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DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS OF DIRECT CURRENT REACTOR

IN WAVE FILTERING APPLICATIONS

Kevin Lee, P E
Roger Fish, Dennis Bonkrud

Sola/Hevi-Duty Electric
A Unit of General Signal

ABSTRACT ANALYSIS OF FULL WAVE RECTIFICATION

This paper discusses the design issues of direct The function of rectification is to convert
current filter reactor. The advantages of using alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).
such a device as a waveform filter include better Since the DC equivalent value is of primary
regulation than the capacitor filter, and better interest, its value can be measured by the DC
utilization of the volt-ampere capacity of a ammeter placed in the circuit.
rectifier transformer.
Current and Voltage Relationships
To optimize the filter design, the characteristics of
a rectifier circuit are presented. And various The DC value is the average result of the
filtering techniques are reviewed. The instantaneous rectified current over one cycle or a
fundamental concepts, the mathematical period corresponding to 2n: radians.
derivations and some special design procedures
are described in detail.

INTRODUCTION

This paper derives the DC, RMS voltage and


current relationships of full wave rectifier circuit.
For the uncontrolled full wave bridge with a
The key parameters such as form factor, ripple
= I , sinwt , the
sinusoidal input signal, i.e. i(of)
factor, utilization factor are discussed. This lays a
foundation to understand the SCR controlled output DC current becomes:
rectifier circuit, and leads to better design the
wave filter for this type of circuit. 1 .
I,, = -Ji(ot)d(ot)
n o
The inductor and capacitor filter systems are T
J

reviewed for a DC circuit. The design = 2 x 5= 0.6371p


considerations of the DC wave filter are presented n
to illustrate the application with the saturable
reactor type load. There is 120 Hz high voltage The effective or root-mean-square (RMS) value of
signal generated by the saturable reactor network, the DC signal is calculated as:
and it potentially can damage the DC bridge
circuit if the wave filter is not designed properly.
The test results show that the filter not only
smooth out the DC current waveform as
expected, but attenuate all the induced AC
voltage stress as well. --
- = 0.7071, = l.llID,
&

349
Figure 1 illustrates various current levels of the [bl The bridge diodes are subjected to only
full wave bridge circuit. half the peak inverse voltage.

Form Factor and Ripple Factor

When rectifiers are used with SCRs in phase


controlled circuitry as discussed in this paper,
form factor takes on significance.

Form factor is defined as the following and it can


be referenced to rectifier circuit efficiency.

For the uncontrolled full wave bridge, the form


Figure 1 . Various Current Levels of Full Wave factor is:
Bridge.

Assuming the DC load is R, , the input voltage to F= = 1.11 (71


the full wave bridge can be expressed as: 0.6371,

In this paper, SCRs are used in controlling the


amount of DC output. If the conduction angle is
90°, then the form factor will be:
One important voltage parameter is the peak
inverse voltage (vRRM 1, the maximum voltage that
F=
0.51,
= 1.57
the rectifier must block when it is not conducting.
(1 1 4 I P

vRRM is the sum of the peak input voltage and


Equation ( 8 ) indicates that the power losses in the
the rectifier peak output voltage at the same diodes and the transformer are much higher at
moment. For the full wave bridge, the blocking low duty cycles than encountered with sinusoidal
rectifiers are across the output voltage. Therefore,
wave pulses.

v, = AVUS = J5 x 1.11VD, (5)


Without any filtering, the rectified signal consists
of ripples. For the application discussed in this
= 1.57VDc
paper, the ripple variations are not objectionable,
but for others they must be smoothed out by
The full wave rectification is widely used over the filters.
half wave, since the half wave circuits create DC
output current component. The DC component Ripple factor is defined as:
causes saturation of the rectifier transformer core
and undesirable high core losses result. T J

O f the t w o types of full wave rectification, the


single phase full wave bridge has the advantages
over t h e center tap full wave configuration: where:

[a1 The rectifier transformer secondary


lhs= effective rectified ac load component.
requires only half as much winding. IDc = average load current.

350
Figure 2 shows the splitting of the full wave By combining Equations (6)and ( 1 1 the ripple
rectified current into a DC component and a ripple factor for the full wave bridge cafl be expressed
component. as:

rf - .\/F2-1=J1.11Z-r = 0.482 ( 1 2)

For the SCR controlled bridge as shown in Figure


3, the ripple factor is:

The sinusoidal waveform has lower form factor


and ripple factor, compared to phase controlled
waveforms.

Utilization Factor
Figure 2. Illustration of Ripple Factor for Full
Wave Circuit In phase controlled circuitry, the rectifier
transformer is not used as efficiently as it is with
The instantaneous AC ripple component can be a sinusoidal waveform.
represented by:
The utilization factor is a measurement of the
i' =i-IDc ( 1 0) rectifier circuit merit. For single phase circuits
with resistive loads, it is defied as:
The effective value of the ripple component is:

Because conduction is continuous for a full wave


uncontrolled bridge, the transformer utilization
factor is at its best. Plug Equations (3) and (4)
into (141, we obtain:

IDCVDC
U , = 1.1lIms x 1.1lV, = 0.812 (15)

\
With a conduction angle of 90" resistive load, the
SCR controlled bridge has a utilization factor of:

The parameters discussed in this section are


0.014 0.016 C
tabulated in Table 1 as bench marks to analyze
B the behavior of phase controlled circuitry. The
values are based on resistive load condition. The
Figure 3. SCR Controlled Rectification with 90" form factor, ripple factor are higher for SCR
Conduction Angle. controlled waveforms.

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Sinusoidal Bridge
RECTIFIER OUTPUT VOLTAGE
1 r I$~~~LOAD

Rectification
Rectification with SCR
Conduction

1 1 (VOLTAGE RELATIONS 1 1 1

I I

I I
J

U, 0.812 I 0.405

Table 1. Bench Marks for Controllable Full


Wave Rectification
CURRENl IN INDUCTANCE
I
Figure 4. Voltage and Current Waveforms for 1
DC CIRCUIT FILTER SYSTEMS
Phase Full Wave Bridge.
A Fourier analysis of the rectifier output
waveform such as shown in Figure 3 yields a v = -jnvP
1 sinMO+
constant term (DC) and a series of harmonic x =
terms. There are in general three types of filters:
choke filters, capacitor filters, and a combination 2 I,"Vpsin 8 x con(n8>d8
of both (LC filters). 7T
(17 )
VP
= -(1+ cosa) +
Choke filters are used in higher power
applications t o avoid excessive turn-on and
z
repetitive surge currents. The electromagnetic cos(n - 1)e- cos(n + 1 ) ~ '
interference, which is caused by rectifier
repetitive surge currents, can be greatly 2(n-1) 2(n+1)
attenuated by the inductors.
Capacitor filter is connected across the bridge
Figure 4 illustrates the desired effect of the output. The capacitor is charged t o approximately
inductor filter on the full wave circuit. the peak voltage, when the positive peak AC
voltage is applied through the bridge t o the
The dotted lines represent the waveforms with capacitor. The capacitor only draws current from
the infinite inductance. The solid lines are the the bridge during this interval. This can cause
results with finite and large inductance. input current distortion with harmonics.

The current through the inductor increases when When the capacitor is not being charged, it
the bridge output voltage exceeds the DC value discharges itself t o the load. By reducing the
and decreases when the bridge output voltage is ripple amplitude in the bridge output voltage, the
less than the DC value. capacitor filter has the advantage of increasing
the DC output voltage. The capacitor filter
If the input inductance is too small, the current arrangements are generally for low DC power
decreases t o zero during a portion of the time applications.
between the peaks of the bridge output voltage.
LC filters are widely employed for the advantage
For the SCR controlled bridge with any given of the complementary characteristics of the filter
conduction angle z - a , the bridge output elements. The inductor can be selected t o allow
voltage can be calculated as: the current flow continuously from the bridge

352
output into the filter, but the current flows It is necessary to adjust the air gap volume to
intermittently from the bridge output into the filter compensate for the additional air gap effect
for the capacitor filter setup. caused by the finite reluctance of the iron part of
the reactor core.

FILTER REACTOR DESIGN ASPECTS The physical size of the DC reactor equals that of
a 60 Hz, 1 winding transformer having a volt-
The legend for the following equations is defined ampere rating of:
as:
377 x K x L x I 2
B,, = DC flux density, gauss VA =
2
I,, = direct current, A
BA, = AC flux density, gauss where K depends on the permissible decline in
v = RMS voltage across the filter inductance as the direct current is varied from
f = frequency, Hz zero to the rated value. When K = 1.0, the
decline in inductance may be about 0.5%. When
lg = core gap, inch K = 0.7, the decline may lie between 10% and
lc = core length, inch 20%.
p A = incremental permeability
0.6 x N x I,,
N = number of turns in winding BDC = (22)
A, = core cross section, inch2 4
L = inductance, Henry
B,,, = air gap flux density 3.49 x lo6 x v
BA, = f xA,xN (23)

In an air core or iron core reactor with or without


air gaps, the energy (in Joules) stored in the
magnetic field equals:

Buey should be around 11,000 gauss for 4%


Lx12
E=------- silicon steel, 16,000 gauss for grain-oriented
2 steel. The inductance is expressed as:

In the air gap of an iron core reactor, the energy


3.19N2A, x
stored in the magnetic field equals: L= (25)
'g +c' P A
E=----- x volume x 10-7 (19) Wave filters are designed to have Q great enough
8 x n
to provide low attenuation in the pass band and
proper performance at the cutoff frequency.
Here, volume is in cubic-centimeter.
Low loss core material is essential for high 0.
If B,,, = 10,000 gauss, then the stored energy is Core gaps also help obtain a better 0. For any
0.39789 Joules/cubic-centimeter, or 6.525 core, inductance per turn, and frequency, there is
Joules/cubic-inch. a maximum value of 0. Both the winding
resistance and the core loss contribute to the AC
The air gap volume required for DC reactor is resistance.
expressed in cubic inches:
Figure 5 illustrates the equivalent circuit for the
2
core loss, which can be represented by either
(20) series or shunt configurations. The relationship
13.05

353
between inductance L and factor 0 can be
derived.

The relationship between the series and shunt


core loss representation can be stated as: Thus 0 can be increased by reducing L, which
can be lowered by increasing the core gap.
x However, the fringing flux of the core gap will
limit 0.

TEST RESULTS
SHUN1
Figure 6 is the application where the wave filter
X
SERIES
X1 plays a critical role for the circuit to operate
properly. L1 is the saturable reactor and its AC
reactance varies with the DC power in the wave
Figure 5. The Equivalent Core Loss Circuit. filter circuit. R is the bleeder resistance t o
minimize any self rectification.

In Figure 6, L1 has t w o AC coils which are in


series aiding, and t w o DC coils which are in
series opposition. When without any DC output
For values of Q > 5, from the bridge, the AC side of L1 presents a
large impedance and the load current is
essentially zero. The decreasing impedance of L1
(27) is achieved as the bridge DC output increases.

The component parameters for the test


where: measurements are:
Rsenes= equivalent series core loss resistance
Rshunt= equivalent shunt core loss resistance DC output voltage: 0 - 50 Volts
X1: 20 KVA filter reactor
x = 2& = winding reactance L1: 30 KVA saturable reactors
f = AC frequency R: 25 Ohm resistor
L = filter inductance
With DC output applied t o the circuit, the t w o
Neglecting the winding resistance, saturable reactor cores saturate on alternate half
cycles of 60 Hz voltage.

I
Figure 6. The Wave Filter Application Circuit.

354
The typical waveforms of V1 and V2 are the frequency of V1 or V2. It is obvious that V1
measured as shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9. and V2 do not cancel each other under DC signal
because of the saturable reactor characteristics.
The AC side voltage of saturable reactor L9 is
480 V RMS. Each half of the AC winding has 240 I_ ...... ............. ............. ..................~................................... ...
V. Because each of the t w o DC winding of L1 has ,...................
~~. ....... ....................
~ .......... ~ ....... ...-
significant more turns, the induced AC voltage of
the DC winding is very high. The amplitudes of
V1 and V2 are about 900 V RMS.

1 ;

~ _
................... ......._......,.... ........................... ......_.~

Figure 10. The waveform of V or Voltage Across


x1.

If the DC output is set at zero, then the


waveforms of V1 and V2 are identical and there
is no induced AC voltage at all, as illustrated in
Figure 7. The waveform of saturable reactor V1. Figure 11.

._ .... " "...-. . . " ~ ".

i i... i .........
~ i .. i......... ......i

-
i ~ .. " .......... .. " ;..
............. .....^.,

Figure 8. The waveform of saturable reactor V2. Figure 11. The waveforms of V1 and -V2
with DC=O.
.......... .... ................................................ ... .......,..............................
With DC signal present, how could the wave filter
handle these peculiar waveforms?

Any AC induced voltage on the DC bridge output


circuit is not desirable. The t w o DC windings of
L1 are connected in series opposition t o minimize
the AC induced voltage.

As shown in Figure 10, the AC voltage is still


present at 120 Hz frequency, the wave filter is
t A. ..............
8 ......i.............. .......-......
I ._.................................... ..................
i
designed not only t o smooth out the controlled
Figure 9. The waveforms of saturable reactor DC current waveform, but t o take out the AC
V I and-V2. voltage as well. This way, there will be no AC
voltage stress fed back t o the DC bridge circuit.
Figure 1 0 shows the resultant voltage V at twice Notice that the larger AC induced voltage is the

355
result of L1 saturable reactor creating the AC flux [71 Markus Zahn, "Electromagnetic Field Theory:
which the wave filter has to handle. A Problem Solving Approach", John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 1979.

CONCLUSIONS I81 S . B. Dewan, A. Straughen, "Power


Semiconductor Circuits", John Wiley & Sons,
The important parameters of a full wave rectifier Inc., 1975.
bridge are introduced in this paper. The concepts
apply to a SCR controlled circuit and the chopped I91 K, Lee, "Magnetic Design and Application in
waveform results in higher ripple factor and lower Aviation Lighting Control Systems",
utilization factor. The filter reactor is used to Proceedings of EEIC/EMCW Conference,
smooth out the DC current waveform, in addition, 1995.
it is used to attenuate very high AC induced
voltage caused by saturable reactor type load.

The air gap, core size, and turns not only depend
on three interrelated factors: inductance, DC
current in winding, AC voltage in filter caused by
bridge action, but also depend on the induced AC
voltage generated by the saturable reactors.

With 900 V AC RMS across the wave filter, the


AC flux is comparable to the DC flux. To prevent
core saturation in wave filter designs, it is
important to keep the inductance nearly constant
from zero direct current to normal direct current.
The design criteria, equations and test results are
presented in this paper.

REFERENCES

[ l I R .Lee, "Electronic Transformers and CircuitsC


John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2nd Edition, New
York, 1947.

[21 T. E. Shea, "Transmission Networks and


Wave Filters", D. Van Nostrand Company,
New York, 1929.

I31 A. I . Zverev, "Handbook o f Filter Synthesis",


John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1969.

I41 P. K. McElroy, R. F. Field, "How Good Is an


lron-Cored Coil?", Gen. Radio Exp., XV1,
1942.

[51 C. R. Hanna, "Design of Reactances and


Transformers Which Carry Direct Current", 9.
AIEE, 1927.

I61 Motorola, "Rectifier Applications Handbook",


3rd Edition, Motorola, Inc., 1993.

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