 1 and 2 is instantaneous due to the assumption of . When thyristors 1 and 2 are conducting, , Thyristors 1 and 2 conduct until when thyristors 3 and 4 are triggered, delayed by angle with repect to their instant of natual conduction ( . A similar communtation of current takes place from thyristor 3 and 4. Comparing the effect of the delay angle on the waveform in Fig 3 with that in Fig 2 shows that the average value of the DC voltaje can be controlled by the delay angle. The expression for can be obtained as

Then, the drop in the average value due to  

This lossless volatage drop in is equal to the volt-radian area shown in fig 3 divided by . The variation of as function of is shown in fig 4, which shows that the average DC voltaje becomes negative beyond . This regin is called the invertir mode of operation.

FIGURA 4.The variation of Vd

The average power through the converter can be calculated as

With a constant DC current

Line Current The input line current in Fig 2, is a square wave with an amplitude of . The entire waveform in Fig 3 is pahse shifted by delay angle with respect to the input voltage waveform. The current in fig 5 can be expressed in terms of its Fourier components as

Where only odd harmonics h are present.

Figura 5. The current Is

The rms value of its fundamental-frequency component

plotted in fig 5. Is

The total harmonic distortion can be calculated as