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Synchronised Linear Ramp-Pulse Based Triggering Pulse Generation ON/OFF

Control for Solid-State Switches: Capacitor Switching Applications

Article  in  WSEAS Transactions on Power Systems · April 2012

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 WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on POWER SYSTEMS K. Subramanian, K. K. Ray

Synchronised Linear Ramp-Pulse Based Triggering Pulse Generation

ON/OFF Control for Solid-State Switches: Capacitor Switching
Applications
K.SUBRAMANIAN1 AND K.K.RAY
Power Electronics and Drives Division
Vellore Institute of Technology University
Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632 014
INDIA
1
Email id: ksubramanian@vit.ac.in

Abstract: -Thispaper describes a newly developed triggering circuit, has been use to turn on and off the solid-
state switches, such as TRIAC switched capacitors applications. A linear ramp signal based synchronization
technique has been propose and implemented successfully, for the capacitor switching operation of a simple
power system. This scheme enables the firing circuit to adjust itself against any phase and/or sequence
alterations. This feature leads to elimination of the phase locked-loop (PLL) control, are commonly used to
synchronize the pulse generations with respect to the system the supply frequency. Those pulses are, to control
the converter / inverter operation of an industrial drives and the FACTS controllers also. The proposed circuit
has been constructing and tested experimentally in the laboratory. The simulation work completed using Or
CARD software. The result shows a good agreement with the theoretical waveforms.

Key Words: - linear ramp signal, synchronization, capacitor switching

1 Introduction has been detected and to fix the frequency reference.

L.S.Torseng [4] discussed the reactive power
In electrical drives applications either in compensation of a power system by thyristor
industries or in elsewhere, induction motors are switched capacitors (TSC) and thyristor controlled
widely used. Therefore, the system has a low power reactor (TCR) schemes. In view of capacitor
factor. The shunt-connected capacitors are widely switching operation, T.J.E Miller [5] and N. H.
used to improve the power factor. In addition to Hingorani et al [6] have discussed the constraints
that, shunt capacitors have been to regulate the and control strategy.
voltage of the transmission line at the receiving end. In case of stand-alone power generators, such as
In earlier days, mechanical switches used to connect self-excited induction generator, excitation control
the capacitor in aforementioned applications. After says, either adding or removing the capacitor to the
the development of power semiconductor devices stator windings of the generators. T.A. Ahemed et al
with higher power handling capabilities and current [7] discussed the terminal voltage regulation of a
ratings, solid-state switches (like thyristors, IGBT, three-phase capacitor excited induction generator
GTO, MOSFET, TRIAC etc..) are used instead of using switched capacitor and fixed capacitor-
mechanical switches, because of its compactness thyristor controlled reactor with zero crossing
and easy to control. technique. In single-phase generator, also the same
Static power conversion manufacturers have technique has been implemented [8]. Ebenezer
developed a variety of thyristor firing circuits based Prates Da Silveira et al. [9] describe the low cost
on commercially available discrete and integrated optical TRIAC with a built in zero-crossing function
circuits. Ainsworth [1] has presented a phase locked based voltage regulation of three phase induction
oscillator control system for thyristor-controlled motor with direct on line staring.
reactor. Frank J. Bourbeau [2] developed, LSI based However, aforementioned applications need a
three-phase thyristor firing circuit insensitivity to separate control, to synchronize the frequency and
frequency and direction of phase rotation with PLL pulse generations. The aim of this work, propose a
circuit. A microprocessor based firing circuit for new technique, can be automatically synchronised
thyristors working under a three-phase variable with supply frequency variations. Analog and digital
frequency supply has been suggest and implemented integrated circuit based triggering pulse generation
by H. M. EL Bolok [3]. In his work, zero crossing circuit (with less number of component) has been

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 WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on POWER SYSTEMS K. Subramanian, K. K. Ray

develop and tested in the laboratory.

2 Proposed Triggering Circuit

The proposed triggering circuit, shown in Fig.1,
consist of a single-phase full bridge diode rectifier,
ramp pulse generator, comparator, edge detector,
opto coupler and buffer circuit.

Fig.3. single line diagram of variable frequency generator with

load and TRIAC switched capacitor
3. 1 Full bridge rectifier
Fig.3 (a) depicts the full bridge rectifier,
consists of a shunt-connected transformer, two
diodes D1 and D2 connected in secondary windings
Fig.1 Proposed triggering pulse generation circuit for ON/OFF of the transformer. Load voltage of 230V (line-to-
control of TRIAC switch neutral) applied to the transformer primary as shown
Descriptions of the individual blocks have been in Fig.3 (b). The secondary voltage of 12V, ac (feed
discusses in sub-sequence paragraphs in details. back signal) rectified by the diodes (as shown in
Fig.2 illustrates the typical waveform of the Fig.3(c), and, feeding to the next stage of constant
triggering circuit at different points, had been used current source.
for TRIAC switch ON/OFF control.

Fig.3 full bridge diode rectifier (a) circuit connection (b)

simulated input voltage (c) rectified voltage waveforms
Fig.2 Typical waveform of proposed triggering circuit
3. 2 Ramp Signal Generation
3 Principle of operation The base of the transistor Q1 biased by the
Fig.3. shows a 3-Ø inductive load powered from rectifier voltage using 4.7 kΩ resistance (R1) if the
a variable frequency, capacitor excited induction base voltage, above 0.7 V, Q1 conducts and the
generator. Low-level voltage signal of load voltage collector to emitter voltage is zero. When base
has taken from the load terminal, feeding to the voltage is between 0V and 0.7V, Q1 is OFF,
triggering pulse generation circuit. therefore, 12V dc, divides between 2.2 kΩ (R2) and
4.7 kΩ (R3) resistances. The collector to emitter

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 WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on POWER SYSTEMS K. Subramanian, K. K. Ray

voltage waveform of Q1 is showing in Fig. 4(b). positive saturation voltage of the op-amp. As soon
This voltage applied to the base of Q2. This causes as the instantaneous value of the ramp becomes
Q2 to turn on when Q1 is off and to turn off when more than the reference dc voltage, the output goes
to negative saturation voltage of the op-amp, thus a
Q1 is on. The collector to emitter voltage waveform
square wave (as shown in Fig. 5(c)) produced. The
of Q1 is showing in Fig.4 (b). Resistors on time of the square wave, varies by changing the
R 5 and R 6 form a voltage divider bias for transistor value of the reference dc voltage.
Q3. The base voltage of Q3 varies by varying the The output of the op-amp applied as an input to
resistor R 6 . It is adjusted such that Q3 conducts the edge detector IC. Since it is a digital IC, a
maximum of 5 volts is allowing to its input
always, thus charging the capacitor C3. However, at
terminals. Therefore, 4.7V zener diode (02DZ4.7)
the end of each half cycle, when voltage is going
has been connecting in front of the edge detector
from 0.7V to 0V, Q2 conducts hence discharging the
circuit. Fig.5(c) shows the square wave, which is
capacitor to ground. This charging and discharging
the output of zener diode terminal.
in each half cycle produces a ramp wave. It is
showing in Fig.4(c) along with the full wave
rectified sine wave to show the synchronization of
the ramp with the input supply.

Fig.5 (a) Input signals to op-amp; (b) Output of op-amp;

(c) Output at zener diode
Fig.4 constant current source (a) circuit connection (b)
simulated collector-to-emitter voltage of transistor Q1 (c)
corresponding ramp signal 2. 4 Edge Triggering
The advantages of this firing circuit are to An IC of DM74121, used as edge detection
generate a linear and synchronised ramp wave circuit as shown in Fig.6 (a). The IC could detect
generation and self-adjust the firing instant with both positive (rising) and negative (falling) edges,
frequency variation, therefore, no need of separate depending on the mode of operation. The negative
synchronism control loop. Any change in frequency edge-triggering scheme chosen (Fig.6 (a)), for that,
of the input signal will cause a corresponding an external connection has been modifying by using
change in the period of the ramp. This can be the logic shown in Fig.6 (b).
eliminating the phase locked loop (PLL) adjustment IC DM74121 is a monostable multi-vibrator
usually needed due to synchronise the firing signal featuring both positive and negative edge triggering
generation with frequency variations. with complementary outputs. An internal 2kΩ
timing resistor is using to design convenience
2. 3 Comparator Circuit minimizing component count and layout problems.
An integrated circuit (IC) of uA741 operational- This device could be use with a single external
amplifier (op-amp) has been used as comparator as capacitor. Inputs (A) are active-LOW trigger
shown in Fig.5 (a). The synchronised ramp wave transition inputs and input (B) is an active-HIGH
and reference signal are given to the inverting transition Schmitt trigger input that allows jitter-free
terminal and non-inverting terminal of the op-amp triggering from inputs with transition rates as slow
respectively. +12V DC is given to the seventh pin as 1 volt/second. A high immunity to VCC noise of
and -12V DC is given to the fourth pin of the op- typically 1.5V is providing by internal circuitry at
amp. The op-amp compares the ramp with the the input stage. The main features of the IC are, can
reference signal as shown in Fig.5(b). When the be triggered from active-HIGH transition or active-
instantaneous value of the ramp is lower than the LOW transition inputs; the pulse width can be
reference signal, the output of the op-amp goes to varied from 30 ns to 28 seconds; excellent noise

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 WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on POWER SYSTEMS K. Subramanian, K. K. Ray

immunity of typically 1.2V; Stable pulse width up 3-Ø triac switched capacitor (shown in Fig.7 with in
to 90% duty cycle. The function of the IC is as a circle). The capacitor current shows harmonics, it
given in Fig. 6 (b). Here, the first mode has been will be eliminates by introducing a small value of
choosing where the inputs A1 and B are high and a inductor in series with capacitor.
negative edge is giving to the input A2. This
produces a positive pulse at the output Q and a

negative pulse Q . The output at Q used for the next
stage. The pulse width is keeping at three
milliseconds by adjusting the external resistor. The
reason is that to fire the TRIAC in series with the
capacitor, in TSC, at least 30% on-time pulse is
required. Fig.6(c) shows the output of DM74121.

Fig.6 Edge triggering scheme (a) connection diagram (b) logic

for connection (c) output waveform

4 Experimental Work
To validate the proposed triggering circuit,
a 240V, 4,7A, capacitor excited induction generator
(as shown in Fig.3 single line diagram) rig up in the
laboratory, generates the voltage with variable
frequency. A TRIAC switched capacitor used as a
Fig.8 experimental results of self-synchronizations with a
voltage regulator. frequency of (a) -50 Hz (b)- 55 Hz (c) -45 Hz

5 Conclusions
The proposed triggering circuit has been
constructing tested, as a voltage regulator of a 3-Ø
self-excited induction generator. The observations
are
 TRIAC switch goes to OFF state suddenly
(shown in Fig.9) after turn ON, in addition
negative half-cycle capacitor current goes to
zero values.
 A pure capacitor connection generates a
Fig.7 experimental results harmonics and huge amount of capacitor
Fig.7 illustrates the capacitor voltage, currents are presents.
capacitor current and triggering pulse, captured
during the experimental work. A single leg of a

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 WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on POWER SYSTEMS K. Subramanian, K. K. Ray

Phase Self-Excited Induction Generator”, IEE

Proc. C, Vol. 152, No. 2, pp. 145-156.
[9] Ebenezer Prates da Silveira, Robson Celso
Pires,Antonio Tadeu Lyrio de Almeida ,Angelo
José and Junqueira Rezek, “ Direct On Line
Starting Induction Motor With Thyristor
Switched Capacitor Based Voltage
Regulation”, Conference Proceeding, log no.
978-1-4244-3370-4/09, 2009, pp 1124 -1129.
[10] Or CAD software package

Fig.9 First stage test result of TRIAC switched capacitor

I would like to thanks my doctoral committee
member’s suggestions, to eliminate the problem
shown in Fig.9, by modification of the triggering
circuit shown in Fig.1.

References:
[1] Ainsworth, “Phase Locked Oscillator Control
System for Thyristor Controlled Reactors”,
IEEE Transaction on Power Apparatus and
Systems, Vol. PAS-103, No.1, January 1984, pp
198 – 212.
[2] Frank J. Bourbeau, “LSI based three-phase
thyristor firing circuit”, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, Vol.9, No.4, July /
August 1983, pp.571-578.
[3] H. M. EL. Bolok, “A Microprocessor Based
Firing Circuit for Thyristors Working under a
Tree-Phase Variable Frequency Supply”, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vo37,
No.2, April 1990, pp.152-155.
[4] S. Torseng, Shunt connected reactors and
capacitors by thyristors”, IEEE Proc.
November 1981, pp 366-373.
[5] T. J. E. Miller, “Reactive Power Control in
Electric System”, John Willey & Sons 1982.
[6] N. G. Hingorani, “Power Electronics in Electric
utilities: Role of Power Electronics in Future
power Systems”, Proceeding of the IEEE, April
1988.
[7] T.Ahmed, O. Noro, E. Hiraki and M. Nakaoka,
“Terminal Voltage regulation Characteristics
By Static VAr Compensator For A Three-Phase
Self-Excited Induction Generator”, IEEE
Transactions on .Industry Applications, Vol.
40, No. 4., 2004, pp. 978-988.
[8] T. Ahmed., K. Nishida., K. Soushin and M.
Nakaoka, “Static VAR Compensator-Based
Voltage Control Implementation of Single-

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