THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

ECE 4457a - POWER ELECTRONICS

Practice Problems: Topic #2

Note: PSIM or some other simulation software can be used to perform simulations.

1. A half-wave rectifier with R-L load and a freewheeling diode has a 120 V rms ac
source. The load resistance R = 10 Ω and L = 20 mH. From the Fourier series of the
output voltage
Vm Vm  Vm
v( t ) 


2
sin(o t )   2  1)
cos(no t )
n  2,4,6,... ( n

(a) Calculate the average value of the output current.

(b) Using PSIM, simulate the circuit and plot the output current waveform. Compare
the measured average output current with part (a). Calculate current % ripple.
(c) Repeat (b) with L = 50 mH.
(d) Compare % ripple in parts (b) and (c).

2. A half-wave rectifier with a freewheeling diode has R = 3 Ω and a source with Vm =

50V at 60 Hz.
(a) Design L such that the amplitude of the first ac current term in the Fourier series is
less than 5% of the dc current.
(b) Verify your results with PSIM.

3. A half wave rectifier has input voltage source vS(t) = Vm sin(ωt) and a load with
resistance R and a battery with voltage Vdc. Sketch the current waveform and the
diode voltage waveform. Derive the expression for conduction angle.

4. Determine an expression for the power factor of a full-wave diode rectifier that has an
R-L load where the L is large and the load current is considered to be dc. The input
voltage is sinusoidal. Simulate this circuit and show the input voltage and input
current. Use a sinusoidal voltage of Vm = 100 V peak and 60 Hz frequency for the
input voltage and a 10 A dc current source for the load current (determine the
required value of R).

Also do a Fourier series analysis of the input current waveform using the Fourier
feature of PSIM. Print out the results and indicate the magnitude of the first five
harmonics in per unit, using the magnitude of the fundamental as the base.
 Note that the output voltage can be expressed as in the following Fourier series form:

2Vm  2Vm  1 1 
v( t )       cos(n o t  )
 n  2,4,6,...   (n  1) (n  1) 

5. A full-wave diode rectifier is fed to a load that can be modeled as a dc current source
of 10 A. Determine the average power supplied to the load, the input power factor,
the input THD with the following input voltage sources:
(a) A 60 Hz sinusoidal voltage source with Vs = 120 Vrms
(b) A 60 Hz ac voltage source that is defined as follows:
v(t) =0 from t = 0o to 30o
= 200 from t = 30o to 150o
=0 from t = 150o to 210o
= -200 from t = 210o to 330o
=0 from t = 330o to 360o

6. A single-phase full-wave diode bridge rectifier has an R-L-dc source load with Vdc =
24 V, R = 3 Ω, and L = 35 mH. The input voltage source is a 60 Hz sinusoid with a
peak voltage of 100 V. The output voltage can be expressed as in the following
Fourier series form:

2Vm  2Vm  1 1 
v( t )       cos(n o t  )
 n  2,4,6,...   (n  1) (n  1) 
Determine
(a) The power absorbed by the dc source
(b) The power absorbed by the resistor
(c) The power factor
(d) What is the effect on the load current ripple if Vdc is increased to 32 V? Briefly
explain this effect.
(e) What is the effect on the load current if Vdc is increased to 70 V? Briefly explain
this effect.

7. Simulate a full-wave rectifier with a capacitive output filter and a resistive load using
PSIM. The rectifier has a 120 V source at 60 Hz, R = 500 Ω and C = 100 μF. Show
the output voltage, input current, all diode current, and the capacitor current
waveforms. What happens to the average value of the output voltage if the value of R
is doubled? Why?