Full-wave phase-controlled bridge rectifier with a constant load current

A full-wave controlled bridge circuit is given above. Let us assume that it supplies a constant current I to a highly inductive load. We begin when the input voltage is commencing its positive half cycle and the gating signal is applied to SCR 1 and SCR 2 at t = . The two SCRs are now on and carry the load current I . At t = , the positive cycle ends and the negative cycle is ready to begin. To maintain the constant current, SCR 1 and

SCR 2 will continue conducting even though they are reverse biased. This
situation will be sustained until t = + .

Gur u / PE 424 C R/F W CC L/ M ay 8, 200 6

F W Co ntr o ll ed Co ns tan t C ur r en t L oad

At t = + , the gating pulses are applied to SCR 3 and SCR 4 in order to turn them on. When both SCR 3 and SCR 4 turn on, SCR 1 and SCR 2 turn off. The load commutates instantaneously from one set of the SCRs to the other. The average value of the output voltage is

VOdc

1 =

sin() d =

2Vm cos()

(1)

The dc output voltage is at its maximum when the gating (firing) angle is zero. The dc output voltage decreases as the firing angle increases. It is zero when the firing angle = / 2 . From = 0 to = / 2 is the rectification region. In this region (also known as the first quadrant operation), the dc output is greater than or equal to zero. The dc output voltage is negative when the firing angle is greater than
/ 2 . Note that the load current is still in the same direction. The power is now

flowing from dc side to the ac side and will continue to do so as long as

/ 2 . This is known as the inversion region (Forth-quadrant

operation). When the circuit operates in the inversion region, it is referred to as an inverter. Magnetic discharge application: Both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetically confined fusion reactors require precise control of high magnetic fields. To do so, we use a phase-controlled converter to control the magnetic field of a large electromagnet. Magnetic-coil:
L = 0.5 H, R = 2.5 , and I = 400 A

The time constant: =

L 0 .5 = = 0 .2 s R 2 .5

The time constant of the magnetic coil is exactly 12 times the time-period of a 60-Hz source. Therefore, for all practical purposes, we can assume that the current through the magnetic coil is constant. The applied voltage:
v S ( t ) = 2000 sin(120 t ) V

Gur u / PE 424 C R/F W CC L/ M ay 8, 200 6

F W Co ntr o ll ed Co ns tan t C ur r en t L oad

For a constant current of 400 A for the magnet, the dc output voltage must be
VOdc = IR = 400 2.5 = 1000 V

From (1), the firing angle should be

V 1000 o = cos 1 Odc = cos 1 = 38.24 2V 2 2000 m

The rms value of a constant function is the same as the constant function. Thus, the average (total) power output is
PoT = 400 2 2.5 = 400 kW

The rms value of the input sine wave is

Vrms = 2000 2 = 1414.213 V

The input (source) current is a square-wave as shown below. Its rms value is also I .
Source Current

I 0 -I t (rad )

2 +

Thus, the apparent power input and the power factor are
S input = Vrms I rms = 1414.213 400 = 565.685 kVA pf = PoT 400 = = 0.707 Sinput 565.685

Since the output voltage depends upon the firing angle , do does the power factor. From (1), the general expression for the power factor is
pf = 2 2 cos()

Gur u / PE 424 C R/F W CC L/ M ay 8, 200 6

F W Co ntr o ll ed Co ns tan t C ur r en t L oad