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A voltage controller, also called an AC voltage controller or AC regulator is an electronic module based on either
* Light dimming circuits
* Temperature control of electrical heating systems
* Speed control of motors
* AC magnet controls
A voltage controller, also called an AC voltage controller or AC regulator is an electronic module based on either thyristors
A thyristor () is a solid-state semiconductor device with four layers of alternating P- and N-type materials used for high-power applications. It acts exclusively as a bistable switch (or a latch), conducting when the gate receives a current t ...
, triodes for alternating current, silicon-controlled rectifier
A silicon controlled rectifier or semiconductor controlled rectifier is a four-layer solid-state current-controlling device. The name "silicon controlled rectifier" is General Electric's trade name for a type of thyristor. The principle of four ...
s or insulated-gate bipolar transistor
An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily used as an electronic switch, which, as it was developed, came to combine high efficiency and fast switching. It consists of four alternating lay ...
s, which converts a fixed voltage, fixed frequency alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
(AC) electrical input supply to obtain variable voltage
Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to ...
in output delivered to a resistive load. This varied voltage output is used for dimming street lights, varying heating temperatures in homes or industry, speed control of fans and winding machine
A winding machine or winder is a machine for wrapping string, twine, cord, thread, yarn, rope, wire, ribbon, tape, etc. onto a spool, bobbin, reel, etc.
In textiles
Winders are used heavily in textile manufacturing, especially in preparation to ...
s and many other applications, in a similar fashion to an autotransformer
An autotransformer is an electrical transformer with only one winding. The " auto" (Greek for "self") prefix refers to the single coil acting alone, not to any kind of automatic mechanism. In an autotransformer, portions of the same winding act a ...
. Voltage controller modules come under the purview of power electronics. Because they are low-maintenance and very efficient, voltage controllers have largely replaced such modules as magnetic amplifiers and saturable reactor
A saturable reactor in electrical engineering is a special form of inductor where the magnetic core can be deliberately saturated by a direct electric current in a control winding. Once saturated, the inductance of the saturable reactor drops dr ...
s in industrial use.
Modes of operation
Electronic voltage controllers work in two different ways; either through "on-and-off control" or through "phase control".Issa Batarseh, "Power Electronic Circuits" by John Wiley, 2003On-and-off control
In an on-and-off controller, thyristors are used to switch on the circuits for a few cycles of voltage and off for certain cycles, thus altering the total RMS voltage value of the output and acting as a high speed AC switch. The rapid switching results in high frequency distortion artifacts which can cause a rise in temperature, and may lead tointerference
Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to:
Communications
* Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message
* Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extr ...
in nearby electronics. Such designs are not practical except in low power applications.
Phase angle control
In phase angle control, thyristors are used to selectively pass only a part of each AC cycle through to the load. By controlling the phase angle or trigger angle, the output RMS voltage of the load can be varied. The thyristor is turned on for every half-cycle and switched off for each remaining half-cycle. The phase angle is the position at which the thyristor is switched on.Applications
* Light dimming circuits
* Temperature control of electrical heating systems
* Speed control of motors
* AC magnet controls
See also
* Dimmer *Motor soft starter
A motor soft starter is a device used with AC electrical motors to temporarily reduce the load and torque in the powertrain and electric current surge of the motor during start-up. This reduces the mechanical stress on the motor and shaft, as wel ...
* DC injection braking
* Space Vector Modulation
* Variable-speed air compressor
* Vector control (motor) Vector control, also called field-oriented control (FOC), is a variable-frequency drive (VFD) control method in which the stator currents of a three-phase AC or brushless DC electric motor are identified as two orthogonal components that can be vis ...
* Motor controller
A motor controller is a device or group of devices that can coordinate in a predetermined manner the performance of an electric motor. A motor controller might include a manual or automatic means for starting and stopping the motor, selecting forw ...
* Adjustable-speed drive
Motor drive means a system that includes a motor. An adjustable speed motor drive means a system that includes a motor that has multiple operating speeds. A variable speed motor drive is a system that includes a motor and is continuously variabl ...
* Electronic speed control
An electronic speed control (ESC) is an electronic circuit that controls and regulates the speed of an electric motor. It may also provide reversing of the motor and dynamic braking.
Miniature electronic speed controls are used in electrically p ...
* Variable-frequency drive
A variable-frequency drive (VFD) is a type of motor drive used in electro-mechanical drive systems to control AC motor speed and torque by varying motor input frequency and, depending on topology, to control associated voltage or current va ...
* Thyristor drive
* DC motor starter section of Electric motor
An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate for ...
References
{{Electric motor Power electronics