Transient current decay in paralleled rectifiers

THE ADVENT of silicon semiconductor rectifier applications to large electrochemical lines has developed application problems heretofore not significant. The majority of existing potlines have mercury-arc rectifiers as a source of d-c power. In general a single a-c breaker will feed the entire potline rectifier group. Load tests in the field have been made which show that the most satisfactory method of removing a rectifier line from service is to trip the master a-c breaker, removing a-c power simultaneously from all units. The potline current will then decay through the mercury-arc tubes and the rectifier transformers, dividing between paralleled units.