Last month the Digital Innovations Center’s newsletter started the Down-to-Earth Theory column to refresh everyone’s understanding of power electronics. I’m going to go back to the basics for readers who are new to power electronics or those wishing a review of the subject. For the experienced reader, please bear with me. I’m planning to increase the complexity of the subject as this column develops.
Let’s continue with the discussion on HVDC electronic basics that we started last month. The last video from Transpower New Zealand explained how a valve operates using a simple diode. The next video goes into more detail of valve operation with an explanation of the rectification process. A simple rectifier conducts only on the positive half cycle of the AC sinewave, which produces the DC waveform.
This may seem pretty simple, but when we start looking at the 6-pulse and 12-pulse bridge, you’ll understand why it was a good idea for the discussion to start out simple. As promised, each month we will add more explanations to discussion and build on this material.
