Microprocessor-controlled GTO two-quadrant chopper

A GTO two-quadrant DC-DC converter where the firing pulses are generated and controlled by a microprocess-based logic was presented. Once the ON and OFF periods for the GTO thyristors are decided, the generation of the firing pulses is completely achieved by the programmable timer, leaving the processor free for system monitoring and computations for the control algorithm. The system has many advantages. The use of the GTO thyristors for the power circuit resulted in higher reliability, fewer components, and ease of power control. With the microprocessor, the system is more reliable and more versatile as the software program is easily altered to take into account any control parameter required