22/07/2017

Advantages, Disadvantages of the Cycloconverter


What is Cycloconverter?

The Cycloconverter is single stage AC to AC converter in which input constant voltage, constant frequency AC supply is converted into variable voltage, variable frequency AC supply. In this article, advantage, disadvantage and applications of Cycloconverter is given. 

Advantages 

  • The cyclo converter is a single stage converter therefore its efficiency is very high. 
  • The cyclo converter operates on line commutation ( except step up cyclo converter ) therefore extra force commutation components are not required. 
  • The power transfer in the cyclo converter is possible from supply to load and vice versa at any power factor. 
  • If one of the SCR fails, the cyclo converter operates with distorted output. 
  • The cyclo converter generates high quality sinusoidal waveform for low output frequency whereas the static inverter generates square waveform for low output frequency ( < 10 Hz ).

Disadvantages

  • The control circuit becomes complex because there are large numbers of SCRs in the cyclo converter. 
  • The power factor of the cyclo converter becomes low for low output voltage. 
  • The supply gets short circuited due to failure of commutation circuit.
  • The output frequency of the cyclo converter is 1/3th or 1/2 for reasonable power output and efficiency.

Application




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