A Seminar on

Chopper Drives
Presented By: md mustafa kamal

Table of Contents
Electric Drives DC Motor Characteristics DC Motor speed control options Linear and Switch Mode Regulators Motoring Mode of drives Regenerative braking Two and four quadrant operation Performance criterions Applications

Electrical Drives
An Electric Motor along with its controller is called an Electric Drive

Electrical Drive System

DC Motors

Separately Excited DC Motor

DC Motor Equations

where J , D, and TL are the moment of inertia, damping factor and load torque

Speed control options

Va = IaRa + Eb = IaRa + KIf Or = (Va IaRa)/ Kif Or = (Vs IaRa)/ Kif So drive Speed can be controlled by: Armature Voltage control Field Flux control

For speeds less than the rated speed:

The armature current and field currents are maintained at fixed values (hence constant torque operation), and the armature voltage controls the speed.

For speeds higher than the rated speed:

The armature voltage is maintained at rated value, and the field current is varied to control the speed. The power developed is maintained constant. This mode is referred to as field weakening operation.

Speed Torque Characteristics

Characteristics

DC Series Motor

Series Motor Characteristics

DC Voltage control Strategies

Linear Regulation
Switch Mode Regulation

Linear Regulator

Transistor is operated in linear (active) mode. Output Voltage Vo = Vin -Vce

Equivalent Circuit

Power loss is high at high current due to: Po = IL2 x RT Or Po = Vce x IL

Life Time Motor Operating Costs

Switching Regulator

Transistor is operated in switched-mode: Switch closed: Fully on (saturated) Switch opened: Fully off (cut-off)

Equivalent Circuit

When switch is open: no current flows in it When switch is closed: no voltage drops across it.

Advantages of Switching Regulator

Since P = VI, no losses occurs in the switch. Power is 100% transferred from source to load. Power loss is zero (for ideal switch)

Switching regulator is the basis of all DC - DC converters

What is a Chopper?
Chopper is an electronic switching circuit which converts the unregulated DC input to a controlled DC output with a desired voltage level by switching the supply ON and OFF.

General Block Diagram

Methods Of Control

The output dc voltage can be varied by the following methods. Pulse width modulation control or constant frequency operation. Variable frequency control.

Pulse Width Modulation

tON

is varied keeping chopping frequency f & chopping period T constant. Output voltage is varied by varying the ON time tON

Pulse Width Modulation

V0 V tON tOFF t T V0 V

t tON tOFF

Variable Frequency Control

Chopping frequency f is varied keeping either tON or tOFF constant. To obtain full output voltage range, frequency has to be varied over a wide range. This method produces harmonics in the output and for large tOFF load current may become discontinuous

Variable Frequency Control

v0 V

tON T v0 V tON T

tOFF t

tOFF t

Current Continuation
v0 V tON i0 Imax Imin i0 T tOFF t Output current Continuous current t Output current Discontinuous current t Output voltage

Motoring Control

Wave - Forms

Chopper Controlled DC Motor

Quadrants of operation

Motoring Action

Regenerative Breaking
If back emf E > Va, the machine acts as a generator Armature current flows towards the source Energy stored in the machine rotor is fed back to the source. It causes the machine to slow down until E = Va and then revert to motoring mode

Regenerative Breaking
During motoring mode, armature current Ia = (Vt Ea)/Ra If Ea (= Km m) exceeds Vt, Ia is reversed Power is delivered to the dc bus The motor works as a generator in the regenerative braking mode For loads, Such as a train going down the hill or a descending hoist, emf Ea is more than the source voltage Vs

Regenerative Breaking

Wave Forms

Two Quadrant Chopper drives

Forward Motoring

Regenerative Braking

Four Quadrant Chopper drives

Forward Motoring

Forward Regenerative Braking

Reverse Motoring

Reverse Regenerative Braking

Merits

Versatile control characteristics. High starting torque. Control over a large speed range. Speed control methods are simpler and cheaper as compared to AC machines.

De-merits

Bulky as compared to AC counterpart. Commutator sparking not suitable for petrochemicals, mine and chemical applications. Above 500 kW, manufacturing of machine itself is tedious.

Limitations of Brushed DC Motors

The commutator limits the maximum applicable voltage to about 1500 V The maximum armature current and its rate of change are limited by the commutator. The commutator limits maximum power capacity to a few hundred kilowatts. Series or parallel combination of motors are used to handle larger

Fs Switching Frequency

Power Devices
Uncontrolled On-controlled On-Off Controlled Diode Thyristor Transistor
BJT GTO

MOS & FETS

IGBT

Operating Range

Performance Parameters
The thyristor requires a certain minimum time to turn ON and turn OFF. Duty cycle can be varied only between a min. & max. value Therefore the min. and maximum value of the output voltage is limited. Ripple in the load current depends inversely on the chopping frequency, f. To reduce the load ripple current, frequency should be as high as possible.

Effect Of Source Inductance

The source inductance should be as small as possible to limit the transient voltage. Also source inductance may cause commutation problem for the chopper. Usually an input filter is used to overcome the problem of source inductance.

Effect Of Load Inductance

The load ripple current is inversely proportional to load inductance and chopping frequency. Peak load current depends on load inductance. To limit the load ripple current, a smoothing inductor is connected in series with the load.

Applications

Electric Cars

Electric Car Speed Control

Electric Bikes

Electric Trains and Trams

Paper Mills

Steel Rolling Mills

Lifts

Hoists

Real DC Motor Controller

References
First courses on power electronic and drives by Ned Mohan Power Electronics converters, Applications and Design, Second Edition by Ned Mohan, Undeland, Robbins Power Electronics Handbook by Muhammad H. Rashid Power Electronics by Dr. P. S. Bimbhra

Thanks