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Aim
The aim of this lab exercise is to examine how half wave and full wave rectifiers using SCR rectifiers operate. These rectifiers will
be connected to various load combinations and the voltage and current waveforms will be observed to see how each load
combination manipulates the voltages and currents in the circuits. We will also use an LR load with a full wave SCR rectifier to
explore continuous and discontinuous conduction, and source inductance with the same configuration to examine commutation
angle intervals.

Methodology
In the first part of the lab exercise, we will be using a half wave SCR rectifier at different firing angles connected to a simple R
load with a 100V AC source. We will observe all input and output voltage and load current waveforms to compare magnitude of
output DC voltage compared to the input AC voltage.
Then we will operate the same rectifier at different firing angles with an LR load and 100V AC source to observe the waveforms
to explain the extinction angles in the DC output voltage associated with each firing angle.
After this we will add a Free Wheel Diode to the circuit above to see how this removes the negative magnitude tail from the DC
output voltage and how the other waveforms are altered.
Then we will operate the same rectifier circuit with an 50V AC source attached to a simple R load and a filter capacitor and
observe the output DC voltage and see when and why step changes start to occur.
In the second part of the lab exercise, we will repeat all the above exercises, but this time operating a full wave rectifier instead
of a half wave rectifier. In addition to that, we will observe how the LR load now has a continuous and discontinuous conduction
regions and how adding a source inductance to said LR load introduces a phenomenon called commutation.
In each of these exercises, we will see if the data from the waveforms recorded match up with the theory that we have learned
so far in the lectures

Results with discussion

Part A Half wave Single Phase Rectifier
Half wave Single Phase Rectifier with R load
0

The effect of varying the SCR firing angle from 0 to 150 on the waveforms of AC input voltage(green), rectified DC output
voltage(yellow) and DC load current(blue) were as follows;

Fig 1. Waveforms for firing angle 0 degrees

Fig 2. Waveforms for firing angle 30 degrees

Fig 3. Waveforms for firing angle 60 degrees

Fig 4. Waveforms for firing angle 90 degrees

Fig 5. Waveforms for firing angle 120 degrees

Fig 6. Waveforms for firing angle 150 degrees

The SCR diode is essentially a closed circuit from <t< and an open circuit from <t<2+ , where is the firing angle. At
0
firing angle 0 the waveforms are the same as that of a normal diode with an R-load circuit. However as the angle increases from
0
0
0 to 150 ,the conduction period of the rectifier decreases and as a result the magnitude of the DC output voltage decreases as
0
well. This can be seen from the oscilloscope since the magnitude of the average DC output voltage drops from around 41V at 0

Electrical Energy Conversion Lab 2

Sajitha Sovis 3315989, Mitlesh Kumar - 3433471

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0

firing angle to nearly zero at 150 . This is due to the relationship

for 0<<. So as increases from 0 the
0
magnitude of the DC output voltage decreases from the maximum to zero at = 180 .

Half wave Single Phase Rectifier with LR load

Fig 7. Waveforms for firing angle 0 degrees

Fig 8. Waveforms for firing angle 30 degrees

Fig 9. Waveforms for firing angle 60 degrees

Fig 10. Waveforms for firing angle 90 degrees

Fig 11. Waveforms for firing angle 120 degrees

Fig 12. Waveforms for firing angle 150 degrees

Firing angle(0)
Extinction Angle(0)
+ (0)
Avg. DC voltage(V)

0
231.5
25.8

30
247.5
231.5
18.6

60
242
231.5
15.6

90
236.5
231.5
7.73

120
221.9
231.5
1.26

150
214.6
231.5
-

As expected from theory, the magnitude of the average DC output voltage decreases as the SCR firing angle is varied over the
0
0
range 0 to 150 . This is because as firing angle is increased, the conduction time for the rectifier gets smaller and because there
is now a negative tail in the rectifier output voltage (caused from LR load causing the current to lag which in turn allows the
rectifier output voltage to go negative before the rectifier is cut off). Though the extinction angle gets smaller as the firing angle
is increased, resulting in a smaller negative tail, it is still significant enough to reduce the output DC considerably. This is derived
from the equation
.
From the measurements that we took, the approximation of extinction angle + does not hold very well for this load
0
0
combination as the firing angle is varied. is close to + only between 60 and 120 .

Half wave Single Phase Rectifier with LR load and Free Wheel Diode

Fig 13. Waveforms for firing angle 0 degrees

Fig 14. Waveforms for firing angle 30 degrees

Fig 16. Waveforms for firing angle 90 degrees

Fig 17. Waveforms for firing angle 120 degrees

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Fig 15. Waveforms for firing angle 60 degrees

Fig 18. Waveforms for firing angle 150 degrees

Sajitha Sovis 3315989, Mitlesh Kumar - 3433471

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0

As the firing angle is varied over the range 0 to 150 the DC output voltage magnitude decreases. However, the magnitude is
greater than that of the LR load without the FWD. This is because, when the source voltage goes to zero, the current from the
rectifier diode is transferred across to the FWD. The result is the charge in the inductor will be used to keep the FWD on, instead
of previously forcing the SCR rectifier diode to remain in its forward state. This improves and increases the rectified output
voltage waveform by reducing the value of the extended angle of conduction of the rectifier diode to zero. This results in a
greater output DC voltage for the respective firing angles when compared to the LR only load configuration. Since there is no
more negative voltage tail in the output voltage, the average voltage magnitude is greater.

Half wave Single Phase Rectifier with simple R load and output filter Capacitor

Fig 19. Waveforms for =60 degrees

Fig 20. Waveforms for =80 degrees

Fig 21. Waveforms for =100 degrees Fig 22. Waveforms for = 120 degrees
0

Step changes started to occur in the DC output voltage at firing angles around 80 -90 . We measured the average DC output
voltage as the firing angle increased beyond this transition point and as expected, its magnitude decreased as the firing angle
increased.
0
This is because as the firing angle goes past the 90 mark, the maximum input voltage available for the capacitor voltage to
0
0
compare with in order to start charging up decreases. For 0 <<90 the capacitor always gets a maximum voltage difference of
0
0
50V for it to charge up to. But for 90 <<90 the maximum voltage available for the capacitor to charge up to will always be less
0
than 50V. So over angles of 90 , the capacitor starts discharging and it finally hits a voltage higher than the capacitor voltage as
the rectifier output voltage goes up from being zero to the maximum at the firing angle. As a result, The capacitor voltage which
is also the output voltage gets a step increase (rather than an exponential gradual increase) from the voltage value it was at
when it was discharging to the highest value of the input voltage at the given firing angle.

Part B Full wave Single Phase Rectifier

Full wave Single Phase Rectifier with R load

Fig 23. Waveforms for =0 degrees

(Vdc= 83.5V)

Fig 24. Waveforms for =50 degrees

(Vdc= 68.4V)

Fig 25. Waveforms for =100 degrees Fig 26. Waveforms for = 150 degrees
(Vdc= 32.6V)
(Vdc= 4.2V)

As the current flowing through the load is now unidirectional (full bridge rectifier), the voltage developed across the load is also
unidirectional. The DC voltage and the DC load current across the load is always positive for both half cycles and not zero in the
second half cycle as compared to the half wave SCR rectifier load configuration.
0
At firing angle 0 the waveforms are the same as that of a normal full wave diode rectifier with an R-load circuit. However as the
0
0
angle increases from 0 to 150 , the conduction period of the rectifier decreases and as a result the magnitude of the DC output
voltage decreases as well. This can be seen from the oscilloscope since the magnitude of the average DC output voltage drops
0
0
from around 41V at 0 firing angle to nearly zero at 150 . This is due to the relationship
for 0<<. So as
0
0
increases from 0 the magnitude of the DC output voltage decreases from the maximum to zero at = 180 .

Full wave Single Phase Rectifier with LR load

Fig 27. Waveforms for =0 degrees

(Vdc rec output = 83.1V)

Fig 28. Waveforms for =30 degrees

(Vdc rec output = 71.3V)

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Fig 29. Waveforms for =50 degrees

(Vdc rec output = 47.9V)

Fig 30. Waveforms for = 70 degrees

(Vdc rec output = 26.7V)

Sajitha Sovis 3315989, Mitlesh Kumar - 3433471

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Fig 31. Waveforms for =80 degrees

(Vdc rec output = 21.3V)

Fig 32. Waveforms for =100 degrees Fig 33. Waveforms for =150 degrees
(Vdc rec output = 10.36V)
(Vdc= -6.23V)

Table below shows firing angle compared to the extinction angle.

(0)
(0)

0
31

30
34.7

40
43.7

50
52.8

60
63.9

70
71.2

80
67.5

120
49.2

150
34.6

In theory, for discontinuous conduction (>),

and for continuous conduction (<),
.
0
0
is 51.5 , so discontinuous conduction should occur for firing angles over 50 . This can be seen in our oscilloscope recordings
0
since the first discontinuous conduction example we saw was at =70 where =71.2.
If there is no firing angle, current transfer takes place from one pair of SCR diodes to the other pair instantaneously. However, if
there is a firing angle, since the inductor lags the current, it keeps the first pair of SCR diodes in forward bias state until the
current returns to zero or the second pair of diodes turn on (whichever happens first). This creates a negative voltage tail and
the voltage goes back to positive when the firing angle for the second pair of diodes is reached. If the firing angle is less than the
angle at which inductor current becomes zero, there is continuous conduction since all four SCR diodes will never be off at the
same time. If however, the firing angle is greater than the angle at which the inductor current goes down completely to zero,
there will be a time gap between when the first pair of SCR diodes cuts off and the second pair of SCR diodes start to conduct.
This creates a zero current and hence zero voltage gap during the time at which there is no conduction. During continuous
conduction, the output current never reaches zero. In discontinuous conduction however, the output current is zero from to
+.

Fig 34. Output voltage and output current during the continuous and discontinuous conduction phases

Full wave Single Phase Rectifier with LR load with source inductance

Fig 35. Waveforms for firing angle 0 degrees

Fig 36. Waveforms for firing angle 30 degrees

Fig 37. Waveforms for firing angle 50 degrees

Fig 38. Waveforms for firing angle 70 degrees

Fig 39. Waveforms for firing angle 100 degrees

Fig 40. Waveforms for firing angle 150 degrees

When the average DC rectifier output voltage magnitude and the DC rectifier voltage waveform for this load configuration for
0
0
firing angles of 30 and 80 are compared to the voltage magnitude and waveforms for the RL load configuration in part b, it can
0
0
be seen that the waveform and the DC voltage magnitude is different for =30 but the same for =80 . This is because at a

Electrical Energy Conversion Lab 2

Sajitha Sovis 3315989, Mitlesh Kumar - 3433471

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0

firing angle of 30 , there is continuous conduction and at 80 there is discontinuous conduction. Continuous conduction causes a
commutation angle interval. As the firing angle varies, the effect of the source inductance is only noticeable during the
continuous conduction period.
Normally in a fully controlled converter, during continuous conduction, the current transfer takes place from one pair of SCR
rectifiers to the other instantaneously without any time delay. But when a source inductance is present, the stored energy in L s
has to be expended before the current transfer or commutation takes place between the two SCR rectifier pairs. Because of this,
both rectifier pairs will conduct simultaneously from to +u (where u is the overlap angle). A commutation angle interval of
0
0
45 was calculated from our readings for a firing angle of 30 .

Full wave Single Phase Rectifier with LR load with Free Wheel Diode

Fig 41. Waveforms for =0 degrees

(Vdc= 83.4V)

Fig 42. Waveforms for =50 degrees

(Vdc= 68.3V)
0

Fig 43. Waveforms for =100 degrees Fig 44. Waveforms for = 150 degrees
(Vdc= 33.2V)

As the firing angle is varied over the range 0 to 150 the DC output voltage magnitude decreases. However, the magnitude is
greater than that of the LR load without the FWD. This is because, when the source voltage goes to zero, the current from the
rectifier diode is transferred across to the FWD. The result is the charge in the inductor will be used to keep the FWD on, instead
of previously forcing the first pair of SCR rectifier diodes to remain in its forward state until the second set of SCR rectifiers starts
to conduct (after their firing angle has been reached). This increases the rectified output voltage waveform by reducing the
value of the extended angle of conduction of the rectifier diode (until the other SCR rectifiers firing angle is met) to zero. This
results in a greater output DC voltage for the respective firing angles when compared to the LR only load configuration. Since
there is no more negative voltage tail in the output voltage, the average voltage magnitude is greater.

Full wave Single Phase Rectifier with LR load and output filter Capacitor

Fig 45. Waveforms for =0 degrees

(Vdc= 86.0V)

Fig 46. Waveforms for =50 degrees

(Vdc= 50.0V)

Fig 47. Waveforms for =100 degrees Fig 48. Waveforms for = 150 degrees
(Vdc= 19.0V)
(Vdc= 2.0V)

At firing angle of 50 , the capacitor still receives a maximum peak voltage of 100V which it charges up to before it starts
0
0
discharging. However at firing angle of 120 and all angles greater than 90 , the maximum voltage that the capacitor receives is
0
0
always less than 100. So as the firing angle increases from 0 to 90 , there is no considerable change in average output DC
0
voltage magnitude. But once firing angle increases over 90 , the output DC voltage starts to decrease considerably.

Conclusion
We can conclude that all the experiments we conducted produced waveforms that matched up with the theory we learned in
the lectures and tutorials so far. We were able to see the relationship between the AC input voltage and the DC output voltage
waveforms in each case using the SCR rectifiers. We were also able to observe how each load combination produced different
DC output voltages and comprehend how this load voltage is related to the way these load combinations manipulated the load
current and voltage.

Electrical Energy Conversion Lab 2

Sajitha Sovis 3315989, Mitlesh Kumar - 3433471