CSE 2020

M ain E xamina
Examina ti
xaminati on
tion

Workbook for
Optional Advance Course
Electrical Engineering

Power Electronics & Electric Drives

© Copyright: Subject matter to MADE EASY, New Delhi. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form without the written permission.
 Conventional Questions
Power Electronics & Electric Drives

1. Power Semiconductor Devices and Triggering Circuits

Q.1 The reverse recovery time of a diode is t rr = 6 ms, and the rate of fall of the diode current
d i/ dt = 10 A/ms. If the softness factor SF = 0.5.
(i) Find the storage charge QRR,
(ii) Find the peak reverse current IRR, and
(iii) Draw the labelled reverse recovery characteristics.

Q.2 (i) Draw thyristor gate characteristics and state its application in the design of gate drive
circuit.
(ii) A thyristor has a maximum average gate power dissipation limit of 0.4 Watts. It is triggered with
pulsed gate current of frequency 20 kHz at a duty ratio of 0.5. If the gate cathode voltage drop is
1 volt, find permissible peak gate current magnitude.

Q.3 A power device has a thermal capacity of 0.2 J°/C and a thermal resistance of 0.7 °C/W.
Determine the maximum power dissipation the power device can with stand for 0.1 second for
a temperature not exceeding 40°C.

Q.4 For the circuit of figure, the data is as under:

R = 10 Ω, L = 1 mH, C = 5 μF, Vs = 230 V
vD
S + – iC
+ +
D
+
L vL
Vs V0 –
+
C vC
– – –

The circuit is initially relaxed. With switch closed at t = 0, determine (a) current i(t) (b) conduction time of
diode (c) rate of change of current at t = 0.

Q.5 A thyristor operating from a peak supply voltage of 400 V has the following specifications:
⎛ di ⎞ ⎛ dv ⎞
Repetitive peak current, Ip = 200 A, ⎜ ⎟ = 50 A/μs, ⎜ ⎟ = 200 V/μs
⎝ ⎠max
dt ⎝ dt ⎠max
⎛ di ⎞ ⎛ dv ⎞
Choosing a factor of safety of 2 for Ip , ⎜ ⎟ and ⎜ ⎟
⎝ dt ⎠max ⎝ dt ⎠max
Design a suitable snubber circuit. The minimum value of load resistance is 10 Ω.

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2. Controlled and Uncontrolled Rectifiers

Q.6 A single-phase thyristor controlled bridge rectifier is supplying a dc load of 1 kW. A 1.5 kVA
isolation transformer with a source side voltage rating of 120 V at 50 Hz is used. It has total
leakage reactance of 8% based on its rating. The source voltage of nominally 115 V is in the
range of ±10%. Assuming load current is nearly constant, find:
(i) The minimum turns ratio of the transformer, if the dc load voltage is to be regulated at constant value
of 100 V,
(ii) The reduction in average load voltage due to commutation, and
(iii) The value of firing angle α when the source voltage is 115 + 10% V.

Q.7 Draw output voltage and current waveforms and determine rms output voltage of a three-
phase half-wave rectifier supplied by three-phase balanced AC supply. Also determine the
form factor.
If the supply voltage of the above converter is 220 V (rms) at 50 Hz and the load is of 1 kW at 200 V,
purely resistive, determine power consumed by the load with given supply voltage.

Q.8 A single phase one pulse converter with RLE load has the following data:
Supply voltage = 230 V at 50 Hz, R = 2 Ω, L = 1 mH, E = 120 V, Extinction angle β = 220°, firing angle
α = 25°.
(a) Calculate the voltage across thyristor at the instant SCR is triggered.
(b) Find the voltage that appears across SCR when current decays to zero.
(c) Find the peak inverse voltage for the SCR.

Q.9 A single-phase full converter bridge is connected to RLE load. The source voltage is 230 V,
50 Hz. The average load current of 10 A is constant over the working range. For R = 0.2 Ω and
L = 1 mH, Compute:
(a) Firing angle delay for E = 150 V
(b) Firing angle delay for E = –150 V
Indicate which source is delivering power to load in parts (a) and (b).
(c) In case output current is assumed constant, find the input p.f. for the both part (a) and (b).

Q.10 A single-phase full converter delivers ripple free current to RL load with R = 15 Ω. The source
voltage is 230 V, 50 Hz. For a firing angle of 30; Calculate rectification efficiency, voltage
ripple factor, displacement factor, current distortion factor, THD, active and reactive powers.

Q.11 A 3-phase fully-controlled converter with 415 V supply, 0.04 W resistance per phase and 0.25 Ω
reactance per phase in case load consists of RLE, with R = 0.2 Ω, inductance large enough to
make load current level at 80 A and emf E , then find the mean value of E for
(a) firing angle of 35° and
(b) firing advance angle of 35°
(The thyristor voltage drop is 1.5 V)

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4 Electrical Engineering • Power Electronics & Electric Drives

Q.12 The holding current of SCR in 3-φ full wave converter is supplied from a star-connected 208 V,
50 Hz. Supply and has a load of R = 2 ohm and L = 8 mH. It is operated with a delay angle of
α = 60°. Determine:
(a) the minimum width of gate-pulse width, tp
(b) if L = 0, determine tp.

Q.13 A three-phase, three-pulse, half-wave controlled rectifier a supplying an R-L load, where L → ∞.
A freewheeling diode is also connected across this load. Determine the fundamental
displacement factor and distortion factor for this converter as a function of firing angle a and
hence determine the power factor of the converter.

3. Choppers
Q.14 A boost converter is required to have an output voltage of 48 V and supply a load current of
5 A. The input varies from 12 V - 24 V. A control circuit adjusts the duty ratio to keep the output
voltage constant. Select the switching frequency to be 200 kHz. Determine a value of inductor
such that the variation in inductor current is no more than 40% of average inductor current for
all operation. Prescribe a suitable value of capacitor such that output ripple is no more than 2%.

Q.15 A Buck-Boost converter is operating at 20 kHz with Inductor L = 50 mH. The output capacitor
C is sufficiently large and source voltage V d = 15 V. The output is to be regulated at 10 V and
the converter is supplying a load of 10 W. Find:
(i) The duty ratio D, and
(ii) Maximum value of Inductor current.

Q.16 A dc motor with armature resistance R a = 0.4 Ω and armature inductance L a = 8 mH has back
emf of 80 V, while carrying a current of 10 A. The motor is connected to a dc source of 180 V by
the main SCR of the chopper. If the SCR turns-off after 1 ms, compute the current in the motor
at the instant SCR turns-off.

Q.17 A class-A chopper circuit is supplied from a d.c. source voltage 100 V. The chopper supplies
power to a series R-L load with R = 0.5 Ω and L = 1 mH. The chopper switch is ON for 1 ms in
an overall period of 3 ms. Calculate average load voltage, maximum and minimum value of
load current and average load current. Assume continuous current operation of the chopper.

Q.18 (i) Explain the operation of Boost converter with voltage and current waveforms across the
Boost inductor. Assume continuous conduction.
(ii) Derive its output voltage equation in terms of duty cycle and input voltage.

Q.19 A buck converter (DC-DC converter) has LC filter in the output to reduce ripple in output voltage.
For continuous conduction mode, draw the waveforms of output voltage, inductor current and
capacitor current. If the converter is switched at frequency ‘ f ’, prove that minimum values of ‘ L ’
and ‘ C ’ for ΔI L ripple in inductor current and ΔI o ripple in output voltages are given by
(1 − D ) Vo (1 − D )
C= and L =
8L(ΔVo / Vo ) f 2 ( ΔI L ) f
Assume any data missing. D is duty cycle of switch and Vo is the average output voltage.

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Q.20 Consider the boost converter of figure shown below. The input voltage of this converter is 8 V.
The average output voltage V 0 = 16 V and the average load current I 0 = 0.5 A. The switching
frequency is 30 kHz. If L = 160 mH and C = 380 μF. Compute:
(a) the duty cycle ‘δ’ (b) the ripple current of inductor ΔI
(c) the peak current of inductor, (d) the ripple voltage of filter capacitor, ΔVc.
Is L IL D

Ic I0
+
G L
+
Vdc C Vc O V
– A 0
D
–

Q.21 Consider the buck-boost converter of figure shown below. The input voltage to this converter is
Vdc = 10 V. The duty cycle d = 0.3 and switching frequency is 25 kHz. The inductance L = 150 mH
and filter capacitance C = 220 μF. The average load current I 0 = 1.2 A.
Determine:
(a) The average output voltage, V0 .
(b) The peak-to-peak output voltage ripple, ΔVc .
(c) The peak-to-peak current of inductor, ΔI and
(d) The peak current of the transistor, IP .

4. Inverters
Q.22 A full bridge or H -bridge inverter has a switching sequence which results in a square wave
output voltage. Let the switching frequency be 50 Hz and inverter is supplying a RL load
having R = 10 Ω and L = 30 mH. Determine:
(i) An expression for load current
(ii) The power absorbed by load
(iii) The average current in the DC source
(iv) The area in output voltage waveform where antiparallel diodes across switches conduct.
(Assume input DC voltage = 100 V)

Q.23) The full bridge inverter is used to produce a 50 Hz voltage across a series RL load using
Bipolar PWM. The dc input to the bridge is 200 V, the frequency modulation m f is 21 and
amplitude modulation m a is 0.8. The load has resistance of R = 10 Ω and inductance L = 20 mH.
Find:
(i) The amplitude of fundamental voltage and current and
(ii) Total harmonic distortion in load current.

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6 Electrical Engineering • Power Electronics & Electric Drives

Assume harmonics (> 25th order) are insignificant and normalized voltage is
ma = 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5

n=1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5

n = mf 0.6 0.71 0.82 0.92 1.01 1.15

n = mf ± 2 0.32 0.27 0.22 0.17 0.13 0.09

Q.24 A single-phase full bridge inverter feeds power at 50 Hz to RLC load with R = 5 Ω, L = 0.3 H
and C = 50 μF. The dc input voltage is 220 V dc.
(a) Find the expression for load current up to fifth harmonic. Also calculate.
(b) Power absorbed by the load and the fundamental power.
(c) The rms and peak current of each thyristor.
(d) Conduction time of thyristor and diodes if only fundamental component were considered.

Q.25 A three-phase bridge inverter deliver power to a resistive load from a 400 V dc source. For a
star-connected load of 20 Ω per phase, determine for both (a) 180° mode and (b) 120° mode,
(i) rms value of load current
(ii) rms value of thyristor current
(iii) load power

Q.26 A three phase bridge inverter is fed from 200 V dc source. The inverter is operated in 180°
conduction mode and it is supplying inductive, star-connected load with R = 10 Ω, and
L = 20 mH. The inverter frequency is f 0 = 50 Hz. Determine:
(a) instantaneous line to line voltage and line current in forier series
(b) rms line voltage
(c) rms phase voltage
(d) rms line voltage at fundamental frequency
(e) rms phase voltage at fundamental frequency
(f) the total harmonic distortion
(g) the distortion factor
(h) harmonic and distortion factor of the lowest order harmonic
(i) load power
(j) average and rms switch current.

Q.27 A 1-phase bridge inverter is feeding an R - L load with R = 8 Ω, L = 0.04 H. Find the load
voltage and current expressions for the first two half cycles with rectangular wave output at
50 Hz. The input to the inverter is 220 V.

Q.28 Discuss the unipolar control of a single-phase sinusoidal PWM inverter. Explain the effect of
modulation index and carrier frequency on inverter performance.

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Q.29 A single-phase, full-bridge bipolar PWM inverter employs selective harmonic elimination method.
The output voltage waveform of the inverter is shown in the figure below. For α 1 = 23.62° and
α 2 = 33.30°, find the amplitude of 7 th , 9 th and 11 th harmonics.
V0

Vx

2π
ωt
π/2 π 3π/2

–Vs
α1

α2

Q.30 A single-phase half-bridge bipolar PWM inverter is operated from a centre tap 240 V DC supply.
The fundamental output frequency is adjusted to 50 Hz. The carrier frequency used is 1.2 kHz.
Modulation index is adjusted to 0.8.
Determine:
(a) Carrier ratio (Mf) and the number of pulses per cycle
(b) Fundamental output voltage
(c) Distortion and the harmonic factor of the output voltage waveform
(d) The order of the first five significant harmonics.

Q.31 A single-phase full bridge inverter is used to produce a 50 Hz voltage across a series R-L load
( R = 10 Ω and L = 20 mH) using bipolar PWM. The DC input to the bridge is 380 V, the
amplitude modulation ratio m a = 0.8 and frequency modulation ratio m f = 21. Consider dominant
harmonics to be frequency dominant and its nearby side frequencies (both sides). Assume
normalized Fourier coefficient for m a = 0.8 to be 82% for dominant harmonic frequency and
22% for the nearby side frequencies.
Determine:
(i) Amplitude of 50 Hz component of output voltage and current;
(ii) Power absorbed by the load resistor;
(iii) THD of the load current.
Also compare the amplitude of 50 Hz component of output voltage with square wave and quasi-square
wave output.

5. Power Electronic Applications (Drives & SMPS)

Q.32 A DC motor has an armature resistance of 0.5 W and K f of 3 Vs. The motor is driven by a
single-phase thyristorized full converter. The input to the converter is an AC source of 230 V,
50 Hz. The motor is used as a prime mover of a forklift. In the upward direction, the mechanical
load is 69 Nm and the triggering angle is α = 15°. In the downward direction, the load torque is
180 Nm. Calculate the triggering angle required to keep the downward speed equal in magnitude
to upward speed. Assume continuous motor current for all operation. Also calculate the
triggering angle to keep the motor at holding position while it was moving upward.

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8 Electrical Engineering • Power Electronics & Electric Drives

Q.33 A 220 volts, 1500 rpm, 50 A separately excited DC motor is fed from a three-phase fully controlled
rectifier. The rectifier is supplied with a balanced three-phase source with phase voltage of
230 volts (rms) at 50 Hz. Motor is holding an overhauling load at 1200 rpm at full load torque.
Determine the firing angle of converter if armature resistance is assumed to be 0.2 Ω.

Q.34 A flyback converter has the following circuit parameters:

N1
Vs = 24 V, =3
N2
Lm = 500 μH, R=5Ω
C = 200 μF, f = 25 kHz
V0 = 10 V
Find:
(i) The average magnetizing current and
(ii) The critical value of magnetizing inductor.

Q.35 A 200 V, 875 r.p.m., 150 A, separately excited d.c. motor has an armature resistance of 0.06 Ω.
The motor armature terminals are led from a single-phase fully controlled bridge rectifier. The
input a.c. supply to bridge rectifier is 240 V, 50 Hz. Assuming continuous and ripple-free
armature current, determine the following:
(i) Firing angle of SCRs for rated torque and 750 r.p.m.
(ii) Firing angle for rated torque and –500 r.pm.
Assume that field winding of the motor is connected to a constant d.c. voltage source.

Q.36 A 200 V, 875 rpm, 150 A, separately excited dc motor has an armature resistance of 0.06 Ω. It
is fed from a single phase fully controlled rectifier with an ac source voltage of 220 V, 50 Hz.
Assuming continuous conduction, calculate:
(i) Firing angle for rated motor torque and 750 rpm.
(ii) Motor speed for α = 160° and rated torque.

Q.37 A 230 V dc source feeds a separately excited dc motor through a chopper operating at 400 Hz.
The load torque at 1200 rpm is 32.5 Nm. The motor has ra = 0, La = 30 mH and Km = 1.3 V-s/A-rad.
All motor and chopper losses are neglected. Calculate:
(a) the minimum and maximum values of armature current and the armature current excrussion, and
(b) the armature current expression during on and off periods.

Q.38 (a) A d.c. chopper feeds power to an RLE load with R = 2 Ω, L = 10 mH and E = 6 V. If this
chopper is operating at a chopping frequency of 1 kHz and with duty cycle of 10% from a
220 V d.c. source, compute the maximum and minimum currents taken by the load.
(b) A d.c. chopper is used to control the speed of a separately excited d.c. motor. The d.c. supply
voltage is 220 V, armature resistance ra = 0.2 Ω and motor constant ka φ = 0.8 V/rpm. The motor
drives a constant torque load requiring an average armature current of 25 α. Determine:
(i) The range of speed control,
(ii) Range of duty cycle.
Assume the motor current to be continuous.
„„„„

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