Technology Education and Research Institute Kurukshetra (136119)

BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED (BHEL)

ELECTRONICS DIVISION(EDN)

Mysore Road Bangalore Karnataka

An Internship Report on
“Overview of Traction Products”

Under the guidance of

Vijayakumar M. (Dy. General Manager)

Submitted to Submitted by
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Deepak Kumar
HOD EEE (3519306)
 DECLARATION
I Deepak Kumar, roll no: - 3519306 student of B.Tech. (Electrical and Electronics
Engineering) 4th year of Technology Education & Research Integrated Institution,
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra hereby declare that my training report on
“Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)” is an original and authenticated word
done by me and the best of my knowledge and belief, under the guidance of
Vijayakumar M. (Dy. General Manager/PES).

I further declare that it has not been submitted elsewhere by any person in any of the
institutes for the degree of Bachelor of Technology.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our special thanks and gratitude for the guidance,
knowledge and assistance received from Vijayakumar M. (Dy. General
Manager/PES) Main Assembly Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited- Electronics
Division, Mysore Road, Bangalore, for providing the platform to work on this report.
I am extremely proud to work under such an antique and large organization, Bharat
Heavy Electricals Limited, which is also a pride of India.
 CONTENTS

1. BHEL Overview
2. Business sectors
3. Power sectors
4. Industry Sector
5. Transport
6. Traction converters and controls for railways
7. SMT line for PCB manufacturing
8. Wave soldering
9. Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)
10. Power Converter
11. Conclusion
 BHEL Overview
India's premier state-owned public sector enterprise Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
has been playing a pivotal role in shaping the engineering and manufacturing capability in India
across several core sectors, including power generation and transmission, transportation,
renewables, water, oil & gas and defense & aerospace, notching up an annual revenue of around 4
billion USD. BHEL has established strong linkages with other public sector enterprises as well as
research institutes in India and is also having technology tie-ups with leading OEM's in various
sectors. With 16 manufacturing facilities spread across the country that manufacture equipment
compliant with latest national and international standards, BHEL's state-of-the-art facilities
specialize in engineering, manufacturing, testing, aftermarket services for equipment in the power
sector segment and various industrial sectors. These manufacturing units are supported by four
overseas offices, four regional offices, eight service centers and 15 regional marketing centers to
deliver value to its customers. BHEL is credited as one of India's largest employers, in the
engineering sector with more than 34,000 highly skilled employees which includes 9,000 engineers
with qualifications, experience and skills spanning a wide range of technology areas. BHEL’s
employees have been one of the strongest pillars in building this successful business. With an R&D
spend of over 2.5% of the annual turnover, BHEL is one the highest in the capital goods
manufacturing industry in India. BHEL's dedicated R&D center in Hyderabad has been
instrumental in shaping technology and innovative manufacturing capabilities. BHEL has
established over 75 technology collaborations with several global players over the years and these
partnerships have helped both parties by sharing technologies, know-how and resources. BHEL's
unique ability to provide pan-India access has been one of its core strengths. There are about 150
ongoing projects in different parts of India, served through the manufacturing and business units
spread across the country. BHEL's expertise in exports can be utilized by global manufacturing
firms to have a manufacturing hub in India.
ACHIEVEMENTS

Installed equipment for over 90,000 MW of power generation-for Utilities, Captive, and
Industrial users.

Supplied over 2,25,000 MVA transformer capacity and other equipment operating in
Transmission & Distribution network up to 400 kV (AC & DC).

Supplied over 25,000 Motors with Drive Control System to Power projects,
Petrochemicals, Refineries, Steel, Aluminum, Fertilizer, Cement plants, etc.

Supplied Traction electrics and AC/DC locos to power over 12,000 kms Railway network.

Supplied over one million Valves to Power Plants and other Industries.

AWARDS

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has been ranked the Ninth Most Innovative
Company in the world by the renowned US business magazine Forbes in 2011 BHEL.

wins ICWAI National Awards for Excellence in Cost Management for the sixth
consecutive year; maximum number of awards conferred on BHEL among public and
private sector companies.

BHEL's Innovativeness gets Global Recognition; Forbes ranks BHEL at No.9 in the list of
the World's 100 Most Innovative Companies.

BHEL gets Golden Peacock Award 2011 for Occupational Health and Safety. 2010- BHEL
bags EEPC's Top Export Award for the 20th consecutive year.

BHEL won the MoU Excellence Award for the year 2006-07 for the highest growth rate in
Market Capitalization.
BUSINESS SECTORS:

BHEL's operations are organized around three business sectors, namely Power, Industries
including Transmission, Transportation& Renewable Energy, and International Operations.

POWER SECTOR:

The thermal, gas, hydro, and nuclear power plant industries a included in the power generating
section. BHEL started operating its first coal-based set in 1969, 8giving the company
approximately 50 years in this industry. The business has demonstrated turnkey execution skills
for power projects from idea to commissioning. BHEL offers a wide variety of coal-based sets of
up to 1,000 MW rating, including 660/700/800 MW rating sets based on supercritical technology
and sub-critical sets of up to 600 MW unit rating. For smaller carbon footprints and compliance
with the updated emission limits announced by the Government of India, the firm furthermore
provides cutting- edge emission control technology for coal-based facilities. The firm produces a
wide range of nuclear reactor-related goods, including steam generators, reactor headers, end
shields, and nuclear turbine-generator sets with ratings ranging from 220 MWe to 700 MWe.
Through the rehabilitation, modernization, and upgrading of a range of power plant equipment,
BHEL has demonstrated experience in improving plant performance

INDUSTRY SECTOR:
Oil and gas exploration, metallurgy and mining, pipelines, petrochemicals, chemicals, vehicles,
steel, aluminum, refineries, cement, fertilizer, sugar, paper, textiles, etc. are just a few of the
industries that BHEL provides significant equipment for. The variety of goods available includes
AC machines, alternators, centrifugal compressors, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, columns,
fired heaters, cryogenic air separation plants, steam turbine-based captive and co-generation power
plants to suit the needs of various industries, turbogenerators, and a full range of steam generators
for process industries capable of burning a wide variety of fuels.
TRANSPORT:
For all types of rolling stock, BHEL is a top provider of electrical propulsion systems and traction
equipment to Indian Railways, which manages one of the biggest rail networks in the world. The
propulsion system for India's first completely airconditioned AC 10 EMU is an IGBT-based
system provided by BHEL. For the Indian Railways, the business also produces fully built electric
locomotives with up to 6000 HP and EMU carriages. In addition to manufacturing coaches for
Indian Railways and metro trains, BHEL has expanded its product line. To meet the shunting needs
of diverse industries and power utilities, BHEL produces diesel electric locomotives (up to 3000
HP)

TRACTION CONVERTERS AND CONTROLS FOR RAILWAYS

Traction drive systems are extremely used in 1600HP Broad Gauge AC or AC/DC Electrical
Multiple Units (EMUs) and 6000HP 3 phase AC locomotives for Indian Railways. Rapid
development in the field of semiconductors and advent of microprocessor-based controls in
traction application have enabled used of Gate Turn Off Thyristor (GTOs) /(IGBTs) with squirrel
cage induction motors instead of dc motors to get a better performance for a given weight and
volume. BHEL Electronics Division has been in the field of Transportation for the last one decade
and have been supplying Vehicle Control Electronics (VCUs) and GTO based converters for
Indian Railways. Today more than 50% of 3 AC phase locomotives run with converters and
controls manufactured by BHEL.

ADVANTAGES OF 3 PHASE AC DRIVE TECHNOLOGY

• 3 Phase technology uses GTO Thyristors/IGBTs and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
techniques on the converter as well as inverter side.

• It has the advantage to work at the Unity Power Factor and draws sinusoidal current from
the Catenary.

• Use of regenerative braking results in energy saving up to 30% giving fast payback. This
also reduces wear and tear of brake system thereby ensuring higher life of components.

SYSTEM OVERVIEW
Incoming power coming from the catenary is fed through the transformer to two converters which
supply the motive power through the traction motors.

The energy generated during the 13 breaking is fed back through the same chain into the traction
supply network. Irrespective of motoring or braking, the system continues to supply energy to the
onboard equipment’s and the vehicle battery.

The overall Traction Control system consists of:

• Input Transformer

• Drive Converter and Motor Inverter including control electronics

• Auxiliary Converter

• Train Control and Monitoring System (TCMS) or Vehicle Control Unit (VCU)

• Cooling System

• Powered axle

• Battery Charger Drivers Screen

• Mechanical Design

Train control and Monitoring System

A control and monitoring system can be viewed as I system capable of measuring, processing, and
acting upon an input or combination of input signals to bring the output to a suitable defined state
in order to fulfill a functional requirement. A TCMS (Train Control and Monitoring System) is an
on-board system built with the purpose to control and monitor a list of train equipment and
functional processes. Based on a control and monitoring architecture, TCMS centralizes all the
information related to the operating status of all the so-called "intelligent" train equipment.

The functions to be carried out by a TCMS can be classified into one of the following broad
categories:

Control of Monitoring
Driving and maintenance
Passenger information

INPUT TRANSFORMER
The 25kv, 50hz catenary is fed to the primary winding of the main transformer through pantograph,
main circuit breaker, and a roof cable bushing. The secondary windings of the main transformer are
connected to GTO/1GBT based front-end converter and auxiliary converter.

Front End Power Converter and Motor Inverter

The ac power from the secondary winding of the main transformer is rectified and regulated by
PWM converter unit consisting of GTO/IGBTs bridges and then regulated DC power is fed to
VWF (Variable Voltage Variable Frequency) 3 phase PWM inverter feeds either more than one
traction motor in parallel or single traction motor.
 Auxiliary Converter

COOLINGS SYSTEM OPERATION FOR IGBT BASED TRACTION

CONVERTER

An efficient cooling system is employed to cool the power modules. The GTO based Traction
converters are forced oil cooled while the IGBT based traction converter are forced water cooled
for locos.
POWER AXLE

3 phase squirrel cage induction motors are used for traction application owing to their ruggedness
and low maintenance features. The motors are axle hung, nose suspended with roller bearing and
forced air cooled/self-ventilated.

BATTERY CHARGER

It's a compact forced air cooled, microprocessors-controlled unit with a rated total power of 10kw
suitable for operation in high ambient temperature. Separate outputs for 110v dc loads and battery
are available. The battery charger is designed

to perform the role of charging or DC-DC conversion or a combination of both depending on the
requirement of the system.
Availability of high power IGBTs has paved the way for building traction converters with IGBT
power modules. Similarly new developments in the area of microprocessors-based controllers have
also resulted in enhanced performance.

IGBT based Converter and Inverter for 3 phase EMU

SMT Line for PCB Manufacturing:

1. Facilities in the PCB test area include computerized testing of components using in circuit tester

2. The main equipment testing section includes world class facilities for functional test, short
circuit and temperature rise test. A number of specialized setups are built for functional testing
using simulation concepts.

3. Device tester for testing of GTOs/1GBTs/Diodes.

4. Comprehensive functional testing facility for modules equipped with test racks, fixtures and
specific test programmers which reduce cycle time for testing of individual modules.

SURFACE MOUNT TECHNOLOGY(SMT)

Surface Mount Technology (SMT) is the process of mounting electrical components directly on
the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). Electrical components mounted in this way are called
surface mounters (SMDs). In the industry, this approach has largely replaced the way through hole
technology is designed to mount components, primarily because SMT improves manufacturing
automation, reduces costs, and improves quality. You can also fit more components in a particular
area of the board. Both techniques can be used on the same board. Through-hole technology is
often used for components that are not suitable for surface mounting, such as large transformers
and heat dissipation power semiconductors. SMT Components are usually smaller than through
hole components because they have small leads or no leads at all. The body of the component can
contain different types of short pins or leads, blade contacts, solder ball (BGA) arrays, or
connectors.
SMT EQUIPMENT

The printed circuit board normally has flat, usually tin-lead, silver, or gold-plated copper pads
without holes, called solder pads. Solder paste, a sticky mixture of flux and tiny solder particles,
is first applied to all the solder pads with a stainless steel or nickel stencil using a screen-printing
process. It can also be applied by a jet printing mechanism, similar to an inkjet printer. After
pasting, the boards proceed to the pick-and-place machines, where they are placed on a conveyor
belt. The components to be placed on the boards are usually delivered to the production line in
either paper/plastic tapes wound on reels or plastic tubes. Some large integrated circuits are
delivered in static-free trays. Numerical control pick-and-place machines 23 remove the parts from
the tapes, tubes or trays and place them on the PCB. The boards are then conveyed into the reflow
soldering oven. They first enter a pre-heat zone, where the temperature of the board and all the
components is gradually, uniformly raised to prevent thermal shock. The boards then enter a zone
where the temperature is high enough to melt the solder particles in the solder paste, bonding the
component leads to the pads on the circuit board. The surface tension of the molten solder helps
keep the components in place, and if the solder pad geometries are correctly designed, surface
tension automatically aligns the components on their pads. There are a number of techniques for
reflowing solder. One is to use infrared lamps; this is called infrared reflow. Another is to use a
hot gas convection. Another technology which is becoming popular again is special fluorocarbon
liquids with high boiling points which use a method called vapor phase reflow. Due to
environmental concerns, this method was falling out of favor until lead-free legislation was
introduced which requires tighter controls on soldering. At the end of 2008, convection soldering
was the most popular reflow technology using either standard air or nitrogen gas. Each method has
its advantages and disadvantages. With infrared reflow, the board designer must lay the board out
so that short components don't fall into the shadows of tall components. Component location is
less restricted if the designer knows that vapor phase reflow, or convection soldering will be used
in production. Following reflow soldering, certain irregular or heat 24 sensitive components may
be installed and soldered by hand, or in large-scale automation, by focused infrared beam (FIB) or
localized convection equipment. If the circuit board is double sided then this printing, placement,
reflow process may be repeated using either solder paste or glue to hold the components in place.
If a wave soldering process is used, then the parts must be glued to the board prior to processing
to prevent them from floating off when the solder paste holding them in place is melted. After
soldering, the boards may be washed to remove flux residues and any stray solder balls that could
short out closely spaced component leads. Rosin flux is removed with fluorocarbon solvents, high
flash point hydrocarbon solvents, or low flash solvents e.g. limonene (derived from orange peels)
which require extra rinsing or drying cycles. Water-soluble fluxes are removed with deionized
water and detergent, followed by an air blast to quickly remove residual water. However, most
electronic assemblies are made using a "No-Clean" process where the flux residues are designed
to be left on the circuit board, since they are considered harmless. This saves the cost of cleaning,
speeds up the manufacturing process, and reduces waste. However, it is generally suggested to
wash the assembly, even when a "No Clean" process is used, when the application uses very high
frequency clock signals (in excess of 1 GHz). Another reason to remove no-clean residues is 28 to
improve adhesion of conformal coatings and underfill materials. Regardless of cleaning or not
those PCBs, current industry trend suggests to carefully review a PCB assembly process where
"No-Clean" is applied, since flux residues trapped under components and RF shields may affect
surface insulation resistance (SIR), especially on high component density boards. Certain
manufacturing standards, such as those written by the IPC Association Connecting Electronics
Industries require cleaning regardless of the solder flux type used to ensure a thoroughly clean
board.

Proper cleaning removes all traces of solder flux, as well as dirt and other contaminants that may
be invisible to the naked eye. No-Clean or other soldering processes may leave "white residues"
that, according to IPC, are acceptable "provided that these residues have been qualified and
documented as benign. However, while shops conforming to IPC standard are expected to adhere
to the Association's rules on board condition, not all manufacturing facilities apply IPC standard,
nor are they required to do so. Additionally, in some applications, such as low-end electronics,
such stringent manufacturing methods are excessive both in expense and time required. Finally,
the boards are visually inspected for missing or misaligned components and solder bridging. If
needed, they are sent to a rework station where a human operator repairs any errors. They are then
usually sent to the testing stations (in-circuit testing and/or functional testing) to verify that they
operate correctly.
WAVE SOLDERING:

Wave soldering is a bulk soldering process used for the manufacturing of printed circuit boards.
The circuit board is passed over a pan of molten solder in which a pump produces an upwelling of
solder that looks like a standing wave. As the circuit board makes contact with this wave, the
components become soldered to the board. Wave soldering is used for both through hole printed
circuit assemblies, and surface mount. In the latter case, the components are glued onto the surface
of a printed circuit board (PCB) by placement equipment, before being run through the molten
solder wave. Wave soldering is mainly used in soldering of through hole components. As through
hole components have been largely replaced by surface mount components, wave soldering has
been supplanted by reflow soldering methods in many large-scale electronics applications.
However, there is still significant wave soldering where surface mount technology (SMT) is not
suitable (e.g., large power devices and high pin count connectors), or where simple through hole
technology prevails.

There are many types of wave solder machines; however, the basic components and principles of
these machines are the same. The basic equipment used during the process is a conveyor that moves
the PCB through the different zones, a pan of solder used in the soldering process, a pump that
produces the actual wave, the sprayer for the flux and the preheating pad. The solder is usually a
mixture of metals. A typical leaded solder is composed of 50% tin, 49.5% lead, and 0.5% antimony.
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) has led to an ongoing transition away
from 'traditional' leaded solder in modern manufacturing 30 in favor of lead-free alternatives. Both
tin-silver-copper and tin-copper-nickel alloys are commonly used, with one common alloy
(SN100C) being 99.25% tin, 0.7% copper, 0.05% nickel and <0.01% germanium.

FLUXING:
Flux in the wave soldering process has a primary and a secondary objective. The primary objective
is to clean the components that are to be soldered, principally any oxide layers that may have
formed. There are two types of flux, corrosive and noncorrosive. Noncorrosive flux requires
precleaning and is used when low acidity is required. Corrosive flux is quick and requires little
precleaning but has a higher acidity.

PRE HEAT:

Preheating helps to accelerate the soldering process and to prevent thermal shock.

CLEANING:
Some types of flux, called "no-clean" fluxes, do not require cleaning; their residues are benign
after the soldering process. Typically no-clean fluxes are especially sensitive to process conditions,
which may make them undesirable in some applications. Other kinds of flux, however, require a
cleaning stage, in which the PCB is washed with solvents and/or deionized water to remove flux
residue.

FINISH AND QUALITY:

Quality depends on proper temperatures when heating and on properly treated surfaces.
Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR):
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.

SCRs are mainly used in electronic devices that require control of high voltage and power. This
makes them applicable in medium and high AC power operations such as motor control function.

An SCR conducts when a gate pulse is applied to it, just like a diode. It has four layers of
semiconductors that form two structures namely: NPNP or PNPN. In addition, it has three
junctions labeled as J1, J2 and J3 and three terminals anode, cathode and a gate anode, cathode
and a gate. An SCR is diagrammatically represented as shown below.

The anode connects to the P-type, cathode to the N-type and the gate to the P-type as shown below.
In an SCR, the intrinsic semiconductor is silicon to which the required dopants are infused.
However, doping a PNPN junction is dependent on the SCR application.
Modes of Operation in SCR:

OFF state: forward blocking mode − Here the anode is assigned a positive voltage, the gate is
assigned a zero-voltage disconnected and the cathode is assigned a negative voltage. As a result,
Junctions J1 and J3 are in forward bias while J2 is in reverse bias. J2 reaches its breakdown
avalanche value and starts to conduct. Below this value, the resistance of J1 is significantly high
and is thus said to be in the off state.

ON state conducting mode − An SCR is brought to this state either by increasing the potential
difference between the anode and cathode above the avalanche voltage or by applying a positive
signal at the gate. Immediately the SCR starts to conduct, gate voltage is no longer needed to
maintain the ON state and is, therefore, switched off by –

• Decreasing the current flow through it to the lowest value called holding current
• Using a transistor placed across the junctions

Reverse blocking − This compensates the drop in forward voltage. This is due to the fact that a low
doped region in P1 is needed. It is important to note that the voltage ratings of forward and reverse
blocking are equal.
V-I Characteristics of SCR :

SCR in Normal Operation

In order to operate the SCR in normal operation, the following points are kept in view:

1. The supply voltage is generally much less than breakover voltage.

2. The SCR is turned on by passing appropriate amount of gate current ( a few mA) and
not by breakover voltage.
3. When SCR is operated from a.c. supply, the peak reverse voltage which comes during
negative half-cycle should not exceed the reverse breakdown voltage.
4. When SCR is to be turned OFF from the ON state, anode current should be reduced to
holding current.
 5. If gate current is increased above the required value, the SCR will close at much
reduced supply voltage.

Important Terms in The V-I Characteristics of SCR:

1. Breakover voltage

2. Peak reverse voltage

3. Holding current

4. Forward current rating

5. Circuit fusing rating

1. Breakover Voltage

It is the minimum forward voltage, gate being open, at which SCR starts conducting heavily i.e.
turned on.

Thus, if the breakover voltage of an SCR is 200 V, it means that it can block a forward voltage (i.e.
SCR remains open) as long as the supply voltage is less than 200 V. If the supply voltage is more
than this value, then SCR will be turned on.

In practice, the SCR is operated with supply voltage less than breakover voltage and it is then turned
on by means of a small voltage applied to the gate.

Commercially available SCRs have breakover voltages from about 50 V to 500 V.

2. Peak Reverse Voltage (PRV)

It is the maximum reverse voltage (cathode positive w.r.t. anode) that can be applied to an SCR
without conducting in the reverse direction.
PRV is an important consideration while connecting an SCR in an a.c. circuit. During the negative
half of a.c. supply, reverse voltage is applied across SCR. If PRV is exceeded, there may be
avalanche breakdown and the SCR will be damaged if the external circuit does not limit the current.

Commercially available SCRS have PRV ratings up to 2.5 kV.

3. Holding Current

It is the maximum anode current, gate being open, at which SCR is turned OFF from ON condition.

When SCR is in the conducting state, it cannot be turned OFF even if gate voltage is removed.

The only way to turn off or open the SCR is to reduce the supply voltage to almost zero at which
point the internal transistor comes out of saturation and opens the SCR.

The anode current under this condition is very small (a few mA) and is called holding current.

Thus, if an SCR has a holding current of 5mA, it means that if anode current is made less than 5
mA, then SCR will be turned off.

4. Forward Current Rating

It is the maximum anode current that an SCR is capable of passing without destruction.

Every SCR has a safe value of forward current which it can conduct. If the value of current exceeds
this value, the SCR may be destroyed due to intensive heating at the junction.

For example, if an SCR has a forward current rating of 40 A, it means that the SCR can safely carry
only 40 A. Any attempt to exceed this value will result in the destruction of the SCR.

Commercially available SCRs have forward current ratings from about 30A to 100A.

5. Circuit Fusing (I2t) Rating

It is the product of square forward surge current and the time of duration of the surge i.e.,
 Circuit fusing rating =I2t

The circuit fusing rating indicates the maximum forward surge current capability of SCR.

Power Converter
A converter is an electrical circuit which accepts a DC input and generates a DC output of a different
voltage, usually achieved by high frequency switching action employing inductive and capacitive
filter elements.

A power converter is an electrical circuit that changes the electric energy from one form into the
desired form optimized for the specific load. A converter may do one or more functions and give
an output that differs from the input. It is used to increase or decrease the magnitude of the input
voltage, invert polarity, or produce several output voltages of either the same polarity with the
input, different polarity, or mixed polarities such as in the computer power supply unit.

The DC-to-DC converters are used in a wide range of applications including computer power
supplies, board level power conversion and regulation, dc motor control circuits and much more.

Types of Power Converters

Static Power converters execute power conversion quite efficiently. Power electronic switches
have solid-state devices with components like inductors and capacitors. Generally, inductors and
capacitors exhibit negligible power loss characteristics in comparison to resistors.

The classification of power converters are as follows:

AC to DC Converters

A type of converter that changes input AC signal into a DC is known as AC to DC converter. We

have already learned in basic electronics that the devices that convert the AC signal into DC signal
are known as rectifiers.

AC to DC Converter is further classified as:

Diode Rectifiers: This rectifier circuit changes applied ac input voltage into a fixed dc
voltage. Either a single-phase or three-phase ac signal is applied at the input. These are
mainly used in electric traction and in electrochemical processes like electroplating along
with in battery charging and power supply. These are also used in welding and UPS related
services.
Phase Controlled Rectifiers: Unlike diode rectifiers, phase-controlled rectifiers are designed to
convert a fixed value of ac signal voltage into a variable dc voltage. Here line voltage operates the
rectifier hence these are sometimes known as line commutated ac to dc converters. Similar to diode
rectifiers, here also the applied ac signal can be a single-phase or three-phase ac signal. Its major
applications are in dc drives, HVDC systems, compensators, metallurgical and chemical industries
as well as in excitation systems for synchronous machines.

DC to DC Converters

The converters that convert the dc signal of fixed frequency present at the input into a variable dc
signal at the output are also known as choppers. Here the achieved output dc voltage may have a
different amplitude than the source voltage. Generally, power transistors, MOSFETs, and thyristors
are the semiconductor devices used for their fabrication. The output is controlled by a low power
signal that controls these semiconductor devices from a control unit.

Here forced commutation is required to turn off the semiconductor device. Generally, in low
power circuits power transistors are used while in high power circuits thyristors are used.

Choppers are classified on the basis of the type of commutation applied to them and on the basis
of the direction of power flow. Some major uses of choppers are in dc drives, SMPS, subway cars,
electric traction, trolley trucks, vehicles powered by battery, etc.

DC to AC Converters

The devices that are designed to convert the dc signal into ac signal are known as inverters. The
applied input is a fixed dc voltage that can be obtained from batteries but the output obtained is
variable ac voltage. The voltage and frequency of the signal obtained are of variable nature. Here
the semiconductor device i.e., the thyristor is turned off by using either line, load, or forced
commutation.

Thus, it can be said that by the use of inverters, a fixed dc voltage is changed into an ac voltage of
variable frequency. Generally, the semiconductor devices used for its fabrication are power
transistors, MOSFETs, IGBT, GTO, thyristors, etc.

Inverters mainly find applications in induction motor and synchronous motor drives along with
UPS, aircraft, and space power supplies. In high voltage dc transmission system, induction heating
supplies as well as low power systems of mobile nature like flashlight discharge system in
photography camera to very high-power industrial system.

Like choppers, in inverters also conventional thyristors are used in high power applications and
power transistors are used in low power applications.

AC to AC Converters

An ac to ac converter is designed to change the ac signal of fixed frequency into a variable ac output
voltage.
There are two classifications of ac to ac converters which are as follows:

Cycloconverters: A cycloconverter is a device used for changing ac supply of fixed voltage and
single frequency into an ac output voltage of variable voltage as well as different frequency.
However, here the obtained variable ac signal frequency is lower than the frequency of the applied
ac input signal. It adopts single-stage conversion. Generally, line commutation is mostly used in
cycloconverters however forced or load commutated cycloconverters are also used in various
applications.

These mainly find applications in slow-speed large AC traction drives such as a rotary kiln, multi
MW Pac motor drives, etc.

AC Voltage Controllers (AC voltage regulators): The converters designed to change the applied ac
signal of fixed voltage into a variable ac voltage signal of the same frequency as that of input. For
the operation of these controllers, two thyristors in an antiparallel arrangement are used. Line
commutation is used for turning off both the devices. It offers the controlling of the output voltage
by changing the firing angle delay.

The major applications of ac voltage controllers are in lighting control, electronic tap changers,
speed control of large fans and pumps as well.
 CONCLUSION

From our internship at BHEL EDN, we were able to get better understanding about various
electrical machines, electronic equipment traction converters for Indian railways. Their working
principles. We also learned a lot about the company's workplace culture, the industrial setting, and
the entire manufacturing and production process.

This experience helped me think in a different way about solving problems. We learned the
importance of paying attention to teamwork, communication and having constructive attitude.
Overall, this internship gave us the sense of accomplishment. This experience opened our eyes to
new opportunities.