With line commutated converters, the converter has only one degree of freedom – the firing angle, which represents the time delay between the voltage across a valve becoming positive (at which point the valve would start to conduct if it were made from diodes) and the thyristors being turned on. The DC output voltage of the converter steadily becomes less positive as the firing angle is increased: firing angles of up to 90° correspond to rectification and result in positive DC voltages, while firing angles above 90° correspond to inversion and result in negative DC voltages. The practical upper limit for the firing angle is about 150–160° because above this, the valve would have insufficient turnoff time.
