The Amplitude adjusting (also referred to as Amplitude control) enables the power control of electric loads, which are operated with AC voltage. A representative application is the heating control of industrial high temperature furnaces.
Functionality
Contrary to the conventional
phase angle or
full wave control,
during amplitude control only the
Amplitude
The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of amplit ...
of the sinusoidal supply current is changed. The level of the amplitude only depends on the consumed power. The sinus oscillation does not change.
Because current and voltage are in phase, only real power is taken from the mains for amplitude control. So the current consumption from the mains is considerably lower than the current consumption in case of phase-angle operation.
Advantages
The continuous current flow causes a mild operation of the used heater elements and consequently significant longer lifetimes are realized. Depending on the ambient conditions the lifetime can be twice as long.
Especially the surface damage of the heater elements at thresholds can be reduced.
The amplitude control eliminates the
flicker effect
Flicker may refer to:
* Flickers, woodpeckers of the subgenus ''Colaptes''
* Flicker (screen), a change in brightness between frames that occurs on a cathode-ray screen at low refresh rates
* Flicker (light), a directly visible change in brightnes ...
s and harmonics, as usual for Thyristor units, so that the standard specifications according to
EN 61000-3-2 and EN 61000-3-3 are observed.
Reactive power compensation is not required, reducing equipment costs.
Applications
Sinus units or IGBT power converters for power control of:
* Resistance heatings
*
Silicon carbide
Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum (), is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder and crystal sin ...
(SC) - heater elements
*
Molybdenum disilicide
Molybdenum disilicide (MoSi2, or molybdenum silicide), an intermetallic compound, a silicide of molybdenum, is a refractory ceramic with primary use in heating elements. It has moderate density, melting point 2030 °C, and is electrically con ...
(MoSi2) - heater elements
* Infralight radiators
Literature
* Manfred Schleicher, Winfried Schneider: ''Electronic power units''.
, {{ISBN, 978-3-935742-05-4
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Electric power