Difference between Converter Fed and Chopper Fed DC Drives:

Difference between Converter Fed and Chopper Fed DC Drives – For speed control of a dc motor it is necessary that it is supplied with an adjustable voltage which can be obtained either from a controlled converter or from a chopper. The relative advantages and disadvantages of these two are given below :

1. When available supply is ac, an ac-dc converter is ideally suited to convert the constant ac voltage into a variable dc voltage. If we use chopper, which converts a constant dc voltage into a variable dc voltage, diode rectifier will be required to convert constant ac voltage into a constant dc voltage for feeding it to chopper.

2. The ripple in the output of a chopper is much less than that in the output of a converter. Less ripple means lesser losses.

3. The chances of discontinuous operation in a chopper drive are lesser than that in a converter drive. So speed regulation and transient response of chopper drive are better than that in converter drive.

4. For reducing ripple in the output a converter with higher pulse number is required and a converter with higher pulse number has lower utilisation factor and more cost.