This page will contain some common definitions and reference information.

Practice:

 Starting four commutation methods.

 All triggering methods.
 Silicon Bilateral Switch.
 TRIAC diagram and it’s working.
 GTO diagram and it’s working.
 IGBT diagram and it’s working.
 All industrial applications of SCR.
 All types of Thyristors, their constructional diagrams and symbols.

LASCR

UJT

step-down and step-up chopper

pulse transformer

applications of power MOSFET

IGBT

light dimmer circuit

effect of freewheeling diode - single phase centre tapped fully controlled rectifier with RL load

temperature control circuit

GTO

TRIAC

Compare step-down and step-up chopper

synchronized UJT triggering circuit

class-A commutation

snubber circuit

DIAC
MSBTE Paper Summer – 19

1.

a) Holding Current –

 Holding Current is the minimum amount of Current that must flow through the device to
keep it in a conducting state after triggering it on.
 If the current across the Thyristor decreases below this level, the Thyristor will turn off and
will need to be triggered again to latch it on.

Latching Current –

 Latching Current is the minimum amplitude of Current required across the main terminals of
a Thyristor, to latch it to conduction state after Gate trigger.
 Reaching below this current does not affect operation of Thyristor. Operation is only affected
when current across the thyristor reaches below Holding Current.

b) Symbols –

IGBT -

Programmable Unijunction Transistor –

(c) Turn-On methods of SCR:

1. Forward Voltage Triggering

2. dV / dt Triggering.
3. Temperature Triggering.
4. Radiation Triggering.
5. Gate Triggering.

(d) Use of Free-wheeling Diode in Controlled Rectifier:

 Used for Discharging reverse electric currents formed due to remanent energy in coiled-
components.
 Improves power factor by reducing reactive power.
 Acts as a Bypass component in case of reversal of power supply.
 Maintains load current, and reduces ripples.

(e) Applications of Inverter:

 Uninterrupted Power Supplies. (UPS)

 Speed Control systems for AC Motors.

(f) Chopper:

 Chopper is an electronic device which chops a given signal into multiple slices.
 In Power supplies, choppers chop an input DC voltage to control its duty cycle. Using the
principle of Pulse Width Modulation,

Types of Choppers:

1. Step-down Chopper.
2. Step-up Chopper.

(g) Uninterrupted Power Supply:

 Consists of blocks Rectifier and Charger for charging its internal battery.
 In series with Battery charging system, normal AC output is provided again to the appliance
through blocks Inverter and Filter.
2.

(a)

Description -

Forward Characteristics –

 The graph seen between +IA and +VA is the forward characteristics of a TRIAC. Here, terminal
MT2 is positive w.r.t. MT1 of a TRIAC.
 When the current at Gate terminal is Zero, an anode voltage as high as VBO1 is required to
start conduction across the device.
 As Gate current is slightly increased, the anode voltage at which conduction starts,
decreases. The TRIAC latches at a lower anode voltage.
 So, it is observed that Anode Current is inversely dependent on applied Gate Current.

Reverse Characteristics –

 The graph seen between -VA and -IA is the Reverse Characteristics of a TRIAC. Terminal MT1
is positive w.r.t. MT2 in this case.
 A similar response to forward characteristics is observed. At Zero Gate current, Breakover
Voltage at reverse direction is significant.
 As Gate Current increases from IG0 to IG1, VB02 shifts closer to 0. Similarly, at IG2 VBO is at a
relatively small level.
 Hence, in this case, Anode Current at reverse direction is also inversely dependent on
positive Gate Current.

(b) Battery Charger using SCR:

Operation –

 The Battery Charger takes usually 1-phase A.C. Supply as input. Through a Centre-Tapped
Transformer, two alternative voltages are created at each end, of around 15V. A series Diode
to each coil provides a full-wave rectified DC output. The rectified output of 15Vrms is given
to the Charger Circuit.
 An SCR is connected in series with the Battery to be charged. When voltage across SCR is
positive, it means supply voltage is greater. Battery charges as usual. But when voltage across
SCR is negative, Battery suggests to have reached full potential.
 As a result, the SCR commutates naturally due to reverse voltage. Additionally, a Zener Diode
(Z) connected to R1 and Ground, prevents triggering of SCR by breaking down and bypassing
Gate signal to Ground. The breakdown voltage of Zener is set to Battery’s voltage rating.
 Battery avoids Overcharging. This system also ensures battery remains fully charged.

(c) A Step-Down Chopper is able to decrease the output voltage.

Step-Down Chopper –

Operation:
  Step-Down Choppers work by using Pulse Width Modulation. Duty-cycle of supply
determines average output voltage. For this, switch (S1) is on for a finite amount of time and
then turned off for a finite amount of time. Higher the duty cycle, higher the average output
voltage.
 When S1 is turned on, current is supplied to Load. An Inductor L in between, helps stabilize
the output current and prevent spikes. Output voltage (Vo) is measured across Diode (Dm).
 S1 is turned off after a fixed time. Current to load is cut off, and Vo reads 0. Excess energy
stored in L is reduced by Freewheeling Diode (Dm).
 The output voltage obtained from this circuit is given by,

Vo = Vs * [Ton / (Ton + Toff)]

(d) Full Wave Controlled Rectifier –

Waveforms –

Operation:
  Similar to a Full Wave Rectifier, a step-down transformer of centre-tapped configuration
divides input mains to two stepped-down secondary voltages. One voltage is 180* phase
shifted to other. Two diodes catch positive currents from both half-cycles and combine it to
obtain a rectified DC output.
 Two SCRs are present in place of diodes. SCR (D1) is triggered in desired time-delay after
start of a half-cycle. This is called the firing angle, and determines the average output voltage
given by SCR. Higher firing angle starts conduction from a later point in time, thus a lower
average voltage is seen.
 Similarly, during the negative half-cycle, SCR (D2) is triggered for rectifying it to positive half-
cycle. Desired firing angle is used here too in order to control overall output voltage.
 Finally, the overall output voltage of this rectifier circuit is given by,

Vo = Vm / n (1 + cos a)

3.

(a) Class-B Commutation –

Explanation:

 Initially, Capacitor (C) charges at the upper terminal. Current generates from Capacitor to
Inductor to Negative terminal of supply. This happens as lower terminal of C discharges too.
 When SCR is triggered to on state, C discharges rapidly through it. At the same time,
Capacitor’s lower terminal starts charging now. Just for information, the Inductor (L)
stabilizes discharging and charging currents.
 As soon as the potential of Capacitor in the reverse direction reaches potential of Battery,
SCR cathode’s voltage becomes greater than anode’s voltage.
 SCR then naturally commutates through Reverse Bias conditioning. Since the components
rely on natural commutation, the method of commutation used here is also known as self-
commutation.

(b) Given:

V = 230 sin 314 t

A = 30*

RL = 100ohm

To find:

(i) Vdc

(ii) IL

Solution:

(i) Vdc can be given by,

You know what I give up on typing out stuff, I will rather write.