AC voltage regulator

Details AC voltage regulator AC voltage regulator

2000-06-08

2001-05-22

Berhane, Adolf Deneke (Department: 2838)

Electricity: power supply or regulation systems

Output level responsive

Phase controlled switching using electronic tube or a three...

C323S263000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06236192

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an AC voltage regulator, and more particularly, to a new AC voltage regulator which is small and lightweight and has superb efficiency and power factor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A prior art AC (=alternating current) voltage regulator (also called sliding voltage regulator), commonly known as ‘slidac’, has, for example, a circuit configuration shown in
FIG. 1
or FIGS.
2
(
a
) and
2
(
b
).
The AC voltage regulator shown in
FIG. 1
is a typical example of mechanical type. With this mechanical type, it is general that the voltage regulation is carried out manually, but there have also been commercially available those which detect an output voltage with a controller A and maintain a constant voltage automatically by means of a reversible motor (not shown).
However, for example, the prior art AC voltage regulator of mechanical type with manual voltage regulation of 1 KVA has a weight of about 8 kg and the prior art AC voltage regulator of mechanical type with motor-driven automatic voltage regulation of 1 KVA has a weight of as much as 12 kg, thus the prior art regulator is very heavy, and also its response speed with respect to input voltage fluctuation is very slow because of its mechanical control.
In order to increase the response seeed, there has been developed an AC voltage regulator which performs a pulse width control, that is, an On/Off control of AC voltage waveform using a high-speed semiconductor switch.
FIG.
2
(
a
) is a circuit diagram showing an example of an AC voltage regulator of this electronic control type. In the AC voltage regulator of the electronic control type shown in FIG.
2
(
a
), a controller B controls a semiconductor switch C and second semiconductor switch D to be ON and OFF alternately, and with this ON/OFF alternation, a pulse width control of an AC input voltage E
0
is performed, thereby controlling continuously an output voltage E
0
D from around zero voltage to the vicinity of the input voltage E
0
by varying a duty ratio D from substantially zero to
1
. In this case, for example, an AC voltage regulator of an 1 KVA output with a weight of about 4 kg has been realized, thus the electronic control type is much lighter than the mechanical control type and also has an improved response speed with respect to input voltage fluctuation.
However, such a prior art AC voltage regulator of electronic control type has problems relating to boosting of its input voltage.
In order to raise the output voltage higher than the input voltage, for example, it is necessary to add a low-frequency step-up transformer D as shown in FIG.
2
(
b
), and as a result, the volume and the weight of the AC voltage regulator increase considerably and the advantages of it being an electronic-control-type are reduced to the sole merit that its response speed with respect to input voltage fluctuation is fast.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to solve the problems described above and provide an AC voltage regulator which not only has a fast response speed with respect to input voltage fluctuation but also is small in size and light in weight with an ability to boost its input voltage.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3573604 (1971-04-01), Lundgreen
patent: 3582765 (1971-06-01), McCabe
patent: 3987357 (1976-10-01), Edstrom et al.
patent: 4168476 (1979-09-01), Petrizio
patent: 4716357 (1987-12-01), Cooper
patent: 4791348 (1988-12-01), McGuire et al.
patent: 4853608 (1989-08-01), Schrade
patent: 5545971 (1996-08-01), Gomez et al.
patent: 5714821 (1998-02-01), Dittman
patent: 6020726 (2000-02-01), James
patent: 6055165 (2000-04-01), Drobnik

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