INDUSTRIAL

SUPPLIES,
INVERTERS, AND
CONVERTERS
By
Muh. Sainal Abidin
20213032

7.1
OVERVIEW
Solid state electronics have become integrated into all aspects of
industrial power supplies, converters, inverters, and choppers.
Industrial power supplies are used in applications where a variety of
voltages is required, such as power of PLC processors and their
analog modules and other specialty modules. Power supplies are also
used in all types of digital display in cathode ray tube (CRT) color
display. Any equipment that has electronic circuit in it must have a DC
supply voltage available.

7.2 INDUSTRIAL RECTIFIER CIRCUITS: AC

TO DC CONVERSION
7.2.1 Single-Phase Rectifiers
Single-phase rectifier circuits have been used since the advent of
vacuum-tube diodes. When vacuum tubes were first introduced to control
voltage and current, they required a variety of DC power supplies. Since
the DC power supplies originated from AC voltage, vacuum-tube diode
rectifiers were used to converted AC voltage to DC voltage. When solidstate devices were developed, the first uses for solid-state diodes were to
provide rectification of AC voltages to the necessary DC voltages.
Figure 7-1 shows an example of a power supply that uses a single
solid-state diode rectifier. From this figure you can see that this type of
power supply that uses a transformer to increase or decrease the voltage
from the 110-volt AC supply voltage.

Figure 7-1 electrical circuit diagram of a single-diode rectifier power supply.

The waveforms show AC voltage supply and half-wave DC at the load
resistor.

7.2.2 Two-Diode Full-Wave Single-Phase

Rectifiers
A drawback of the single-diode half-wave rectifier is that it
produces only a half-wave dc output. If a second diode is added to this
circuit and a center-tapped transformer is used, half-wave when the
supply voltage is between
1800 and 3600. Figure 7-2 shows the
electrical diagram of the two-diode full-wave bridge circuit. This
diagram also shows the sine wave for the single-phase input voltage
and the waveform of the two positive half-wave for the output.

7.2.3
Four-Diode
Rectifiers

Full-Wave

Bridge

Another circuit that provides a full-wave output uses four diodes and a
regular transformer without the center tap. This circuit uses two diodes at
a time to rectify each half if the sine wave.

From the top circuit in figure 7-4 you can see that the positive half-cycle
of the AC is shaded, and the first half-wave is shaded to indicate the
output for this part of the circuit. The bottom circuit shows the negative
half of the sine wave being rectified. The path the electron would travel
thought the bridge is also shown. Notice that electron flow is always
against the arrows of the diodes.

7.2.4 Three-Phase Full-Wave Rectifies

Most industrial power supplies for motor driver and welding application
use three-phase AC voltage. This means that the rectifier for these
circuits must use a three-phase bridge, which has six diodes to provide
full-wave rectification (two diode for each line of the three phase).

Figure 7-6 shows the electrical diagram for a three-phase bridge rectifier.
From this diagram you can see that the secondary winding of a threephase transformer is shown connected to the diode rectifier

7.2.5 Other
Rectifiers

Types

of

Three-Phase

Several other variations of the three-phase rectifier are used in some

industrial power supplies because they provide an advantage of less
power being converted by each individual diode, which means smaller
diodes can be used to provide the same voltage and current as another
rectifier circuit. Two of the more usable types of alternative rectifier
circuits are show in figure 7-7 and 7-8.

In this diagram you can see that the secondary windings of the
transformer consist of six separate windings. All six of the windings are
connected at one end to form a center point for the start configuration,
which is actually a type of wye-connected transformer. The cathode of
each diode in this rectifier are connected to provide the positive terminal
of the DC power supply. This circuit is used where it is important that all of
the diode in the circuit have a common connection for their cathodes.

7.2.6 Six-Phase Full-Wave Bridge

Circuits
In the 1970s and 1980s power supplies required higher currents and
voltages than the individual diodes could provide in the basic four-diode
bridge. If the amount of current or voltage the power supply requires is
larger than the individual diode can provide, the diodes can be connected
in parallel to provide the extra current, and they can be connected in
series to meet the higher voltage specification. Two types of circuits are
generally used to provide these configurations.

Figure 7-9a shows an example using 12 diodes that are connected in

parallel as a six-phase full-wave bridge to provide extra current. Figure 79b shows examples of 12 diodes connected in series to allow the bridge to
be used in a circuit where the system voltage is higher than the
specification for any of the individual diodes.

7.2.7 A comparison of the Different Types

of Rectifier Circuits
It is important to compare all of different types of rectifier circuits. you
will find each of these different types of circuit when you troubleshoot
modem electronic control such as AC and DC motor drives, welding
power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and other industrial
system that require DC voltage.

7.2.8 Using Capacitors and Inductors as

Filters for Power Supplies
Most power supplies found in industrial electronics circuit have
capacitors and inductors used as filter. A filter on the power supply circuit
will reduce the amount of ripple to a point where the output DC voltage is
nearly a straight line, or pure DC. It is important in some circuit where the
DC voltage is converter back to AC voltage that all traces of the original
frequency of the input voltage is removed.

Figure 7.11 shows a diagram of a typical capacitor and inductor in the

power supply circuit. The capacitor is connected in parallel with the load,
and the inductor is connected in series with the DC voltage terminals.

7.2.9 Using a Zener Diode for Voltage

Regulation

Most industrial power supplies require the DC output voltage to have

some type of regulation to keep the output voltage level constant when
the input voltage fluctuates. The AC voltage that supplies power to
industry today will fluctuate up to 10% of the supply voltage specification.
This mean that in the hottest days of summer it may not be uncommon
for the three-phase 208 volts that is supplied to a machine to drop below
200 volts. When this occurs, the DC output voltage of all of the rectifier
cicruit will also drop. When the DC voltage drops, the circuit may become
unreliable, so a zener diode is generally used in the output section if the
power supply to provide voltage regulation. Figure 7.12 shows a circuit
with the zener diode connected In parallel with the load.

The zener diode must be rated for the same voltage the DC voltage
requires. For example, if the DC load needs 20 volts DC, the zener will
be rated for 20 volts.

7.2.10 Surge Protection for

Rectifier
The rectifier Circuits
circuits in power supplies are subject to a large variety of
resistant voltage from lighting or from inductive lads such as motor and
coils that produce a spike when they are de-energized. When these
transients occur, they may have voltage levels that are two to five times
the original supply voltage. The fuses in a circuit are designed to protect
a circuit against overcurrent, but they cannot detect overvoltage.

7.2.11 Crowbar Protection Against

Overvoltage
Another way to protect power supply circuits against voltage conditions
is with a crowbar circuit.

Figure 7-14 shows two example of a crowbar circuit. In these circuits,

an SCR is used to sense the overvoltage condition and go into
conduction. The SCR is strategically located in the circuit to cause a
short circuit of sufficient size to cause the fuse or circuit breaker to open
and protect the circuit.

7.3 APPLICATONS FOR INDUSTRIAL

POWER SUPPLIES

The rectifier sections are used in all types of industrial application.

Virtually every piece of industrial equipment that has electronic circuit
must have a means of converting AC voltage to DC voltage. These
system use the rectifier circuit discussed earlier to provide the DC power.

7.3.1 Power Supply for a VariableFrequency Motor Drive

You can get a better idea of how the diodes in the rectifier and the
devices in the filter and regulator section of a circuit all work together
when you see a complete electronic circuit for an operational system.
Figure 7-15 Shows the electrical diagram of a variable frequency motor
drive that is commonly used in industrial applications. From this diagram
you can see that the drive circuit uses three-phase supply voltage, so a
three-phase full-wave bridge rectifier is used.

A picture of this type of bridge is shown in chapter 4 and you should

remember that it is encapsulated so you do not see each of the diodes.
Rather you would find the terminals for the three input terminals and the
two DC output terminals.

7.3.2 Welding Power Supply

The next application of industrial equipment that uses a large power
supply is a welding system. The welding system is specifically for DC arc
welding. This means that it will get its supply power from an AC power
source that must be converted to DC voltage. Figure 7-16 shows the
diagram of the power supply for this welding system.

You can see that the supply voltage in this system is single-phase (two
wires) AC voltage, which can be 220, 380, or 440 volts. The main
transformer has multiple taps to accommodate each of these supply
voltages. All the technician needs to do when supply power is
connected during the installation process is to measure the supply
voltage and connect the lines to the appropriate terminals on the main
transformer.

7.3.3 Uninterruptible Power Supplies

Another popular type of power supply used in industrial application
is called an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The UPS has become
important in industrial and commercial power supplies because it
provides a means of supplying power to computers and programmable
logic controller (PLCs) in application where a power failure cannot be
tolerated.

It most parts of the United State, weather conditions such as lighting

storms and ice storm may cause the power company to lose power for a
period of time. The amount of time the power is disrupted may last from
10 seconds to several hours. If the power outage occurs while a computer
or PLC is running, it will cease the system to be restarted, which may take
additional time. The UPS combines a power supply with a battery to
provide a circuit that can provide output power while the power companys
incoming power is down.
This may sound like a strange way to provide an AC voltage output if
AC voltage is the original supply, but in the case of the variable-frequency
motor drive, the frequency of the supply voltage will be 50 or 60 Hz and
the output AC voltage needs the possibility of frequencies between 1 and
120 Hz. In the case of the UPS, the AC supply voltage needs to be
change to DC so it can be stored in a battery for later use of the power
supply is interrupted. Since the voltage is changed to DC and is stored in
a battery, it must be changed back to AC to be usable. In the UPS, the
output frequency will be a constant 60 Hz.

7.4 INVERTERS: CHANGING DC VOLTAGE TO AC

VOLTAGE
7.4.1 Single-Phase Inverters
The simplest inverter to understand in the single-phase inverter, which
takes a DC input voltage and converters it to single-phase AC voltage. The
main components of the inverter can be either four silicon controlled
rectifier (SCRs) or for transistors.

7.4.2 Using transistors for a Six-Step Inverter

Figure 7-20 shows the electrical diagram of an inverter that uses four
transistors instead of four SCRs. Since the transistors can be biased to
any voltage between saturation and zero, the waveform of this type of
inverter can be more complex to look more like the traditional AC sine
wave. The waveform shown in this figure is a six-step AC sine wave. Two
of the transistor will be used to produce the top (positive) part of the sine
wave, and the remaining two transistors will be used to produce the
bottom (negative) part of the sine wave.

7.4.3 Three-Phase Inverter

Three-phase inverters are much more efficient for industrial
applications where large amounts of voltage and current are required. The
basic circuit and theory of operation are similar to the single-phase
transistor inverter.

7.4.4 Variable-Voltage Inverters (VVIs)

A variable-voltage inverter (VVI) is basically a six-step, single-phase or
three-phase inverter. The need to vary the amount of voltage to the load
became necessary when these inverter circuits were used in AC variablefrequency motor drives and welding circuits. Originally these circuits
provide a limit voltage and limited variable-frequency adjustments because
oscillators were used to control the biasing circuit. Also many of the early
VVI inverters used thyristor technology, which mean that groups of SCRs
were used with chopper circuits to create the six-step waveform. After
microprocessors became inexpensive and widely used, they were used to
control the biasing circuit for transistor-type inverters to give these six-step
inverter circuits the ability to adjust the amount of voltage and the
frequency through a much wider range.

Motors needed the adjustable frequency to increase or decrease their

speeds from their rating that was determined by the number of poles the
motor has when it is manufactured. The voltage of the drive needed to be
constantly adjusted as the frequency was adjusted so that the motor
received a constant ratio of voltage to hertz to keep the torque constant.
This became a problem at very low speeds where motors tended to loose
torque.

7.4.5 Pulse-Width Modulation Inverters

Another method of providing variable-voltage and variable-frequency
control for inverters is to use pulse-width modulation (PWM) control. This
type of control uses transistors that are turned on and off at variety of
frequencies. This provides a unique waveform that makes multiple square
wave cycles that are turned on and off specific times to give the overall
appearance of a sine wave. The outline of the waveform actually looks
very similar to the six-step inverter signal.

7.4.6 Current-Source Input (CSI)

Inverter
The current input (CSI) inverter produce a voltage waveform

that
looks more like an AC sine wave and current waveform that looks similar
to the original on/off square wave of the earliest inverters that cycled
SCRs on and off in sequence. This type of inverter uses transistors to
control the output voltage and current. The on-time and off-time of the
transistors are adjusted to create a change in frequency for the inverter.
The amplitude of each wave can also be adjusted to change the amount
of voltage at the output. This means that the CSI inverter like the previous
inverter can adjust voltage and frequency usable in variable-frequency
motor drive application or other application that require variable voltage
and frequency.

7.4.7 Cycloconverters
A cycloconverter is a circuit designed to convert the frequency of AC
voltage directly to another frequency of AC voltage without first converting
the voltage to DC voltage.

The history of this circuit dates back to the 1930s when mercury arc
rectifiers were used to control the frequency of railroad engines in
Germany. The supply voltage for these original circuits was a fixed 50 Hz
AC sine wave common in Europe. The train engines used low frequency
(16.6 Hz) so their electric motors would turn slowly, creating a tremendous
amount of toque. These earliest rectifiers were rather large tube thyristors.
The input circuit for the cycloconverter used a large transformer, and the
output section used the thyristors to adjust the timing of the output stage,
which allowed frequency to be changed.

7.4.8 Applications for Inverter

Inverters are seldom found as state-alone circuits. You will normally
find them used in conjunction with other circuits such as rectifiers and
filter circuit filter is power supplies that will provide a source for the DC
voltage the inverters needs. You may also find the inverter as in integral
part of the DC-to-DC converter circuitry used in many types of DC power
supplies. The major of inverters in industry today is for variable-frequency
AC motor drives and high-frequency power supplies for welding
application.

7.5 DC-TO-DC CONTROL (CONVERTERS

AND CHOPPERS)
7.5.1 Overview of DC-to-DC Voltage
Conversion
Today DC-to-DC voltage conversion is more widely used

in power
supply circuits because every piece of equipment that has an electronic
board in it requires a wide variety of DC voltage supplies. Each voltage
must be supplied from a power supply. This means that the computers,
PLCs, and all other electronic equipment require to DC power supply. This
means that computers, PLCs, and all other electronic equipment require a
DC power supply.

7.5.2 Linear Power Supplies

Linear power supplies have been popular since the beginning of
vacuum-tube electronics. Their operation is simple, but their efficiency is
quite poor in the range 30% to 40%. Figure 7-25 shows the electronic
diagram for a typical linear power supply. From this diagram you can see
that the first part of the power supply is exactly like the rectifier section
presented earlier in this chapter.

7.5.3 Switching Power Supplies

Switch-mode power supplies (SMPS), also called switching power
supplies, have become more popular than linear power supplies in the
past ten years because they provide a regulated voltage with more
efficiency and they not require the larger transformers and filtering
devices that the linear power supplies require.

7.5.4 The Buck Converter

The buck converter circuit is the basis for several other similar circuits
called forward converters. The buck converter circuit and the input and
output voltages for this circuit are shows in figure 7-27. This circuit would
be connected directly after the power transformer.

7.5.5 The Boost Regulator

The boost regulator is a second type of fundamental regulator circuit
for the switch-mode power supply. The electronic diagram and waveform
for this type of converter are shown in figure 7-28.

7.5.6 The buck-Boost Regulator

A combination of the buck regulator and boost regulator is shown in
figure 7-29. This combination circuit is called buck-boost regulator and it
utilized the strong point of both of the previous regulators.

7.5.7 The Forward Converter

The forward converter is basically a buck converter with a transformer
and a second diode added to allow energy to be delivered directly to the
output through the indicator during the transistor on-time. Figure 7-30
shows the electronic diagram and waveform for the forward converter. In
this diagram you can see that the transistor is connected in series with the
primary of the additional transformer. The second transformer provides a
phase shift that causes the polarity of its voltage to be such that it will flow
to the output while the transistor is in conduction.

7.5.8 The Push-Pull Converter

As the switch-mode power supply has evolved , additional adjustments
to the original circuits have been made to get more power from smaller
components. This means that the efficiency for the system must be
increased. One simple way to do is to use a center-tapped transformer that
utilizes both the top and bottom half cycle.

7.5.9 The Half-Bridge Converter

Ones of the problem with the push-pull converter is that the flux in the
two section of the center tapped transformer primary and secondary
windings can become unbalanced and cause heating problems. Another
problem is that each transistor must block twice the amount of voltage that
other converter. The half-bridge converter provides several advantages
over the push-pull converter. This circuit still uses two transistors and two
sets of diodes like the push-pull circuit. The main different of the halfbridge converter is that it utilizes two large bulk capacitors (C1 and C2).
These capacitors are connected so that each one in series with one of the
transistors. That means that power can be transferred to the output during
to on time for each transistor, which increases efficiencies to the 90%
range.

7.5.10 The Full-Bridge

Converter
The full-bridge converter adds two additional transistors to the half-bridge
converter. This means that four transistors are available to provide power
to the output section, so this type of converter is used in power is excess
of 1000 W.

7.6 WHAT YOU MAY FIND WHEN YOU

WORK ON A POWER SUPPLY
When you are asked to work on a system that uses a power supply, you
should remember that the power supply is require to provide one or more of
the following function: Ac-to-DC voltage conversion, AC-to-DC to AC voltage
conversion with battery backup, voltage conversion with a variety of Dc
voltage available, or AC voltage conversion with variable frequency. The
equipment and circuit for each of these functions will be similar in that they
will have converter circuits that include variety of single-phase or threephase rectifiers, and they may have inverter circuits that provide DC- to AC
voltage conversion.

TERIMA KASIH