Basic Electronics Notes

1) Transistors:
tor operation Transist

Biploar tr ransistor:
A transistor is basically a Si on Ge cryst tal containing three separate e regions. It can n be either NPN N or PNP type fig. f 1. The midd dle region is ca alled the base and a the outer two t regions are e called emitter r and the collec ctor. The outer layers although h they are of sa ame type but the eir functions ca annot be chang ged. They have different physical and electric cal properties. In most transistors, emitte er is heavily do oped. Its job is to emit or inject electrons e into the t base. Thes se bases are lig ghtly doped and very thin, it t passes most of o the emitterinjected ele ectrons on to th he collector. Th he doping leve el of collector is s intermediate between th he heavy doping of emitter and the light doping g of the base. The collect tor is so named d because it collects ele ectrons from ba ase. The collec ctor is the largest of the three regions; it must dissipate more m heat than the emitter or base. The transistor t has two t junctions. One O between em mitter and the base b and other r between th he base and the e collector. Because of f this the transi istor is similar to t two diodes, one emitter diode and other r collector ba ase diode.
Fig .1
When trans sistor is made, the diffusion of o free electrons s across the jun nction produce es two depletion layers. For each of these deple etion layers, the barrier poten ntial is 0.7 V for r Si transistor a and 0.3 V for G Ge transistor. The depletion layers do not n have the same width, beca ause different r regions have d different doping g levels. The mo ore heavily dop ped a region is, the greater th he concentration of ions near t the junction. T his means the depletion layer penetrates more deeply in nto the base an nd slightly into emitter. Simila arly, it penetrati ion more into c collector. The thickness of o collector dep pletion layer is large while the base depletion n layer is smalll as shown in fig. 2.
Fig. 2 If both the junctions j are fo orward biased using two d.c sources, s as sho own in fig. 3a. free electrons (majority carrie ers) enter the emitter and colle ector of the transistor, joins at the base and come out of th he base. Becau use both the diodes
are forward d biased, the emitter and colle ector currents are a large.
Fig. 3a
Fig. 3b
If both the junction j are rev verse biased as a shown in fig. 3b, then sma ll currents flow ws through both h junctions only y due to thermally y produced min nority carriers and a surface lea akage. Therma ally produced ca arriers are tem mperature dependent it approxim mately doubles for f every 10 de egree celsius rise in ambient t temperature. T The surface lea akage current increases with w voltage. When the emitter e diode is s forward biase ed and collector diode is rever rse biased as s shown in fig. 4 then one expe ect large emitte er current and small collector r current but co ollector current is almost as la arge as emitter current.
Fig. 4 When emit tter diodes forw ward biased and d the applied voltage v is more than 0.7 V (ba arrier potential) ) then larger nu umber of majority carriers (electr rons in n-type) diffuse across the junction. Once the electrons e are injected by the emitter e enter int to the base, the ey become min nority carriers. These electron ns do not have se eparate identities from those, which are ther rmally generate ed, in the base e region itself. T The base is ma ade very thin an nd is very lightl ly doped. Beca ause of this only y few electrons s traveling from m the emitter to o base region recombine with holes. This gives rise to recombination n current. The r rest of the elec ctrons exist for more time. Since the collector diode is reverse biased, (n is connected c to po ositive supply) t therefore most t of the electron ns are pushed into collector layer. These collector elections s can then flow w into the extern nal collector lea ad. Thus, there e is a steady st tream of electro ons leaving the e negative sour rce terminal an nd entering the emitter region. . The VEB forward d bias forces th hese emitter ele ectrons to ente er the base reg ion. The thin and lightly dope ed base gives a almost all those electrons enough lifetime to dif ffuse into the depletion layer. The depletion layer field pushes a steady s stream of electron into the collect tor region. The ese electrons le eave the collect tor and flow int to the positive t terminal of the voltage sou urce. In most tr ransistor, more e than 95% of th he emitter injec cted electrons flow to the collector, less than n 5% fall into bas se holes and flo ow out the exte ernal base lead d. But the collec ctor current is less than emitt ter current.
Relation between b different currents s in a transist tor:

The total cu urrent flowing into the transist tor must be equal to the total current flowing g out of it. Hence, the emitter r
current IE is s equal to the sum s of the colle ector (IC ) and base b current (I B). That is, IE = IC + IB The curren nts directions ar re positive directions. The tota al collector cur rrent IC is made e up of two com mponents. 1. The frac ction of emitter (electron) curre ent which reaches the collect tor ( dc IE ) 2. The norm mal reverse lea akage current ICO
dc is know wn as large sign nal current gain n or dc alpha. It is always pos sitive. Since co llector current is almost equa al to the IE there efore dc IE var ries from 0.9 to o 0.98. Usually, the reverse le eakage current is very small c compared to the e total collector cu urrent.
NOTE: The e forward bias on the emitter diode controls the number of f free electrons infected into th he base. The la arger (VBE) forwa ard voltage, the e greater the nu umber of injecte ed electrons. T The reverse bia as on the collec ctor diode has little influence on o the number of o electrons tha at enter the collector. Increas ing VCB does n not change the number of free e electrons arriving a at the collector c junctio on layer. The symbo ol of npn and pn np transistors are a shown in fig. 5.
Fig. 5
Breakdow wn Voltages:
Since the tw wo halves of a transistor are diodes, two mu uch reverse vo oltage on either r diode can cau use breakdown n. The breakdown n voltage depen nds on the widt th of the deplet tion layer and t the doping leve els. Because of f the heavy dop ping level, the emitter e diode ha as a low breakd down voltage approximately a 5 to 30 V. The collector diode e is less heavily y doped so it ts breakdown voltage v is highe er around 20 to o 300 V.
Configur rations: M- Bipolar junc ction transist tors

Common Base Amplifi ier:
The comm mon base amplifier circuit is sh hown in Fig. 1. The T VEE source e forward biase es the emitter dio ode and VCC so ource reverse biased b collector diode. d The ac source s vin is connected d to emitter thro ough a coupling g capacitor so s that it blocks s dc. This ac voltage produces small fluctuatio on in currents and a voltages. The T load resist tance RL is also o connected d to collector through coupling g capacitor so s the fluctuation in collector base voltage will be observed across RL. The dc equivalent circuit is obtained by y reducing all a ac sources to zero and ope ening all capacit tors. The dc collector current is same as IE and VCB is giv ven by VCB = VCC - IC RC. Fig g. 1
These curr rent and voltage e fix the Q poin nt. The ac equivalent circuit is s obtained by re educing all dc sources to zero o and shorting all coupling capa acitors. r'e repre esents the ac re esistance of th e diode as sho own in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 Fig. 3, shows the diode curve c relating IE and VBE. In th he absence of a ac signal, the tr ransistor opera ates at Q point (point of intersect tion of load line e and input cha aracteristic). Wh hen the ac sign nal is applied, t the emitter curr rent and voltag ge also change. If the t signal is sm mall, the operat ting point swing gs sinusoidally y about Q point (A to B).
Fig .3 If the ac sig gnal is small, th he points A and d B are close to o Q, and arc A B can be appr roximated by a straight line an nd diode appe ears to be a res sistance given by
If the input signal is small, input voltage and current wi ill be sinusoida al but if the inpu ut voltage is lar rge then curren nt will no longer be b sinusoidal because of the non n linearity of f diode curve. T The emitter cur rrent is elongat ted on the positive half cycle and a compresse ed on negative half cycle. The erefore the outp put will also be distorted. r'e is the ratio of VBE and d IE and its va alue depends upon u the locatio on of Q. Highe er up the Q poin nt small will be the value of r' e because the same change in i VBE produce es large change e in IE. The slop pe of the curve e at Q determin nes the value of r'e. From calculat tion it can be proved that. r'e = 25mV / IE
Proof In general, the current thr rough a diode is given by
Where q is he charge on electron, V is the t drop across s diode, T is the e temperature and K is a con nstant. On differen ntiating w.r.t V, we get,
The value of o (q / KT) at 25 5C is approxim mately 40.
Therefore,
or,
To a close approximation the small chan nges in collecto or current equa al the small cha anges in emitte er current. In th he ac equivalent circuit, the current iC' is show wn upward beca ause if ie' incre eases, then iC' also increases s in the same direction. In general, the current thr rough a diode is given by
Where q is he charge on electron, V is the t drop across s diode, T is the e temperature and K is a con nstant. On differen ntiating w.r.t V, we get,
The value of o (q / KT) at 25 5C is approxim mately 40.
Therefore,
or,
To a close approximation the small chan nges in collecto or current equa al the small cha anges in emitte er current. In th he ac equivalent circuit, the current iC' is show wn upward beca ause if ie' incre eases, then iC' also increases s in the same direction.
Voltage gain:
Since the ac a input voltage e source is con nnected across r'e. Therefore, the ac emitter r current is give en by ie = Vin / r'e or, Vin = ie r'e
The output t voltage is give en by Vout = ic (RC || RL)
Under open n circuit condition vout = ic Rc
Example-1
Find the vo oltage gain and d output of the amplifier a shown n in fig. 4, if inp put voltage is 1 1.5mV.
Fig. 4 Solution:
The emitter dc current I E is given by
Therefore, emitter ac resistance = or, AV= 56.6
and, Vout = 1.5 x 56.6 = 84 4.9 mV
Example-2
Repeat exa ample-1 if ac so ource has resis stance R s = 10 00 W . Solution: The ac equ uivalent circuit with w ac source resistance is shown s in fig. 5 .
Fig. 5
The emitter ac current is given g by
or,
Therefore, voltage gain of the amplifier =
and,
Vout = 1.5 x 8.71 =13.1 mV
Common Emitter Curv ves:

The common emitter conf figuration of BJ JT is shown in fig. 1.
Fig. 1 In C.E. con nfiguration the emitter e is made e common to th he input and ou utput. It is also referred to as grounded emit tter configuratio on. It is most co ommonly used configuration. In this, base c current and out tput voltages ar re taken as impendent parameters an nd input voltage e and output cu urrent as depen ndent paramet ters VBE = f1 ( IB, VCE ) IC = f2( IB, VCE )
Input Cha aracteristic:

The curve between IB and d VBE for differe ent values of VCE are shown i n fig. 2. Since the base emitt ter junction of a transistor is s a diode, there efore the chara acteristic is similar to diode on ne. With higher r values of VCE collector gathe ers slightly more electrons an nd therefore ba ase current redu uces. Normally y this effect is n neglected. (Ear rly effect). Whe en
collector is shorted with emitter e then the e input characte eristic is the ch haracteristic of a forward biase ed diode when VBE is zero and IB is also zero.
Fig. 2
Output Characteristic:
The output t characteristic is the curve be etween VCE and d IC for various values of IB. F For fixed value of IB and is sho own in fig. 3. Fo or fixed value of o IB, IC is not va arying much de ependent on VC are greater than n CE character ristic. CE but slopes a The output t characteristics s can again be divided into three parts.
Fig. 3 (1) Active Region: In this regio on collector jun nction is reverse biased and emitter e junction n is forward biased. It is the ar rea to the right of VCE = 0.5 V and above IB= 0. In this regi ion transistor current c respond ds most sensitiv vely to IB. If tra ansistor is to be e used as an ampl lifier, it must op perate in this re egion.
If dc is trul ly constant then IC would be independent of f VCE. But beca use of early eff ffect, dc increa ases by 0.1% (0 0.001) e.g. from 0.995 to 0.996 as a VCE increase es from a few volts v to 10V. Th hen dc increases from 0.995 5 / (1-0.995) = 200 to 0.996 / (1-0 0.996) = 250 or r about 25%. This T shows that t small change in reflects la arge change in . Therefore th he curves are subjected to la arge variations for the same ty ype of transisto ors. (2) Cut Off f: Cut off in a transistor is given by IB = 0, IC= ICO. A trans sistor is not at c cut off if the ba ase current is simply reduced to zero (open circuited) unde er this condition, IC = IE= ICO / ( 1-dc) = ICEO O The actual collector curre ent with base op pen is designated as ICEO. Sin nce even in the e neighborhood d of cut off, d dc may be as large e as 0.9 for Ge, , then IC=10 ICO ordingly in orde er to cut off tran nsistor O(approximately), at zero bas e current. Acco it is not eno ough to reduce e IB to zero, but t it is necessary y to reverse bia as the emitter junction slightly y. It is found tha at reverse vol ltage of 0.1 V is s sufficient for cut off a transis stor. In Si, the dc is very nearly equal to z zero, therefore e, IC = ICO. Hence even with IB= 0, IC= IE= ICO so that transisto or is very close to cut off. In summary y, cut off mean ns IE = 0, IC = ICO age whose mag gnitude is of the e C , IB = -IC = -ICO C , and VBE is a reverse volta order of 0.1 1 V for Ge and 0 V for Si. Reverse Collector C Satur ration Current t ICBO: When in a physical transistor emitter current is reduced to zero, then the collector c current is know wn as ICBO (appro oximately equal to ICO). Rever rse collector sa aturation curren nt ICBOalso varie es with temper rature, avalanch he multiplicatio on and variability from sample e to sample. Consider the circ cuit shown in f fig. 4. VBB is the e reverse volta age applied to reduce r the emi itter current to zero. z IE = 0, IB = -ICBO
If we requir re, VBE = - 0.1 V Then - VBB 0 V B + ICBO RB < - 0.1
Fig. 4 If RB = 100 0 K, ICBO = 100 m A, Then VBB ransistor must be capable to withstand this B must be 10.1 Volts. Hence tr reverse vol ltage before breakdown voltage exceeds. (3).Saturat tion Region: In this regio on both the dio odes are forwar rd biased by at least cut in vo oltage. Since th he voltage VBE a and VBC across sa forward is approximately a 0.7 V therefore e, VCE = VCB + VBE = - VBC+ V BE is also few t tenths of volts. Hence saturat tion region is ve ery close to zer ro voltage axis, where all the current rapidly y reduces to ze ero. In this regio on the transisto or collector cu urrent is approx ximately given by VCC / R C an nd independen t of base curre ent. Normal tran nsistor action is s last and it acts like a small ohmic resistance e.
Large Sig gnal Current Gain G dc :The ratio Ic / IB is defined as transfer rati io or large sign nal current gain n dc
Where IC is s the collector current c and IB is the base curr rent. The dc is s an indication if how well the transistor work ks. The typical value of dc va aries from 50 to o 300. In terms of h parameters, dc is known as dc current gain g and in des signated hfE ( dc = hfE). Kno owing the maximum collector cu urrent and dc the minimum base b current ca an be found wh hich will be nee eded to saturate e the transistor r.
This expres ssion of dc is defined d neglect ting reverse lea akage current ( (ICO). Taking reve erse leakage current c (ICO) into o account, the expression for r the dc can be e obtained as fo ollows:
dc in terms s of dc is given n by
Since, ICO = ICBO
Cut off of a transistor mea ans IE = 0, then n IC= ICBO and IB = - ICBO. Ther refore, the abo ove expression dc gives the collector cu urrent incremen nt to the base current c change e form cut off to o IB and hence it represents th he large signal current gain of all commo on emitter trans sistor.
Small sig gnal analysi is of basic tr ransistor am mplifier

Small Sign nal CE Ampl lifiers:
CE amplifie ers are very po opular to amplif fy the small signal ac. After a transistor has been biased w with a Q point near the middle of a dc load lin ne, ac source can c be coupled to the base. T This produces f fluctuations in t the base curren nt and hence in th he collector current of the sam me shape and frequency. f The e output will be enlarged sine wave of same frequency. The amplifi ier is called line ear if it does no ot change the wave w shape of the signal. As long as the inp put signal is sm mall, the transist tor will use only y a small part of o the load line and the operat tion will be line ear. On the othe er hand, if the input signal is too t large. The fluctuations alo ong the load lin ne will drive the e transistor into o either satur ration or cut off f. This clips the e peaks of the input i and the a amplifier is no lo onger linear. The CE am mplifier configur ration is shown n in fig. 1.
Fig. 1 The couplin ng capacitor (C CC ) passes an ac signal from one point to a nother. At the s same time it do oes not allow th he dc to pass thro ough it. Hence it is also called d blocking capa acitor.
Fig. 2 For example in fig. 2, the e ac voltage at point p A is trans smitted to point t B. For this series reactance XC should be v very small comp pared to series resistance RS. The circuit to the left of A ma ay be a source e and a series r resistor or may y be the Theven nin equivalent of o a complex ci ircuit. Similarly RL may be the e load resistanc ce or equivalen nt resistance of fa complex ne etwork. The current in the loop is given by
As frequency increases, decreases, and d current incre ases until it rea aches to its ma aximum value vin / R. Therefore the t capacitor couples the sign nal properly fro om A to B when n XC<< R. The size of the cou upling capacitor depends up pon the lowest frequency to be b coupled. No ormally, for lowe est frequency XC 0.1R is ta aken as design n rule. The couplin ng capacitor ac cts like a switch h, which is ope en to dc and sh orted for ac. The bypass s capacitor Cb is similar to a coupling c capac citor, except tha at it couples an n ungrounded p point to a groun nded
point. The Cb capacitor lo ooks like a shor rt to an ac signal and therefor re emitter is said ac grounded d. A bypass capacitor does d not disturb b the dc voltage e at emitter bec cause it looks o open to dc current. As a design rule XCb 0.1RE at lowest freq quency.
Analysis of o CE amplifi ier:

In a transis stor amplifier, th he dc source sets up quiesce ent current and voltages. The ac source then n produces fluctuations s in these curre ent and voltage es. The simples st way to analy yze this circuit is to split the an nalysis in two p parts: dc analysis s and ac analys sis. One can us se superpositio on theorem for analysis .
AC & DC C Equivalent Circuits: C

For dc equivalent circuit, reduce all ac voltage v sources s to zero and o pen all ac curre ent sources an nd open all capacitors. With this redu uced circuit sho own in fig. 3 dc c current and vo oltages can be calculated.
Fig. 3 For ac equivalent circuits reduce dc volt tage sources to o zero and ope en current sourc ces and short a all capacitors. T This circuit is us sed to calculate e ac currents and voltage as shown s in fig. 4 .
Fig. 4 The total cu urrent in any branch is the su um of dc and ac c currents throu ugh that branch h. The total vol ltage across an ny branch is th he sum of the dc d voltage and ac voltage acr ross that branc ch.
Phase Inv version:

Because of f the fluctuation n is base current; collector cu urrent and colle ector voltage also swings above and below t the quiescent voltage. v The ac c output voltage e is inverted with respect to th he ac input voltage, meaning it is 180o out o of phase with input. During the positive half cy ycle base curre ent increase, ca ausing the colle ector current to o increase. This s produces a la arge voltage dro op across the collector c resisto or; therefore, the voltage outp ut decreases a and negative ha alf cycle of output voltage is obtained. o Conv versely, on the negative half cycle c of input vo oltage less colllector current flows and the v voltage drop across the collector resistor decrea ases, and henc ce collector volt tage increases s we get the po ositive half cycle e of output volta age as shown in fig. 5.
Fig. 5
Stabiliza ation
Stability of o Operating Point Let us cons sider three ope erating points of o transistor ope erating in comm mon emitter am mplifier. 1. 2. 3. Near cu ut off Near sa aturation In the middle m of active e region
If the opera ating point is se elected near th he cutoff region, the output is clipped in nega ative half cycle e as shown in fi ig. 1.
Fig. 1 If the opera ating point is se elected near sa aturation region n, then the outp put is clipped in n positive cycle e as shown in f fig. 2.
Fig. F 2
Fig. 3
If the opera ating point is se elected in the middle m of active e region, then t there is no clipp ping and the ou utput follows in nput faithfully as s shown in fig. 3. If input is large then clippin ng at both side es will take plac ce. The first circ cuit for biasing the transistor is s CE configura ation is fixed bia as. In biasing circuit c shown in n fig. 4(a), two different powe er supplies are required. To av void the use of f two supplies t the base resist tance RB is con nnected to VCC as shown in fig. 4(b).
Fig. 4(a)
Fig. 4(b)
Now VCC is s still forward biasing emitter diode. d In this circuit Q point is s very unstable e. The base res sistance RB is selected by y noting the req quired base current IB for ope erating point Q. IB = (VCC VBE ) / RB Voltage ac cross base emit tter junction is approximately 0.7 V. Since V CC is usually ve ery high i.e. IB = VCC C/ RB Since IB is constant there efore it is called d fixed bias circ cuit.
Stability of o quiescent operating o poin nt:

Let us assu ume that the tra ansistor is replaced by an oth her transistor of f same type. T The dc of the tw wo transistors o of same type may not be sa ame. Therefore, if dc increas ses then for sam me IB, output characteristic sh hifts upward. eases, the outp put characteristic shifts downw ward. Since IB i s maintained c constant, theref fore the operat ting If dc decre point shifts s from Q to Q1 as a shown in fig g. 5. The new operating o point may be complletely unsatisfa actory. Therefore, to maintain op perating point stable, IB should d be allowed to o change so as s to maintain VC nt CE & IC constan nges. as dc chan
Fig. 5
A second cause c for bias instability i is a variation v in tem mperature. The reverse satura ation current ch hanges with temperatur re. Specifically, , ICO doubles fo or every 10oC rise r in temperat ture. The collector current ICc causes the collector junction tem mperature to rise, which in turn increases ICO of this growth ICO, IC will incre ease ( dc IB + C . As a result o (1+ dc ) ICO sible that this process p goes o on and the ratin ngs of the trans sistors are exce eeded. C ) and so on. It may be poss This increa ase in IC changes the characte eristic and hence the operatin ng point.
Stability Factor: F
The operat ting point can be b made stable e by keeping IC and VCE const tant. There are e two technique es to make Q p point stable. 1. 2. stabilization technique es compensation techniq ques
rcuits are used d which allow IB to vary so as to keep IC relat tively constant with variations s In first, resistor biasing cir in dc , ICO and VBE. In second, temperature sensitive device es such as diod des, transistors s are used whic ch provide com mpensating voltages and currents to maintain the t operating point p constant. To compar re different bias sing circuits, stability factor S is defined as t he rate of chan nge of collector r current with respect to the t ICO, keeping dc and VCE constant c S = IC / ICO If S is large e, then circuit is s thermally inst table. S cannot t be less than u unity. The othe er stability facto ors are, IC / dc and IC / VBE. The bia as circuit, which provide stabiility with ICO, also show stability even if and es. VBEchange IC =
dcIB
+ (I +
dc
) ICO C
Differentiat ting with respec ct to IC,
In fixed bia as circuit, IB & IC are independ dent. Therefore e and S = 1 + dc. If dc=100, S = 101, which me eans ICincreases s 101 times as fast as ICO. Su uch a large change definitely o operate the tra ansistor in satur ration.
Essentia als of a biasing network k

Emitter Feedback F Bias s:
Fig. 1, sho ows the emitter feedback bias circuit. In this circuit, the volt tage across res sistor RE is use ed to offset the changes in n dc. If dc incr reases, the collector current in ncreases. This s increases the emitter voltage e which decrea ase the voltage e across base resistor r and red duces base cur rrent. The redu uced base curre ent result in les ss collector cur rrent, which parti ially offsets the e original increa ase in dc. The feedback term m is used becau use output curr rent ( IC) produc ces a change in input i current ( IB ). RE is comm mon in input an nd output circu its.
Fig. 1 In this case e
Since IE = IC + IB
Therefore,
In this case e, S is less com mpared to fixed d bias circuit. Thus the stability ty of the Q poin nt is better. Further,
If IC is to be e made insensitive to dc than n
RE cannot be made large enough to swa amp out the eff fects of dc with hout saturating g the transistor. .
Collector Feedback Bias:

In this case e, the base resistor is returned back to colle ector as shown in fig. 2. If tem mperature incre eases. dc incre eases. This produces more colle ectors current. As A IC increases s, collector emiitter voltage de ecreases. It me eans less voltag ge across RB and causes a decrease d in base current this decreasing IC, and compens sating the effect t of dc.
Fig. 2 In this circu uit, the voltage equation is giv ven by
Circuit is st tiff sensitive to changes in dc ge is only two r resistors are us sed. c. The advantag Then,
Therefore,
It is better as compared to o fixed bias circ cuit. Further,
Circuit is st till sensitive to changes in dc ge is only two r resistors are us sed. c. The advantag
Voltage Divider D Bias:

If the load resistance RC is i very small, e.g. e in a transfo ormer coupled c circuit, then the ere is no impro ovement in stabilization in the collector to base bias s circuit over fix xed bias circuit t. A circuit whic ch can be used even if there is s no dc resistan nce in series with the collector r, is the voltage e divider bias o or self bias. fig. . 3. The curren nt in the resistance RE in the emitter e lead cau uses a voltage drop which is in the direction n to reverse bia as the emitter junction. Since thi is junction mus st be forward bi iased, the base e voltage is obt tained from the e supply throug gh R1, R2 network k. If Rb = R1 || R2 equivalent re esistance is very very smalll, then VBE volta age is indepen ndent of ICO and IC / ICO 0. For F best stability y R1 & R2 must t be kept small .
Fig. 3 If IC tends to t increase, be ecause of ICO, th hen the current t in RC increase es, hence base e current is dec creased becau use of more rever rse biasing and d it reduces IC . To analysis s this circuit, th he base circuit is i replaced by its thevenin's e equivalent as s shown in fig. 4.
Fig. 4 Thevenin's s voltage is
Rb is the ef ffective resistan nce seen back from the base terminal.
If VBE is considered to be independent of o IC, then
The smalle er the value of Rb, the better is s the stabilizati ion but S canno ot be reduced be unity. Hence IC always a increase es more than ICO uced, then curre ent drawn from m the supply inc creases. Also if f RE is C . If Rb is redu increased then t to operate e at same Q-po oint, the magnit tude of VCC mu ust be increase ed. In both the c cases the powe er loss increased and a reduced . In order to avoid the loss of ac signal be ecause of the fe eedback cause ed by RE, this r resistance is of ften by passed by a
large capacitance (> 10 F) so that its reactance at th he frequency u under considera ation is very sm mall.
Emitter Bias: B
Fig. 5, sho own the emitter bias circuit. Th he circuit gets this t name beca ause the negat tive supply VEE is used to forw ward bias the em mitter junction through t resistor RE. VCC still re everse biases collector junctiion. This also g gives the same e stability as voltage divider circuit but it is s used only if split s supply is av vailable.
Fig. 5 In this circu uit, the voltage equation is giv ven by
Lecture - 17: Biasing Tec chniques Example-1 Determine the Q-point for r the CE amplif fier given in fig. 1, if R1 = 1.5K K W and Rs = 7K W . A 2N39 904 transistor is s
used with = 180, RE = 100W and RC = Rload = 1K W . Also determ mine the Pout(a ac) and the dc power delivere ed to the circuit by b the source.
Fig. 1 Solution: We first ob btain the Theve enin equivalent. .
and
Note that th his is not a des sirable Q-point location since VBB is very clo ose to VBE. Va ariation in VBE E therefore significantly y change IC.W We find Rac = RC R || Rload= 50 00 W and Rdc = RC + RE =1. .1KW. The valu ue of VCErepres senting the quie escent value as ssociated with ICQ is found a as follows,
Then
Since the Q-point Q is on th he lower half of f the ac load lin ne, the maximu um possible sym mmetrical output voltage swin ng is
The ac pow wer output can be calculated as
The power r drawn from the dc source is given by
The power r loss in the tran nsistor is given n by
The Q-poin nt in this examp ple is not in the e middle of the load line so tha at output swing g is not as grea at as possible. However, if the input sign nal is small and d maximum out tput is not requ ired, a small IC C can be used to reduce the p power dissipated in the circuit.
Moving Ground G Aroun nd:

Ground is a reference point that can be moved around d. e.g. consider r a collector fee edback bias cir rcuit. The vario ous stages of moving m ground are shown in fig. f 2.
Fig. 2
Biasing a pnp Transist tor:

The biasing g of pnp transis stor is done sim milar to npn transistor except that supply is of opposite pol larity The vario ous biasing circ cuits of pnp transistor are sho own in fig. 3.
Fig. 3
Example 2:
For the circ cuit shown in fi ig. 4, calculate IC and VCE Solution:
Fig. 4
Biasing methods m for r amplifiers s:

Biasing Circuit C Techni iques or Loca ating the Q - Point: P
Fixed Bias s or Base Bias s:
In order for r a transistor to o amplify, it has s to be properly y biased. This m means forward d biasing the ba ase emitter junc ction and reverse biasing collector base junct tion. For linear amplification, t the transistor s should operate in active regio on ( If IE increase es, IC increases s, VCE decrease es proportionally). The source e VBB, through a current limit resistor r RB forw ward biases the e emitter diode e and VCC throu ugh resistor RC (load resistance) ) reverse biase es the collector junction as sho own in fig. 1.
Fig. 1 The dc bas se current throu ugh RB is given n by IB = (VBB - VBE) / RB or VBE B = VBB - IB RB
Normally VBE is taken 0.7 7V or 0.3V. If ex xact voltage is required, then the input chara acteristic ( IB vs s VBE) of the transistor should s be used d to solve the above equation. . The load line for the input ciircuit is drawn o on input characteris stic. The two po oints of the load d line can be obtained o as give en below For IB = 0, 0 and For r VBE = VBB. VBE = 0, IB = VBB/ RB.
The interse ection of this lin ne with input ch haracteristic giv ves the operatiing point Q as s shown in fig. 2. If an ac signa al is connected to the base of the transistor, then variation in VBE is about t Q - point. This s gives variatio on in IB and hen nce IC.
Fig. 2
In the output circuit, the lo oad equation can c be written as a VCE = VCC- IC RC This equation involves tw wo unknown VCE and IC and th herefore can no ot be solved. To o solve this equation output characteris stic ( ICvs VCE) is used. The load equation is the equation e of a straight s line and d given by two points: IC= 0, & VCE = VCC VCE = 0, IC= VCC / RC
The interse ection of this lin ne which is also o called dc load d line and the c characteristic g gives the opera ating point Q as s shown in fi ig. 3.
Fig. 3 The point at a which the loa ad line intersec cts with IB = 0 characteristic c is s known as cut off point. At this point base c current is zero and d collector curre ent is almost ne egligibly small. At cut off the e emitter diode c comes out of fo orward bias and d normal tran nsistor action is s lost. To a clos se approximation. VCE ( cut of ff) VCC (app proximately). The interse ection of the loa ad line and IB = IB(max) charact teristic is know wn as saturation n point . At this point IB= IB(max x), IC= IC(sat). At this point collecto or diodes come es out of revers se bias and ag ain transistor a action is lost. T To a close approximat tion, IC(sat) VCC / RC(approxim mately ). The IB(sat) is s the minimum current require ed to operate the transistor in n saturation reg gion. If the IB is less than IB (sa at), the transistor will w operate in active a region. If f IB > IB (sat) it always operates s in saturation r region. If the transistor operates at saturation or cut off points and no where else then it is o operating as a switch is show wn in fig. 4.
Fig. 4 VBB = IB RB+ VBE IB = (VBB VBE ) / RB If IB> IB(sat), then it operate es at saturation n, If IB = 0, then n it operates at cut off. If a transist tor is operating g as an amplifie er then Q point must be selec cted carefully. A Although we ca an select the operating point p any where e in the active region by choo osing different v values of RB & RC but the var rious transistor ratings suc ch as maximum m collector dissipation PC(max) maximum colle ector voltage VC(max) and IC(ma mit the ax) & VBE(max) lim operating range. r Once the Q point is estab blished an ac in nput is connect ted. Due to this s the ac source e the base curre ent varies. As a result of this collector current and collec ctor voltage also varies and th he amplified ou utput is obtained. If the Q-point is not selected properly then the output waveform w will n not be exactly t the input wavef form. i.e. It may be clipped from m one side or both b sides or it t may be distort ted one.
Field eff fect transisto or: Junction n field effect t transistor:
Module 1
Power Semiconductor Devices
Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 1
Lesson 6
Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET)
Constructional Features, operating principle and characteristics of Power Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET).
Instructional Objectives
On completion the student will be able to Differentiate between the conduction mechanism of a MOSFET and a BJT. Explain the salient constructional features of a MOSFET. Draw the output i-v characteristics of a MOSFET and explain it in terms of the operating principle of the device. Explain the difference between the safe operating area of a MOSFET and a BJT. Draw the switching characteristics of a MOSFET and explain it. Design the gate drive circuit of a MOSFET. Interpret the manufacturers data sheet rating of a MOSFET.
6.1 Introduction
Historically, bipolar semiconductor devices (i.e, diode, transistor, thyristor, thyristor, GTO etc) have been the front runners in the quest for an ideal power electronic switch. Ever since the invention of the transistor, the development of solid-state switches with increased power handling capability has been of interest for expending the application of these devices. The BJT and the GTO thyristor have been developed over the past 30 years to serve the need of the power electronic industry. Their primary advantage over the thyristors have been the superior switching speed and the ability to interrupt the current without reversal of the device voltage. All bipolar devices, however, suffer from a common set of disadvantages, namely, (i) limited switching speed due to considerable redistribution of minority charge carriers associated with every switching operation; (ii) relatively large control power requirement which complicates the control circuit design. Besides, bipolar devices can not be paralleled easily. The reliance of the power electronics industry upon bipolar devices was challenged by the introduction of a new MOS gate controlled power device technology in the 1980s. The power MOS field effect transistor (MOSFET) evolved from the MOS integrated circuit technology. The new device promised extremely low input power levels and no inherent limitation to the switching speed. Thus, it opened up the possibility of increasing the operating frequency in power electronic systems resulting in reduction in size and weight. The initial claims of infinite current gain for the power MOSFET were, however, diluted by the need to design the gate drive circuit to account for the pulse currents required to charge and discharge the high input capacitance of these devices. At high frequency of operation the required gate drive power becomes substantial. MOSFETs also have comparatively higher on state resistance per unit area of the device cross section which increases with the blocking voltage rating of the device. Consequently, the use of MOSFET has been restricted to low voltage (less than about 500 volts) applications where the ON state resistance reaches acceptable values. Inherently fast switching speed of these devices can be effectively utilized to increase the switching frequency beyond several hundred kHz. From the point of view of the operating principle a MOSFET is a voltage controlled majority carrier device. As the name suggests, movement of majority carriers in a MOSFET is controlled by the voltage applied on the control electrode (called gate) which is insulated by a thin metal oxide layer from the bulk semiconductor body. The electric field produced by the gate voltage modulate the conductivity of the semiconductor material in the region between the main current carrying terminals called the Drain (D) and the Source (S). Power MOSFETs, just like their integrated circuit counterpart, can be of two types (i) depletion type and (ii) enhancement type. Both of these can be either n- channel type or p-channel type depending on the nature of the bulk semiconductor. Fig 6.1 (a) shows the circuit symbol of these four types of MOSFETs along with their drain current vs gate-source voltage characteristics (transfer characteristics).
D ID G G
D ID G
D ID G
D ID
S ID
S ID
S ID
S ID
VGS n-channel depletion type MOSFET
VGS p-channel depletion type MOSFET (a)
VGS n-channel enhancement type MOSFET
VGS p-channel enhancement type MOSFET
(b) Fig 6.1: Different types of power MOSFET. (a) Circuit symbols and transfer characteristics (b) Photograph of n-channel enhancement type MOSFET. From Fig 6.1 (a) it can be concluded that depletion type MOSFETs are normally ON type switches i.e, with the gate terminal open a nonzero drain current can flow in these devices. This is not convenient in many power electronic applications. Therefore, the enhancement type MOSFETs (particularly of the n-channel variety) is more popular for power electronics applications. This is the type of MOSFET which will be discussed in this lesson. Fig 6.1 (b) shows the photograph of some commercially available n-channel enhancement type Power MOSFETs.
6.2
Constructional Features of a Power MOSFET
As mentioned in the introduction section, Power MOSFET is a device that evolved from MOS integrated circuit technology. The first attempts to develop high voltage MOSFETs were by redesigning lateral MOSFET to increase their voltage blocking capacity. The resulting technology was called lateral double deffused MOS (DMOS). However it was soon realized that Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 5
much larger breakdown voltage and current ratings could be achieved by resorting to a vertically oriented structure. Since then, vertical DMOS (VDMOS) structure has been adapted by virtually all manufacturers of Power MOSFET. A power MOSFET using VDMOS technology has vertically oriented three layer structure of alternating p type and n type semiconductors as shown in Fig 6.2 (a) which is the schematic representation of a single MOSFET cell structure. A large number of such cells are connected in parallel (as shown in Fig 6.2 (b)) to form a complete device. Source Gate conductor FIELD OXIDE n+ p(body) n- (drain drift) n+ Drain n+ n+ p(body) Gate oxide n+
(a)
Contact to source Source Conductor Gate Oxide
Field oxide
Gate Conductor nn+ p n+ nn+ (b) Fig. 6.2: Schematic construction of a power MOSFET (a) Construction of a single cell. (b) Arrangement of cells in a device. n+ p n+ n+
Single MOSFET Cell
The two n+ end layers labeled Source and Drain are heavily doped to approximately the same level. The p type middle layer is termed the body (or substrate) and has moderate doping level (2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than n+ regions on both sides). The n- drain drift region has the lowest doping density. Thickness of this region determines the breakdown voltage of the device. The gate terminal is placed over the n- and p type regions of the cell structure and is insulated from the semiconductor body be a thin layer of silicon dioxide (also called the gate oxide). The source and the drain region of all cells on a wafer are connected to the same metallic contacts to form the Source and the Drain terminals of the complete device. Similarly all gate terminals are also connected together. The source is constructed of many (thousands) small polygon shaped areas that are surrounded by the gate regions. The geometric shape of the source regions, to same extent, influences the ON state resistance of the MOSFET.
D S n p Body spreading resistance

+
D Parasitic BJT
G n Parasitic BJT nn+ D

+
MOSFET
Body diode S
Fig. 6.3: Parasitic BJT in a MOSFET cell. One interesting feature of the MOSFET cell is that the alternating n+ n- p n+ structure embeds a parasitic BJT (with its base and emitter shorted by the source metallization) into each MOSFET cell as shown in Fig 6.3. The nonzero resistance between the base and the emitter of the parasitic npn BJT arises due to the body spreading resistance of the p type substrate. In the design of the MOSFET cells special care is taken so that this resistance is minimized and switching operation of the parasitic BJT is suppressed. With an effective short circuit between the body and the source the BJT always remain in cut off and its collector-base junction is represented as an anti parallel diode (called the body diode) in the circuit symbol of a Power MOSFET.
6.3 Operating principle of a MOSFET

At first glance it would appear that there is no path for any current to flow between the source and the drain terminals since at least one of the p n junctions (source body and body-Drain) will be reverse biased for either polarity of the applied voltage between the source and the drain. There is no possibility of current injection from the gate terminal either since the gate oxide is a very good insulator. However, application of a positive voltage at the gate terminal with respect to the source will covert the silicon surface beneath the gate oxide into an n type layer or channel, thus connecting the Source to the Drain as explained next. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 7
The gate region of a MOSFET which is composed of the gate metallization, the gate (silicon) oxide layer and the p-body silicon forms a high quality capacitor. When a small voltage is application to this capacitor structure with gate terminal positive with respect to the source (note that body and source are shorted) a depletion region forms at the interface between the SiO2 and the silicon as shown in Fig 6.4 (a). VGS1 Source Electrode n+ Ionized acceptor Depletion layer boundary.
+++ ++++++++
Gate Electrode Si02
p n-
(a) VGS2 Source Electrode n+ Depletion layer boundary.
VGS2 > VGS1
+++ ++++++++
Gate Electrode Si02
p n-
Ionized acceptor
Free electron
(b)
VGS3 Source Electrode n+
VGS3 > VGS2 > VGS1
+++ ++++++++
Gate Electrode Si02 Inversion layer with free electrons Depletion layer boundary.
p nIonized acceptor
(c)
Fig. 6.4: Gate control of MOSFET conduction. (a) Depletion layer formation; (b) Free electron accumulation; (c) Formation of inversion layer. The positive charge induced on the gate metallization repels the majority hole carriers from the interface region between the gate oxide and the p type body. This exposes the negatively charged acceptors and a depletion region is created. Further increase in VGS causes the depletion layer to grow in thickness. At the same time the electric field at the oxide-silicon interface gets larger and begins to attract free electrons as shown in Fig 6.4 (b). The immediate source of electron is electron-hole generation by thermal ionization. The holes are repelled into the semiconductor bulk ahead of the depletion region. The extra holes are neutralized by electrons from the source. As VGS increases further the density of free electrons at the interface becomes equal to the free hole density in the bulk of the body region beyond the depletion layer. The layer of free electrons at the interface is called the inversion layer and is shown in Fig 6.4 (c). The inversion layer has all the properties of an n type semiconductor and is a conductive path or channel between the drain and the source which permits flow of current between the drain and the source. Since current conduction in this device takes place through an n- type channel created by the electric field due to gate source voltage it is called Enhancement type n-channel MOSFET. The value of VGS at which the inversion layer is considered to have formed is called the Gate Source threshold voltage VGS (th). As VGS is increased beyond VGS(th) the inversion layer gets some what thicker and more conductive, since the density of free electrons increases further with increase in VGS. The inversion layer screens the depletion layer adjacent to it from increasing VGS. The depletion layer thickness now remains constant.
Exercise 6.1 (after section 6.3) 1. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) A MOSFET is a ________________ controlled ________________ carrier device. Enhancement type MOSFETs are normally ________________devices while depletion type MOSFETs are normally ________________ devices. The Gate terminal of a MOSFET is isolated from the semiconductor by a thin layer of ________________. The MOSFET cell embeds a parasitic ________________ in its structure. The gate-source voltage at which the ________________ layer in a MOSFET is formed is called the ________________ voltage. The thickness of the ________________ layer remains constant as gate source voltage is increased byond the ________________ voltage.
Answer: (i) voltage, majority; (ii) off, on; (iii) SiO2, (iv) BJT, (v) inversion, threshold; (vi) depletion, threshold. 2. What are the main constructional differences between a MOSFET and a BJT? What effect do they have on the current conduction mechanism of a MOSFET? Answer: A MOSFET like a BJT has alternating layers of p and n type semiconductors. However, unlike BJT the p type body region of a MOSFET does not have an external electrical connection. The gate terminal is insulated for the semiconductor by a thin layer of SiO2. The body itself is shorted with n+ type source by the source metallization. Thus minority carrier injection across the source-body interface is prevented. Conduction in a MOSFET occurs due to formation of a high density n type channel in the p type body region due to the electric field produced by the gate-source voltage. This n type channel connects n+ type source and drain regions. Current conduction takes place between the drain and the source through this channel due to flow of electrons only (majority carriers). Where as in a BJT, current conduction occurs due to minority carrier injection across the Base-Emitter junction. Thus a MOSFET is a voltage controlled majority carrier device while a BJT is a minority carrier bipolar device.
6.4 Steady state output i-v characteristics of a MOSFET

The MOSFET, like the BJT is a three terminal device where the voltage on the gate terminal controls the flow of current between the output terminals, Source and Drain. The source terminal is common between the input and the output of a MOSFET. The output characteristics of a MOSFET is then a plot of drain current (iD) as a function of the Drain Source voltage (vDS) with gate source voltage (vGS) as a parameter. Fig 6.5 (a) shows such a characteristics.
VGS VGS (th) = VDS iD ohmic rDS(ON) Increasing VGS VGS6 Active VGS5 [VGSVGS(th)]<VDS VGS4 VGS3 VGS2 vgs1 Cut off (VGS < VGS (th)) VDSS vDS (a) S n+ Source region resistance Channel p resistance nn+ (b) Drift region resistance Drain resistance G iD
Electron Drift Velocity
(c)
Electric Field
iD
VGS(th) D (d)
VGS
Fig. 6.5: Output i-v characteristics of a Power MOSFET (a) i-v characteristics; (b) Components of ON-state resistance; (c) Electron drift velocity vs Electric field; (d) Transfer With gate-source voltage (VGS) below the threshold voltage (vGS (th)) the MOSFET operates in the cut-off mode. No drain current flows in this mode and the applied drain source voltage (vDS) is supported by the body-collector p-n junction. Therefore, the maximum applied voltage should be below the avalanche break down voltage of this junction (VDSS) to avoid destruction of the device. When VGS is increased beyond vGS(th) drain current starts flowing. For small values of vDS (vDS < (vGS vGS(th)) iD is almost proportional to vDS. Consequently this mode of operation is called ohmic mode of operation. In power electronic applications a MOSFET is operated either in the cut off or in the ohmic mode. The slope of the vDS iD characteristics in this mode is called the ON state resistance of the MOSFET (rDS (ON)). Several physical resistances as shown in Fig 6.5 (b) contribute to rDS (ON). Note that rDS (ON) reduces with increase in vGS. This is mainly due to reduction of the channel resistance at higher value of Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 11
vGS. Hence, it is desirable in power electronic applications, to use as large a gate-source voltage as possible subject to the dielectric break down limit of the gate-oxide layer. At still higher value of vDS (vDS > (vGS vGS (th)) the iD vDS characteristics deviates from the linear relationship of the ohmic region and for a given vGS, iD tends to saturate with increase in vDS. The exact mechanism behind this is rather complex. It will suffice to state that, at higher drain current the voltage drop across the channel resistance tends to decrease the channel width at the drain drift layer end. In addition, at large value of the electric field, produced by the large Drain Source voltage, the drift velocity of free electrons in the channel tends to saturate as shown in Fig 6.5 (c). As a result the drain current becomes independent of VDS and determined solely by the gate source voltage vGS. This is the active mode of operation of a MOSFET. Simple, first order theory predicts that in the active region the drain current is given approximately by
i D = K(vGS - vGS (th))2
(6.1)
Where K is a constant determined by the device geometry. At the boundary between the ohmic and the active region vDS = vGS - vGS (th) (6.2) Therefore, i D = KvDS2
(6.3)
Equation (6.3) is shown by a dotted line in Fig 6.5 (a). The relationship of Equation (6.1) applies reasonably well to logic level MOSFETs. However, for power MOSFETs the transfer characteristics (iD vs vGS) is more linear as shown in Fig 6.5 (d). At this point the similarity of the output characteristics of a MOSFET with that of a BJT should be apparent. Both of them have three distinct modes of operation, namely, (i)cut off, (ii) active and (iii) ohmic (saturation for BJT) modes. However, there are some important differences as well. Unlike BJT a power MOSFET does not undergo second break down. The primary break down voltage of a MOSFET remains same in the cut off and in the active modes. This should be contrasted with three different break down voltages (VSUS, VCEO & VCBO) of a BJT. The ON state resistance of a MOSFET in the ohmic region has positive temperature coefficient which allows paralleling of MOSFET without any special arrangement for current sharing. On the other hand, vCE (sat) of a BJT has negative temperature coefficient making parallel connection of BJTs more complicated. As in the case of a BJT the operating limits of a MOSFET are compactly represented in a Safe Operating Area (SOA) diagram as shown in Fig 6.6. As in the case of the FBSOA of a Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 12
BJT the SOA of a MOSFET is plotted on a log-log graph. On the top, the SOA is restricted by the absolute maximum permissible value of the drain current (IDM) which should not be exceeded even under pulsed operating condition. To the left, operating restriction arise due to the non zero value of rDS(ON) corresponding to vGS = vGS(Max). To the right, the first operating restriction is due to the limit on the maximum permissible junction temperature rise which depends on the power dissipation inside the MOSFET. This limit is different for DC (continuous) and pulsed operation of different pulse widths. As in the case of a BJT the pulsed safe operating areas are useful for shaping the switching trajectory of a MOSFET. A MOSFET does not undergo second break down and no corresponding operating limit appears on the SOA. The final operation limit to the extreme right of the SOA arises due to the maximum permissible drain source voltage (VDSS) which is decided by the avalanche break down voltage of the drain -body p-n junction. This is an instantaneous limit. There is no distinction between the forward biased and the reverse biased SOAs for the MOSFET. They are identical. Log (iD) IDM 10-5sec rDS(ON) limit 10-4sec (VGS = VGS(max)) Max. 10-3sec Power Dissipation DC Limit (Timax) Primary voltage breakdown limit VDSS Log (vDS) Fig. 6.6: Safe operating area of a MOSFET. Due to the presence of the anti parallel body diode, a MOSFET can not block any reverse voltage. The body diode, however, can carry an RMS current equal to IDM. It also has a substantial surge current carrying capacity. When reverse biased it can block a voltage equal to VDSS. For safe operation of a MOSFET, the maximum limit on the gate source voltage (VGS (Max)) must be observed. Exceeding this voltage limit will cause dielectric break down of the thin gate oxide layer and permanent failure of the device. It should be noted that even static charge inadvertently put on the gate oxide by careless handling may destroy it. The device user should ground himself before handling any MOSFET to avoid any static charge related problem. Exercise 6.2 Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) i. A MOSFET operates in the ________________ mode when vGS < vGS(th) Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 13
ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix.
In the ohmic region of operation of a MOSFET vGS vGS (th) is greater than ________________. rDS (ON) of a MOSFET ________________ with increasing vGS. In the active region of operation the drain current iD is a function of ________________ alone and is independent of ________________. The primary break down voltage of MOSFET is ________________ of the drain current. Unlike BJT a MOSFET does not undergo ________________. ________________ temperature coefficient of rDS(ON) of MOSFETs facilitates easy ________________ of the devices. In a Power MOSFET the relation ship between iD and vGS vGS(th) is almost ________________ in the active mode of operation. The safe operating area of a MOSFET is restricted on the left hand side by the ________________ limit.
Answer: (i) Cut off; (ii) vDS; (iii) decreases; (iv) vGS, vDS; (v) independent; (vi) break down; (vii) Positive, paralleling; (viii) linear; (ix) rDS (ON);
second
6.5 Switching characteristics of a MOSFET 6.5.1 Circuit models of a MOSFET cell

Like any other power semiconductor device a MOSFET is used as a switch in all power electronic converters. As a switch a MOSFET operates either in the cut off mode (switch off) or in the ohmic mode (switch on). While making transition between these two states it traverses through the active region. Being a majority carrier device the switching process in a MOSFET does not involve any inherent delay due to redistribution of minority charge carriers. However, formation of the conducting channel in a MOSFET and its disappearance require charging and discharging of the gate-source capacitance which contributes to the switching times. There are several other capacitors in a MOSFET structure which are also involved in the switching process. Unlike bipolar devices, however, these switching times can be controlled completely by the gate drive circuit design.
S n
+
G Gate oxide
p CDS nn+
CGS
CGD
CGD Drain body depletion layer CGD1 idealized Actual CGD2
(a)
D CGD G CGS S (cut off) G
VGS VGS (th) = VDS
VDS
(b)
D CGD iD = f(vGS) CGS S (Active) G CGS S CGD rDS(ON) (Ohmic) D
(c)
Fig. 6.7: Circuit model of a MOSFET (a) MOSFET capacitances (b) Variation of CGD with VDS (c) Circuit models. Fig 6.7 (a) shows three important capacitances inherent in a MOSFET structure. The most prominent capacitor in a MOSFET structure is formed by the gate oxide layer between the gate metallization and the n+ type source region. It has the largest value (a few nano farads) and remains more or less constant for all values of vGS and vDS. The next largest capacitor (a few hundred pico forwards) is formed by the drain body depletion region directly below the gate metallization in the n- drain drift region. Being a depletion layer capacitance its value is a strong function of the drain source voltage vDS. For low values of vDS (vDS < (vGS vGS (th))) the value of CGD (CGD2) is considerably higher than its value for large vDS as shown in Fig 6.7 (b). Although variation of CGD between CGD1 and CGD2 is continuous a step change in the value of CGD at vDS = vGS vGS(th) is assumed for simplicity. The lowest value capacitance is formed between the drain and the source terminals due to the drain body depletion layer away form the gate metallization and below the source metallization. Although this capacitance is important for some design considerations (such as snubber design, zero voltage switching etc) it does not appreciably affect the hard switching performance of a MOSFET. Consequently, it will be neglected in our discussion. From the Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 15
above discussion and the steady state characteristics of a MOSFET the circuit models of a MOSFET in three modes of operation can be drawn as shown in Fig 6.7 (c).
6.5.2 Switching waveforms

The switching behavior of a MOSFET will be described in relation to the clamped inductive circuit shown in Fig 6.8. For simplicity the load current is assumed to remain constant over the small switching interval. Also the diode DF is assumed to be ideal with no reverse recovery current. The gate is assumed to be driven by an ideal voltage source giving a step voltage between zero and Vgg in series with an external gate resistance Rg. VD DF if iD CGD Rg Vgg + ig CGS VDS IO +
Fig. 6.8: Clamped inductive switching circuit using a MOSFET. To turn the MOSFET on, the gate drive voltage changes from zero to Vgg. The gate source voltage which was initially zero starts rising towards Vgg with a time constant 1 = Rg (CGS + CGD1) as shown in Fig 6.9.
Vgg VGS VGSI0 VGS(th) ig
2 1
2 = Rg(CGS+CGD2)
Vgg
1 = Rg(CGS+CGD1)
R g igI0
Vgg
igI0
Rg
iD, if I0 if VDS
iD I0
if
iD
I0ros (ON)
tdON tri
tfv1 tfv2 tON
td(off) trv2 trvi tfi toff
Fig. 6.9: Switching waveforms of a clamped inductive switching circuit using MOSFET Note that during this period the drain voltage vDS is clamped to the supply voltage VD through the free wheeling diode DF. Therefore, CGS and CGD can be assumed to be connected in parallel effectively. A part of the total gate current ig charges CGS while the other part discharges CGD. Till vGS reaches vGS (th) no drain current flows. This time period is called turn on delay time (td(ON)). Note that td(ON) can be controlled by controlling Rg. Byond td(ON) iD increases linearly with vGS and in a further time tri (current rise time) reaches Io. The corresponding value of vGS and ig are marked as VGS Io and ig Io respectively in Fig 6.9. At this point the complete load current has been transferred to the MOSFET from the free wheeling diode DF. iD does not increase byond this point. Since in the active region iD and vGS are linearly related, vGS also becomes clamped at the value vGSIo. The gate current ig now discharges CGD and the drain voltage starts falling.
ig V -V I d d d v DS = ( vGS + vGD ) = v GD = = GG GS o dt dt dt CGD CGD R g
( 6.4 )
The fall of vDS occurs in two distinct intervals. When the MOSFET is in the active region (vDS > (vGS vGS (th)) CGD = CGD1.Since CGD1 << CGD2, vDS falls rapidly. This fast fall time of vDS is marked tfv1 in Fig 6.9. However, once in the ohmic region, CGD = CGD2 >> CGD1. Therefore, rate of fall of vDS slows down considerably (tfv2). Once vDS reaches its on state value (rDS(ON) Io) vGS becomes unclamped and increases towards Vgg with a time constant 2 = Rg (CGS + CGD2). Note that all switching periods can be reduced by increasing Vgg or / and decreasing Rg. The total turn on time is tON = td(ON) + tri + tfv1 + tfv2. To turn the MOSFET OFF, Vgg is reduced to zero triggering the exact reverse process of turn on to take place. The corresponding waveforms and switching intervals are show in Fig 6.9. The total turn off time toff = td(off) + trv1 + trv2 + tfi.
6.5.3 MOSFET Gate Drive

MOSFET, being a voltage controlled device, does not require a continuous gate current to keep it in the ON state. However, it is required to charge and discharge the gate-source and the gate-drain capacitors in each switching operation. The switching times of a MOSFET essentially depends on the charging and discharging rate of these capacitors. Therefore, if fast charging and discharging of a MOSFET is desired at fast switching frequency the gate drive power requirement may become significant. Fig 6.10 (a) shows a typical gate drive circuit of a MOSFET.
VGG R1 Logic level gate pulse Q3 Q1 Q2 RG
VD VGG
RG +
R1 (1 +1)
RG VGG
(a) VD
(b)
DF
IL RG D G R
B G S (c)
S RB (d)
Fig. 6.10: MOSFET gate drive circuit. (a) Gate drive circuit; (b) Equivalent circuit during turn on and off; (b) Effect of parasitic BJT; (d) Parallel connection of MOSFETs. To turn the MOSFET on the logic level input to the inverting buffer is set to high state so that transistor Q3 turns off and Q1 turns on. The top circuit of Fig 6.10 (b) shows the equivalent circuit during turn on. Note that, during turn on Q1 remains in the active region. The effective gate resistance is RG + R1 / (1 + 1). Where, 1 is the dc current gain of Q1.
To turn off the MOSFET the logic level input is set to low state. Q3 and Q2 turns on whole Q1 turns off. The corresponding equivalent circuit is given by the bottom circuit of Fig 6.10 (b) The switching time of the MOSFET can be adjusted by choosing a proper value of RG. Reducing RG will incase the switching speed of the MOSFET. However, caution should be exercised while increasing the switching speed of the MOSFET in order not to turn on the parasitic BJT in the MOSFET structure inadvertently. The drain-source capacitance (CDS) is actually connected to the base of the parasitic BJT at the p type body region. The body source short has some nonzero resistance. A very fast rising drain-source voltage will send sufficient displacement current through CDS and RB as shown in Fig 6.10 (c). The voltage drop across RB may become sufficient to turn on the parasitic BJT. This problem is largely avoided in a modern MOSFET design by increasing the effectiveness of the body-source short. The devices are now capable of dvDS/dt in excess to 10,000 V/s. Of course, this problem can also be avoided by slowing down the MOSFET switching speed. Since MOSFET on state resistance has positive temperature coefficient they can be paralleled without taking any special precaution for equal current sharing. To parallel two MOSFETs the drain and source terminals are connected together as shown in Fig 6.10 (d). However, small resistances (R) are connected to individual gates before joining them together. This is because the gate inputs are highly capacitive with almost no losses. Some stray inductance of wiring may however be present. This stray inductance and the MOSFET capacitance can give rise to unwanted high frequency oscillation of the gate voltage that can result in puncture of the gate qxide layer due to voltage increase during oscillations. This is avoided by the damping resistance R. Exercise 6.3 1. i. ii. iii. iv. v. Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) The Gate-Source capacitance of a MOSFET is the ________________ among all three capacitances. The Gate-Drain transfer capacitance of a MOSFET has large value in the ________________ region and small value in the ________________ region. During the turn on delay time the MOSFET gate source voltage rises from zero to the ________________ voltage. The voltage fall time of a MOSFET is ________________ proportional to the gate charging resistance. Unlike BJT the switching delay times in a MOSFET can be controlled by proper design of the ________________ circuit. Answer: (i) largest; (ii) ohmic, active; (iii) threshold; (iv) inversely; (v) gate drive. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 20
2. A Power MOSFET has the following data CGS = 800 pF ; CGD = 150 pF; gf = 4; vGS(th) = 3V; It is used to switch a clamped inductive load (Fig 6.8) of 20 Amps with a supply voltage VD= 200V. The gate drive voltage is vgg = 15V, and gate resistance Rg = 50. Find out maximum dv DS did and during turn ON. value of dt dt Answer: During turn on i D g f ( v gs - v gs (th) )
dv gs di D = gf dt dt dv V -v But ( CGS + CGD ) gs = gg gs dt Rg
dv di D gf = g f gs = ( Vgg - vgs ) dt dt R g ( CGS + CGD )
di D dt
=
Max
R g ( CGS + CGD
gf
(V )
gg
- vgs
Min
)=
g f ( Vgg - vgs (th) ) R g ( CGS + CGD )
since for vgs < vgs (th)
iD =
di D =0 dt
di D dt
=
Max
4 15 - 3) = 1.01109 A sec -12 ( 5095010
From equation (6.4)

dv DS Vgg - VGS , Io = dt CGD R g
For Io = 20 A, vgs(th) = 3V, and gf = 4 I 20 VGS , Io = o + vgs (th) = + 3 = 8 volts gf 4
dv DS 15 -8 = = 933106 V sec. dt 15010-12 50
6.6
MOSFET Ratings
Steady state operating limits of a MOSFET are usually specified compactly as a safe operating area (SOA) diagram. The following limits are specified.
VDSS: This is the drain-source break down voltage. Exceeding this limit will destroy the device due to avalanche break down of the body-drain p-n junction.
IDM: This is the maximum current that should not be exceeded even under pulsed current operating condition in order to avoid permanent damage to the bonding wires. Continuous and Pulsed power dissipation limits: They indicate the maximum allowable value of the VDS, iD product for the pulse durations shown against each limit. Exceeding these limits will cause the junction temperature to rise beyond the acceptable limit.
All safe operating area limits are specified at a given case temperature. In addition, several important parameters regarding the dynamic performance of the device are also specified. These are
Gate threshold voltage (VGS (th)): The MOSFET remains in the cut off region when vGS in below this voltage. VGS (th) decreases with junction temperature. Drain Source on state resistance (rDS (ON)): This is the slope of the iD vDS characteristics in the ohmic region. Its value decreases with increasing vGS and increases with junction temperature. rDS (ON) determines the ON state power loss in the device. Forward Transconductance (gfs): It is the ratio of iD and (vGS vGS(th)). In a MOSFET switching circuit it determines the clamping voltage level of the gate source voltage and thus influences dvDS/dt during turn on and turn off. Gate-Source breakdown voltage: Exceeding this limit will destroy the gate structure of the MOSFET due to dielectric break down of the gate oxide layer. It should be noted that this limit may by exceeded even by static charge deposition. Therefore, special precaution should be taken while handing MOSFETs. Input, output and reverse transfer capacitances (CGS, CDS & CGD): Value of these capacitances are specified at a given drain-source and gate-source voltage. They are useful for designing the gate drive circuit of a MOSFET.
In addition to the main MOSFET, specifications pertaining to the body diode are also provided. Specifications given are
Reverse break down voltage: This is same as VDSS Continuous ON state current (IS): This is the RMS value of the continuous current that can flow through the diode. Pulsed ON state current (ISM): This is the maximum allowable RMS value of the ON state current through the diode given as a function of the pulse duration. Forward voltage drop (vF): Given as an instantaneous function of the diode forward current. Reverse recovery time (trr) and Reverse recovery current (Irr): These are specified as functions of the diode forward current just before reverse recovery and its decreasing slope (diF/dt).
Exercise 6.4
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) i. ii. iii. iv. v. The maximum voltage a MOSFET can with stand is ________________ of drain current. The FBSOA and RBSOA of a MOSFET are ________________. The gate source threshold voltage of a MOSFET ________________ with junction temperature while the on state resistance ________________ with junction temperature. The gate oxide of a MOSFET can be damaged by ________________ electricity. The reverse break down voltage of the body diode of a MOSFET is equal to ________________ while its RMS forward current rating is equal to ________________.
Answer: (i) independent; (ii) identical; (iii) decreases, increases; (iv) static; (v) VDSS; IDM.
Reference
[1] Evolution of MOS-Bipolar power semiconductor Technology, B. Jayant Baliga, Proceedings of the IEEE, VOL.76, No-4, April 1988. [2] Power Electronics ,Converters Application and Design Third Edition, Mohan, Undeland, Robbins. John Wiley & Sons Publishers 2003. [3] GE Power MOSFET data sheet.
Lesson Summary
MOSFET is a voltage controlled majority carrier device. A Power MOSFET has a vertical structure of alternating p and n layers. The main current carrying terminals of an n channel enhancement mode MOSFET are called the Drain and the Source and are made up of n+ type semiconductor. The control terminal is called the Gate and is isolated form the bulk semiconductor by a thin layer of SiO2.
p type semiconductor body separates n+ type source and drain regions.
A conducting n type channel is produced in the p type body region when a positive voltage greater than a threshold voltage is applied at the gate. Current conduction in a MOSFET occurs by flow of electron from the source to the drain through this channel. When the gate source voltage is below threshold level a MOSFET remains in the Cut Off region and does not conduct any current. With vGS > vGS (th) and vDS < (vGS vGS (th)) the drain current in a MOSFET is proportional to vDS. This is the Ohmic region of the MOSFET output characteristics. For larger values of vDS the drain current is a function of vGS alone and does not depend on vDs. This is called the active region of the MOSFET. In power electronic applications a MOSFET is operated in the Cut Off and Ohmic regions only. The on state resistance of a MOSFET (VDS (ON)) has a positive temperature coefficient. Therefore, MOSFETs can be easily paralleled. A MOSFET does not undergo second break down. The safe operating area (SOA) of a MOSFET is similar to that of a BJT except that it does not have a second break down limit. Unlike BJT the maximum forward voltage withstanding capability of a MOSFET does not depend on the drain current. The safe operating area of a MOSFET does not change under Forward and Reverse bias conditions. The drain body junction in a MOSFET structure constitute an anti parallel diode connected between the source and the drain. This is called the MOSFET body diode. The body diode of a MOSFET has the same break down voltage and forward current rating as the main MOSFET. The switching delays in a MOSFET are due to finite charging and discharging time of the input and output capacitors. Switching times of a MOSFET can be controlled completely by external gate drive design.
The input capacitor along with the gate drive resistance determine the current rise and fall time of a MOSFET during switching. The transfer capacitor (Cgd) determines the drain voltage rise and fall times. rDS (ON) of a MOSFET determines the conduction loss during ON period. rDS (ON) reduces with higher vgs. Therefore, to minimize conduction power loss maximum permissible vgs should be used subject to dielectric break down of the gate oxide layer. The gate oxide layer can be damaged by static charge. Therefore MOSFETs should be handled only after discharging one self through proper grounding. For similar voltage rating, a MOSFET has a relatively higher conduction loss and lower switching loss compared to a BJT. Therefore, MOSFETs are more popular for high frequency (>50 kHz) low voltage (<100 V) circuits.
Practice Problems and Answers
Practice Problems
1. How do you expect the gate source capacitance of a MOSFET to varry with gate source voltage. Explain your answer. 2. The gate oxide layer of a MOSFET is 1000 Angstrom thick Assuming a break down field strength of 5 106 V/cm and a safely factor of 50%, find out the maximum allowable gate source voltage. 3. Explain why in a high voltage MOSFET switching circuit the voltage rise and fall time is always greater than current fall and rise times. 4. A MOSFET has the following parameters VGS(th) = 3V, gfs = 3, CGS = 800 PF, CGD = 250 PF. The MOSFET is used to switch an inductive load of 15 Amps from 150V supply. The switching frequency is 50 kHz. The gate drive circuit has a driving voltage of 15V and output resistance of 50. Find out the switching loss in the MOSFET.
Answer to practice problems

1. When the gate voltage is zero the thickness of the gate-source capacitance is approximately equal to the thickness of the gate oxide layer. As the gate source voltage increases the width of the depletion layer in the p body region also increases. Since the depletion layer is a region of immobile charges it in effect increases the thickness of the gate-source capacitance and hence the value of this capacitances decreases with increasing vGS. However, as vGS is increased further free electrons generated by thermal ionization get attracted towards the gate oxide-semiconductor interface. These free electrons screen the depletion layer partially and the gate-source capacitance starts increasing again. When vGS is above vgs (th) the inversion layer completely screens the depletion layer and the effective thickness of the gate-source capacitance becomes once again equal to the thickness of the oxide layer. There after the value of CGS remains more or less constant. 2. From the given data the break down gate source voltage
v GS
BD
= E BD t gs
where EBD = Break down field strength tgs = thickness of the oxide layer. So v GS Let vgs safety.
BD
= 5106 100010-8 = 50V
Max
be the maximum allowable gate source voltage assuming 50% factor of

1.5 vgs
Max Max
= vGS
BD
= 50 V
vgs
50 V 33 Volts. 1.5
3. We Know that for MOSFET i D = g fs ( VGS - VGS (th) )
( Vgg - vGS ) di D d = g fs vGS = g fs dt dt R g CGS During current rise Vgg >> vGS g fs di Vgg D dt R g CGS
t ri = t fi Io R g CGS g fs Vgg where Io = load current.
Now From equation (6.4)

Vgg - Vg s , Io Vgg d v DS = dt R g CGD R g CGD
Since Vgg >> Vgs, Io V t rr = t fv D R g CGD where VD = Load voltage. Vgg
I t ri t = fi = o t rr t fr VD
CG S g fs CG D
That is current rise and fall times are much shorter than voltage rise and fall times. 4. Referring to Fig 6.9 energy loss during switching occurs during intervals tri , tfv1, tfv2, trv2,trv1, and tfi. For simplicity it will be assumed that tfv2 = trv2 = 0. Also the rise and fall of iD and vDS will be assumed to be linear. During tri i D = g fs (vgs - vgs (th))
Vgg - v gs di D d = g fs v gs = g fs dt dt (CGS + CGD )R g g fs Vgg di D sinceVgg >> v gs during current rise dt (CGS + CGD )R g
Io (CGS + CGD )R g g fs Vgg Energy loss during tri is V I2 1 E ON1 = t ri VD Io = D o (CGS + CGD )R g 2 2g fs Vgg During tfv dVDS Vgg - Vgs, Io = dt CGD R g I But Vgs , Io = o + vgs (th) g fs I Vgg - v gs (th) - o dVDS g fs = dt R g CGD t ri =
t fv =
VD Vgg - Vgs (th) -
Io
R g CGD g fs
Energy loss during tfv is E ON2 = 1 t fv Io VD 2 VD 2 Io = R C Io g GD 2 V v (th) gg gs g fs Energy loss during Turn on is
VD Io R g Io ( CGS + CGD ) VD CGD + 2 g fs Vgg V V (th) ( ) gg gs From the symmetry of the Turn ON and the Turn OFF operation of MOSFET (i.e. tri = tfi, tfv = trv) E ON = E ON1 + E ON2 =
E ON = EOFF
Total switching energy lass is Esw = EON + EOFF = 2 EON VD Vgg I g C E sw = VD Io R g CGD o fs 1+ GS + Vgg CGD Vgs (th) Io g fs V Vgg gg
VD Vgg C I g Psw E sw = VD Io R g CGD f sw 1+ GS o fs + v gs (th) Io g fs CGD Vgg 1 Vgg v gg Substituting the values given Psw = 32 mw,
Classificat tionofpoweramplifiers
Darlingto on Amplifier:
It consists of two emitter followers f in cas scaded mode as a shown in fig g. 1. The overa all gain is close to unity. The m main a is very y large increas se in input impe edence and an equal decreas se in output advantage of Darlington amplifier impedance e.
Fig. 1
DC Analy ysis:
nd VBE drop. T The first tra ansistor has on ne VBE drop and d second trans sistor has secon The voltage divi ider produces VTH to the input base. The dc em mitter current of the second st tage is IE2 = (VTH 2 vBE ) / (RE ) The dc emitter current of the first stage that is the base e current of sec cond stage is g given by IE1 IE2 / 2 If r'e(2) is ne eglected then in nput impedance of second sta age is Zin (2) = 2 RE This is the impedance seen by the first transistor. t If r'e(1) is also negle ected then the input impedanc ce of 1 become es. Zin (1) = 1 2 RE which is ex xtremely high because b of the products of two o betas, so the e approximate iinput impedanc ce of Darlington n amplifier is s Zin = R1 || R2
Output im mpedance:
The Theve enin impedance e at the input is s given by RTH = RS || R1 || R2 Similar to single s stage common collecto or amplifier, the e output impeda ance of the two o stages zout(1) and zout(2) are g given by.
Therefore, t he output imp pedance of the e amplifier is ve ery small.
Example-1
Design a single stage npn n emitter follow wer amplifier as s shown in fig. 2 with =60, VBE =0.7V, Rsou d VCC= urce =1 K, and 12V. Deter rmine the circuit element values for the stage to achieve A i = 10 with a 10 00 load.
Fig. 2 Solution: nd RE, but we only o have two equations. e Thes se two equatio ons are specifie ed by the curren nt We must select R1, R2 an he placement of o the Q-point. gain and th As discuss sed earlier, the best choice for r a CE amplifie er is to make RC =R load. We c could derive a s similar result fo or RE and Rloa mplifier. We sha all therefore be egin by constra aining REto be e equal to Rload. T This yields a th hird ad in the CC am equation,
RE = Rload= 100 W Now finding the load line slopes, Rac = RE || Rload =50 W Rdc = RE = 100 V o place the Q-p a of the e input is not specified, we ch hoose the quies scent current to point in the cen nter of Since the amplitude the ac load d line for maxim mum swing.
We now fin nd the value of r'e
Since re is insignificant co ompared to RE || Rload, it can be b ignored. Thiis is usually the e case for emitter follower circ cuits. e for current gain we find f Using the equation
Everything in this equatio on is known exc cept RB. We so olve for RB with h the result RB = 1500 W nd from the bas se loop. VBB is foun
Continuing g with the desig gn as discussed d earlier, we fin nd R1 = 13.8 K R2 = 1.68 K The voltage gain of the CC C amplifier is approximately a unity. r is given by The input resistance Rin = RB || [ ( R E || Rload d ) ] = 1 k The output t resistance is given g by
The maxim mum peak to pe eak symmetrica al output swing is given by Vout(p-p) 1.8 | ICQ| (RE || Rload ) = 7.2 V r dissipated in the t load, Pload, and the maxim mum power req uired of the tra ansistor, Ptransisttor, are The power
Example-2 (Capacitor-Coupled CB B Design)

Design a CB C amplifier using an npn tran nsistor as show wn in fig. 3 with h = 100, VCC= 24 V, Rload= 2 2K, RE = 400 VBE = 0.7V V. Design this amplifier for a vo oltage gain of 20. 2
Fig. 3 Solution: Since there e are fewer equ uations than there are unknow wns, we need a an additional c constraint, so w we set RC = Rload = 2 K Then we have,
Rac = 1.40 K and Rdc =2 2.40 K For maximum swing, we set ICQ to
We now fin nd that
The curren nt gain is given by
and inpu ut impedan nce is given n by
We use the e bias equation n to find the par rameters of the e input bias circ cuitry.
The bias re esistors are the en given by
The maxim mum peak-to-pe eak undistorted d output voltage e is Vout(peak-p peak) = 1.8 | ICQ Q | (Rload || RC) = 11.3 V
Push pul ll power am mplifiers:

Class A cu urrent drain: :
In a class A amplifier shown in fig.1, the e dc source VCC C must supply direct current t o the voltage divider and the collector circuit.
Fig. 1 Assuming a stiff voltage divider d circuit, the t dc current drain d of the volltage divider cir rcuit is I 1 = V CC / (R 1 +R 2 ) In the colle ector circuit, the e dc current dra ain is I 2 = I CQ In a class A amplifier, the e sinusoidal var riations in colle ector current av verages to zero o. Therefore, w whether the ac s signal is present or o not, the dc source s must supply an averag ge current of I S = I 1 + I 2. This is the total dc curren nt drain. The dc c source voltage multiplied by y the dc current t drain gives the ac power sup pplied to an amplifier. P S = V CC IS Therefore, efficiency of th he amplifier, = (P L (max) / P S ) * 100 % Where,, P L (max) = maximum ac load line e power. In clas ss A amplifier, there is a wastage of power in resistor R C and 2 R E i.e. ICQ Q * (R C + R E ). To reduce this wastage of o power R C an nd R E should be b made zero. R E cannot be made zero bec cause this will g give rise to bias s stability proble em. R C can als so not be made e zero because e effective load d resistance ge ets shorted. Thi is results in more m current an nd no power tra ansfer to the load R L. The R C resistance ca an, however, be replaced by a an inductance e whose dc resistance is zero and there is no o dc voltage dr rop across the choke as show wn in fig. 1. Since in most application the load is loudspeaker, ther refore power am mplifier drives the loudspeake er, and the maximum power p transfer takes place on nly when load impedence is e equal to the sou urce impedenc ce. If it is not, th he loud speak ker gets less po ower. The impe edence matchin ng is done with h the help of tra ansformer, as s shown in fig. 2.
Fig. 2 The ratio of o number of tur rns is so select ted that the imp pedence referr red to primary s side can be ma atched with the e output impedence of the amplifier. a
Class B am mplifier:
The efficien ncy ( ) of clas ss A amplifier is poor. The rea ason is that the ese circuits dra aw considerable e current from the supply eve en in the absence of input sign nals. In class B operation o the transistor collec ctor current flow ws for only 180 0 of the ac cyc cle. This implies s that the Q-po oint is located app proximately at cutoff on both dc and ac load d lines. The adv vantages of cla ass B operation n are
Lo ower transistor r power dissipa ation Reduced R current drain.
Push pull circuit:
When a tra ansistor operate es in class B, it t clips off a half cycle. To avoid the re esulting distorti ion, two transistors are used in pu ush pull arrange ement. This means that t one transistor r conducts duri ing positive half cycle and a other trans sistor conducts during negative ha alf cycle. The distortion d is low w, load power is large and d efficiency ( ) is more. fig. 3, shows how a npn and pnp transistor emitter fol llowers are rrangement. connected in push pull ar a equivalent ci ircuit are shown in fig. The dc & ac 4 & fig. 5. The T biasing res sistors are sele ected so that Q-point is set s at cutoff. Th his biases the emitter e diode of each transistor betwee en 0.6V and 0.7 7V 0 i.e. I CQ = 0. Because th he biasing resis stors are equal each emitter diode is biased with the same vo oltage. As a t supply volta age is dropped d across result half the each transistor. VCEQ = VCC C / 2.
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Since there e is no dc resis stance in the co ollector or emitt ter circuits, the e dc saturation current is infini ite. The dc load d line is vertical as a shown in fig g. 6. The most difficult d thing is s setting up a st table Q-point a at cut off. Any s significant incre ease in V BE with h temperature can c move the Q-point Q up the dc load line to dangerously h high currents. A Ac load line is g given by
I C(sat) = I CQ Q + (V CEQ / r E ) V CE (cut off) = V CEQ + I CQ r E I CQ = 0; V CEQ = V CC / 2 i.e. I C(sat) = V CC / 2RL ( i.e e. rE = R L ) V CE (cut off) = V CC / 2.
Fig g. 6 When eithe er transistor is conducting, tha at transistor's operating o point swings along t the ac load line e and the opera ating point of the e other transisto or remains at cut c off. The volt tage swing of t the conducting transistor can go from cut off f to saturation. In the next half cycle, the oth her transistor does the same t thing. Therefore, PP = VCC Voltage ga ain of loaded am mplifier: AV= R L / (R R L + r'e ) Z in (base) (RL + r'e ) Z out = r'e + (r B ) / A P =A V * Ai Without sig gnal the capacitor charges up p to VCC / 2 rela ative to ground. In the posit tive half cycle of o input voltage e, the upper tra ansistor conduc cts and the low wer one cut off. The upper tran nsistor acts like an n ordinary emitter follower, so o that the outpu ut voltage appro oximately equa als the input vo oltage. The curr rent flow throug gh RL is such as direct as to make m output po ositive. In the nega ative half cycle of input voltag ge, the upper tra ansistor cuts o off and the lowe er transistor conducts. The low wer transistor acts a like an ordinary emitter fo ollower and pro oduces a load v voltage approx ximately equal t to the input voltage (i.e. negativ ve output. Sinc ce Q, is off, no current can flo ow from VCC thr rough Q, but ca apacitor acts lik ke a battery source and discha arges). During eith her half cycle, the source sees s a high input impedence look king into either r base and the load sees a low w output impedence.
Cross ove er distortion:

Fig. 1 show ws the ac equiv valent circuit of f a class B push pull amplifier r. Suppose that t no bias is app plied to the emitter diodes. Then the incomin ng voltage has to t rise to about t 0.7 V to overc come the barrie er potential. Be ecause of this n no current flow ws through Q, when w the signa al is less than 0.7 0 V. The actio on is similar on n the other half cycle no curre ent flows in Q2 until ac voltag ge is more nega ative the 0.7 V. V If no bias is applied the ou utput of class B amplifier looks s like as shown in fig. 1.
Fig. 1 alf cycles, it no longer is a sine wave. Since the The signal output is distorted. Because of clipping action between ha clipping oc ccurs between the t time one tra ansistor cuts off and the time the other com mes on, it is called cross over distortion. To T eliminate cr ross over distor rtion, the slight t forward bias m must be applied d to each emitt ter diode. This means loca ating the Q-point slightly abov ve cut off as sh hown in fig. 2. I In fact, this is c class AB opera ation. This means that collect tor current flow ws for more than n 180 degrees but less than 3 360.
Fig. 2 Class A am mplifier introduc ces non-linear distortion in inp put wave mean ns elongates on ne half cycle an nd compresses s one half cycle. This can be reduced by swam mping. In this case c it can be f further reduced d because both h half cycles are e identical in shape, is given by non-linear distortion is much m less than class A. Load powe er is given by
Since the ac a output comp pliance equals the t peak-to-pe eak voltage, the e maximum loa ad power is
Where, I1 = current throug gh biasing resistance. When no signal is pre esent I2 = ICQ a and the current drain is small. But when a sig gnal is present, the current dra ain increase be ecause the upp per collector cu urrent becomes s large. If the entire e ac load line is s used, then the upper transis stor has a half s sine wave of current through it with a peak v value of IC(sat) = VCE EQ / RL The averag ge value of half f sine wave is given g by
The dc pow wer is supplied to the circuit is s PS = VCC is un nder no signal conditions, the e dc power is s small because t the current dra ain is minimum. . But when a si ignal uses the entire e ac load lline, the dc pow wer supplied to o the circuit rea aches a maximum m.
Biasing a class B ampl lifier:

In class B amplifier, a two complement c an ny transistors are a required. Be ecause of the s series connecti ion, each trans sistor drops half the t supply voltage. To avoid cross over dist tortion, the Q-p point slightly ab bove cut off, wit th the correct VBE somew where between 0.6 and 0.7. If there is an a increase in VBE by few mV it produces 10 0 times as muc ch emitter curre ent. Because of f this it is difficu ult to find standa ard resistors tha at can produce e the correct VBE B and it needs an adjustable resistor. The biasing g does not solv ve thermal insta ability problem. Because for a given collecto or current, VBE requirement decreases by 2 mV per degree rise in te emperature. Th he voltage divid der produces a stiff drive for e each diode. Therefore as a the tempera ature increases s, the fixed volta age on each em mitter diode forces the collector current to increase an nd this gives ris se to thermal run away. When the temperat ture increases collector current increases, a and this is equivalent to Q-point moving up along a the vertic cal dc load line . As the Q-poin nt moves towar rd higher collec ctor he temperature e of the transist tor increases fu urther reducing g the required V BE . currents, th
Fig. 3 One way to o avoid thermal run away is to o use diode bia as. It is based o on the concept t of current mirr ror as shown in n fig. 3, the base e current is muc ch smaller than n the current th hrough the resis stor and diode. For this reaso on, I1 and I2 are e approximat tely equal. If th he diode curve is identical to the VBE curve o of the transistor r (VBE , IE ). The e diode current t equals the emitter and als so collector cur rrent. Therefore e I1 is nearly eq qual to IC. I1 = I C . The collect tor current is se et by controlling g the resistor current. c This is called a curren nt mirror. Similarly, pnp p transistor can c be used as a current mirro or. If the VBE cu urve of the tran nsistor matches s the diode cur rve, the collecto or equals the re esistor current. Diode bias of class B pus sh pull emitter follower f relies on o two current mirrors as sho own in fig. 4.
Fig. 4 The upper half is an npn current mirror, and the lower half is a pnp current mirror as shown in fig. 4. For diode bias to be immune to changes in temperature, the diode curve must match the VBE curves of the transistor over a wide temperature range. This is easily done in ICs .
Module 3
DC to DC Converters
Lesson 17
Types of Basic DC-DC Converters
Study of the following: Three basic types of dc-dc converter circuits buck, boost and buck-boost The expressions for the output voltage in the above circuits, with inductive (R-L) and battery (or back emf = E) load
Introduction
In the last module (#2) consisting of eight lessons, the various types of circuits used in both single-phase and three-phase ac-dc converters, were discussed in detail. This includes half-wave and full-wave, and also half-controlled and full-controlled ones. In this lesson the first one in this module (#3), firstly, three basic types of dc-dc converter circuits buck, boost and buck-boost, are presented. Then, the expressions for the output voltage in the above circuits, with inductive (R-L) and battery (or back emf = E), i.e., R-L-E, load, are derived, assuming continuous conduction. The different control strategies employed are briefly described. Keywords: DC-DC converter circuits, Thyristor choppers, Buck, boost and buck-boost converters (dc-dc), Step-down (buck) and step-up (boost) choppers, Output voltage and current.
DC-DC Converters
There are three basic types of dc-dc converter circuits, termed as buck, boost and buck-boost. In all of these circuits, a power device is used as a switch. This device earlier used was a thyristor, which is turned on by a pulse fed at its gate. In all these circuits, the thyristor is connected in series with load to a dc supply, or a positive (forward) voltage is applied between anode and cathode terminals. The thyristor turns off, when the current decreases below the holding current, or a reverse (negative) voltage is applied between anode and cathode terminals. So, a thyristor is to be force-commutated, for which additional circuit is to be used, where another thyristor is often used. Later, GTOs came into the market, which can also be turned off by a negative current fed at its gate, unlike thyristors, requiring proper control circuit. The turnon and turn-off times of GTOs are lower than those of thyristors. So, the frequency used in GTObased choppers can be increased, thus reducing the size of filters. Earlier, dc-dc converters were called choppers, where thyristors or GTOs are used. It may be noted here that buck converter (dc-dc) is called as step-down chopper, whereas boost converter (dc-dc) is a step-up chopper. In the case of chopper, no buck-boost type was used. With the advent of bipolar junction transistor (BJT), which is termed as self-commutated device, it is used as a switch, instead of thyristor, in dc-dc converters. This device (NPN transistor) is switched on by a positive current through the base and emitter, and then switched off by withdrawing the above signal. The collector is connected to a positive voltage. Now-adays, MOSFETs are used as a switching device in low voltage and high current applications. It may be noted that, as the turn-on and turn-off time of MOSFETs are lower as compared to other switching devices, the frequency used for the dc-dc converters using it (MOSFET) is high, thus, reducing the size of filters as stated earlier. These converters are now being used for applications, one of the most important being Switched Mode Power Supply (SMPS). Similarly, when application requires high voltage, Insulated Gate Bi-polar Transistors (IGBT) are preferred over Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 3
BJTs, as the turn-on and turn-off times of IGBTs are lower than those of power transistors (BJT), thus the frequency can be increased in the converters using them. So, mostly self-commutated devices of transistor family as described are being increasingly used in dc-dc converters.
Buck Converters (dc-dc)

A buck converter (dc-dc) is shown in Fig. 17.1a. Only a switch is shown, for which a device as described earlier belonging to transistor family is used. Also a diode (termed as free wheeling) is used to allow the load current to flow through it, when the switch (i.e., a device) is turned off. The load is inductive (R-L) one. In some cases, a battery (or back emf) is connected in series with the load (inductive). Due to the load inductance, the load current must be allowed a path, which is provided by the diode; otherwise, i.e., in the absence of the above diode, the high induced emf of the inductance, as the load current tends to decrease, may cause damage to the switching device. If the switching device used is a thyristor, this circuit is called as a step-down chopper, as the output voltage is normally lower than the input voltage. Similarly, this dc-dc converter is termed as buck one, due to reason given later. + S Switch + Vs DF Fig. 17.1(a): Buck converter (dc-dc) v0 Vs V0 TON t T i0 TOFF V0 L I0 L O A D
t Fig. 17.1(b): Output voltage and current waveforms The output voltage and current waveforms of the circuit (Fig. 17.1a) are shown in Fig. 17.1b. The output voltage is same as the input voltage, i.e., v0 = Vs , when the switch is ON, during the period, TON t 0 . The switch is turned on at t = 0 , and then turned off at t = TON . This is Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 4
called ON period. During the next time interval, T t TON , the output voltage is zero, i.e.,
v0 = 0 , as the diode, D F now conducts. The OFF period is TOFF = T TON , with the time period being T = TON + TOFF . The frequency is f = 1 / T . With T kept as constant, the average value of the output voltage is,
V0 = 1 1 v0 dt = T 0 T
T TON
V
0
T dt = Vs ON = k Vs T
The duty ratio is k = (TON / T ) = [TON / (TON + TOFF )] , its range being 1.0 k 0.0 . Normally, due to turn-on delay of the device used, the duty ratio (k) is not zero, but has some positive value. Similarly, due to requirement of turn-off time of the device, the duty ratio (k) is less than 1.0. So, the range of duty ratio is reduced. It may be noted that the output voltage is lower than the input voltage. Also, the average output voltage increases, as the duty ratio is increased. So, a variable dc output voltage is obtained from a constant dc input voltage. The load current is assumed to be continuous as shown in Fig. 17.1b. The load current increases in the ON period, as the input voltage appears across the load, and it (load current) decreases in the OFF period, as it flows in the diode, but is positive at the end of the time period, T.
Boost Converters (dc-dc)

A boost converter (dc-dc) is shown in Fig. 17.2a. Only a switch is shown, for which a device belonging to transistor family is generally used. Also, a diode is used in series with the load. The load is of the same type as given earlier. The inductance of the load is small. An inductance, L is assumed in series with the input supply. The position of the switch and diode in this circuit may be noted, as compared to their position in the buck converter (Fig. 17.1a). + Is L D + I0
Vs
V0
Switch Fig. 17.2(a): Boost converter (dc-dc) I2 I1
L O A D
TON TOFF
2T
Fig. 17.2(b): Waveforms of source current (iS) Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 5
The operation of the circuit is explained. Firstly, the switch, S (i.e., the device) is put ON (or turned ON) during the period, TON t 0 , the ON period being TON . The output voltage is zero ( v0 = 0 ), if no battery (back emf) is connected in series with the load, and also as stated earlier, the load inductance is small. The current from the source ( i s ) flows in the inductance L. The value of current increases linearly with time in this interval, with ( d i d t ) being positive. As the current through L increases, the polarity of the induced emf is taken as say, positive, the left hand side of L being +ve. The equation for the circuit is, di d i s Vs = Vs = L s or, dt dt L The switch, S is put OFF during the period, T t TON , the OFF period being
TOFF = T TON . ( T = TON + TOFF ) is the time period. As the current through L decreases, with its direction being in the same direction as shown (same as in the earlier case), the induced emf reverses, the left hand side of L being -ve. So, the induced emf (taken as ve in the equation given later) is added with the supply voltage, being of the same polarity, thus, keeping the current ( is = i0 ) in the same direction. The current ( is = i0 ) decreases linearly in the time interval, TOFF , as the output voltage is assumed to be nearly constant at v0 V0 , with ( d i s d t ) being negative, as Vs < V0 , which is derived later. The equation for the circuit is, di d i s (Vs V0 ) Vs = V0 + L s = or, dt dt L The source current waveform is shown in Fig. 17.2b. As stated earlier, the current varies linearly from I 1 ( I min ) to I 2 ( I max ) during the time interval, TON . So, using the expression for d i s d t during this time interval, I 2 I 1 = I max I min = (Vs / L ) TON . Similarly, the current varies linearly from I 2 ( I max ) to I 1 ( I min ) during the time interval, TOFF . So, using the expression for d i s d t during this time interval, I 2 I1 = I max I min = [(V0 Vs ) / L] TOFF . Equating the two equations, (V s / L ) T ON = [(V 0 V s ) / L ] T OFF , from which the average value of the output voltage is, T T 1 1 V0 = V s V = s T T T = Vs 1 (T / T ) = Vs 1 k ON ON OFF The time period is T = TON + TOFF , and the duty ratio is, k = (TON / T ) = [TON / (TON + TOFF )] , with its range as 1.0 k 0.0 . The ON time interval is TON = k T . As stated in the previous case, the range of k is reduced. This is, because the minimum value is higher than the minimum (0.0), and the maximum value is lower than the maximum (1.0), for reasons given there, which are also valid here. As shown, the source current is assumed to be continuous. The expression for the output voltage can be obtained by using other procedures. In this case, the output voltage is higher than the input voltage, as contrasted with the previous case of buck converter (dc-dc). So, this is called boost converter (dc-dc), when a selfVersion 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 6
commutated device is used as a switch. Instead, if thyristor is used in its place, this is termed as step-up chopper. The variation (range) of the output voltage can be easily computed.
Buck-Boost Converters (dc-dc)

A buck-boost converter (dc-dc) is shown in Fig. 17.3. Only a switch is shown, for which a device belonging to transistor family is generally used. Also, a diode is used in series with the load. The connection of the diode may be noted, as compared with its connection in a boost converter (Fig. 17.2a). The inductor, L is connected in parallel after the switch and before the diode. The load is of the same type as given earlier. A capacitor, C is connected in parallel with the load. The polarity of the output voltage is opposite to that of input voltage here. When the switch, S is put ON, the supply current ( is ) flows through the path, Vs , S and L, during the time interval, TON . The currents through both source and inductor ( i L ) increase and are same, with ( d i L d t ) being positive. The polarity of the induced voltage is same as that of the input voltage. The equation for the circuit is, di d i L Vs = Vs = L L or, dt dt L Is Switch I0 L O A D
Vs
IL
V0
Fig. 17.3(a): Buck-boost converter (dc-dc) IL2 IL1
TON TOFF
2T
Fig. 17.3(b): Inductor current (iL) waveform Then, the switch, S is put OFF. The inductor current tends to decrease, with the polarity of the induced emf reversing. ( d i L d t ) is negative now, the polarity of the output voltage, V0 being opposite to that of the input voltage, Vs . The path of the current is through L, parallel combination of load & C, and diode D, during the time interval, TOFF . The output voltage remains nearly constant, as the capacitor is connected across the load. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 7
The equation for the circuit is, di d i L V0 L L = V0 = or, dt dt L The inductor current waveform is shown in Fig. 17.3b. As stated earlier, the current varies linearly from I L1 to I L 2 during the time interval, TON . Note that I L1 and I L 2 are the minimum and maximum values of the inductor current respectively. So, using the expression for d i L d t during this time interval, I L 2 I L1 = (Vs / L ) TON . the expression for d i L d t during this time interval, I L 2 I L1 = (V0 / L ) TOFF . Equating the two equations, the output voltage is, TON TON V0 = V s T = Vs T T ON OFF The time period is T = TON Similarly, the current varies linearly from I L 2 to I L1 during the time interval, TOFF . So, using
(V s
/ L ) T ON = (V 0 / L ) T OFF , from which the average value of
k = (TON / T ) = [TON / (TON + TOFF )] . The ON time interval is TON = k T . It may be observed that, for the range 0 k > 0.5 , the output voltage is lower than the input voltage, thus, making it a buck converter (dc-dc). For the range 0.5 > k 1.0 , the output voltage is higher than the input voltage, thus, making it a boost converter (dc-dc). For k = 0.5 , the output voltage is equal to the input voltage. So, this circuit can be termed as a buck-boost converter. Also it may be called as step-up/down chopper. It may be noted that the inductor current is assumed to be continuous. The range of k is somewhat reduced due to the reasons given earlier. The expression for the output voltage can be obtained by using other procedures.
(TON / T ) k = Vs 1 (T / T ) = Vs 1 k ON + TOFF , and the duty ratio is,
Control Strategies
In all cases, it is shown that the average value of the output voltage can be varied. The two types of control strategies (schemes) are employed in all cases. These are: (a) Time-ratio control, and (b) Current limit control.
Time-ratio Control
In the time ratio control the value of the duty ratio, k = TON / T is varied. There are two ways, which are constant frequency operation, and variable frequency operation.
Constant Frequency Operation

In this control strategy, the ON time, TON is varied, keeping the frequency ( f = 1 / T ), or time period T constant. This is also called as pulse width modulation control (PWM). Two cases with duty ratios, k as (a) 0.25 (25%), and (b) 0.75 (75%) are shown in Fig. 17.4. Hence, the output voltage can be varied by varying ON time, TON .
Load-voltage v0 TON TOFF V0 k = 0.25
V0 v0 TON T TOFF k = 0.75
Fig. 17.4: Pulse-width modulation control (constant frequency)
Variable Frequency Operation

In this control strategy, the frequency ( f = 1 / T ), or time period T is varied, keeping either (a) the ON time, TON constant, or (b) the OFF time, TOFF constant. This is also called as frequency modulation control. Two cases with (a) the ON time, TON constant, and (b) the OFF time, TOFF constant, with variable frequency or time period ( T ), are shown in Fig. 17.5. The output voltage can be varied in both cases, with the change in duty ratio, k = TON / T .
v0 TON k = 0.25 t v0
TON T
TOFF (a) Constant TON
k = 0.75 t
v0
TOFF T v0 TOFF
TON
k = 0.25 t Load voltage
TON T (b) Constant TOFF
k = 0.75 t
Fig. 17.5: Output voltage waveforms for variable frequency system There are major disadvantages in this control strategy. These are: (a) The frequency has to be varied over a wide range for the control of output voltage in frequency modulation. Filter design for such wide frequency variation is, therefore, quite difficult. (b) For the control of a duty ratio, frequency variation would be wide. As such, there is a possibly of interference with systems using certain frequencies, such as signaling and telephone line, in frequency modulation technique. (c) The large OFF time in frequency modulation technique, may make the load current discontinuous, which is undesirable. Thus, the constant frequency system using PWM is the preferred scheme for dc-dc converters (choppers).
Current Limit Control

As can be observed from the current waveforms for the types of dc-dc converters described earlier, the current changes between the maximum and minimum values, if it (current) is continuous. In the current limit control strategy, the switch in dc-dc converter (chopper) is turned ON and OFF, so that the current is maintained between two (upper and lower) limits. When the current exceed upper (maximum) limit, the switch is turned OFF. During OFF period, the current freewheels in say, buck converter (dc-dc) through the diode, D F , and decreases exponentially. When it reaches lower (minimum) limit, the switch is turned ON. This type of control is possible, either with constant frequency, or constant ON time, TON . This is used only, when the load has energy storage elements, i.e. inductance, L. The reference values are load current or load voltage. This is shown in Fig. 17.6. In this case, the current is continuous, varying between I max and I min , which decides the frequency used for switching. The ripple in the load current can be reduced, if the difference between the upper and lower limits is reduced, thereby making it minimum. This in turn increases the frequency, thereby increasing the switching losses.
I max
i0
I min
t v0
TON TOFF
T Fig. 17.6: Current limit control
In this lesson, first one in this module (#3), the three basic circuits buck, boost and buckboost, of dc-dc converters (choppers) are presented, along with the operation and the derivation of the expressions for the output voltage in each case, assuming continuous conduction. The different strategies employed for their control are discussed. In the next lesson second one, the expression for the maximum and currents for continuous conduction in buck dc-dc converter will be derived.
Operation nal Amplifie ers: The oper rational amplifier is a dir rect-coupled d high gain am mplifier usa able from 0 to o over 1MH H Z to which fee edback is ad dded to contr rol its overal ll response c characteristic c i.e. gain an nd bandwidth h. The op-a amp exhibits the gain dow wn to zero frequency. fr Such dire ect coupled (dc) ( amplifie ers do not us se blocking ( (coupling an nd by pass) c capacitors sin nce these would reduce th he amplifica ation to zero at zero frequ uency. Larg ge by pass ca apacitors may y be used but it is not possible to fabri icate large capacitors on n a IC chip. T The capacito ors fabricated d are usually le ess than 20 pf. p Transisto or, diodes and resistors ar are also fabri icated on the e same chip. Differential Amplifi iers: Different tial amplifier r is a basic building b bloc ck of an op-a amp. The fun nction of a d differential amplifier r is to amplif fy the differe ence between n two input signals. How the differential amplifier is developed? Let us consi mitter-biased circuits as sh hown ider two em in fig. 1.
Fig. 1 The two transistors Q1 and Q2 ha ave identical characterist tics. The resi istances of th he circuits are equal, i.e e. RE1 = R E2, RC1 = R C2 and the mag gnitude of +V VCC is equal l to the magn nitude of V VEE. These vo oltages are measured m with h respect to ground. To make a differentia al amplifier, the two circ cuits are con nnected as sh hown in fig. 1. The two + +VCC and VEE supply term minals are made m common n because th hey are same e. The two em mitters are a also E connected and the pa arallel combi ination of RE1 s replaced by y a resistance RE. The tw wo E and RE2 is input sign nals v1 & v2 are applied at the base of o Q1 and at the base of Q2. The outp put voltage i is taken bet tween two co ollectors. Th he collector resistances r a are equal and d therefore d denoted by RC = RC1 = RC2 C .
Ideally, the t output vo oltage is zero o when the tw wo inputs ar re equal. Wh hen v1 is grea ater then v2 t the output vo oltage with the t polarity shown s appea ars. When v1 is less than n v2, the outp put voltage h has the opposite polarity. erential ampl lifiers are of f different co onfigurations s. The diffe The four differential amplifier co onfigurations s are followi ing: 1. 2. 3. 4. Dual input t, balanced output o differ rential amplifier. Dual input t, unbalanced output diff ferential amp plifier. Single input balanced output diffe rential ampl lifier. Single input unbalance ed output dif fferential am mplifier.
Fig. 2 These co onfigurations s are shown in i fig. 2, and d are defined d by number r of input sig gnals used an nd the way an a output vo oltage is mea asured. If use e two input s signals, the c configuration n is said to b be dual inpu ut, otherwise e it is a single e input confi figuration. O On the other h hand, if the o output voltag ge is measured d between tw wo collectors s, it is referre ed to as a ba alanced outpu ut because b both the collectors are at the same s dc pote ential w.r.t. ground. g If th he output is m measured at one of the und, the conf figuration is called an un nbalanced ou utput. collectors w.r.t. grou tage amplifier with a des sired gain ca an be obtaine ed using dire ect connectio on between A multist successiv ve stages of differential d amplifiers. a The T advantag ge of direct c coupling is t that it remov ves the lower r cut off freq quency impo osed by the coupling c cap pacitors, and they are the erefore, capa able of amplif fying dc as well w as ac inp put signals. Differential Input Resistance: R Different tial input res sistance is de efined as the e equivalent r resistance th hat would be e measured a at either inp put terminal with the oth her terminal grounded. g T This means th hat the input t resistance Ri1 seen from m the input signal s source e v1 is determ mined with th he signal sou urce v2 set a at zero. Simil larly, the input signal v1 is set at zero to o determine the input res sistance Ri2 seen from th he input sign nal source v2. Resistance e RS1 and RS2 are ignored d because th hey are very small.
Substitut ting ie1,
Similarly y,
The facto or of 2 arises s because the e re' of each transistor is in series. To get ve ery high inpu ut impedance with differ rential ampli ifier is to use e Darlington n transistors. Another ways is to use FET. Output Resistance: R Output re esistance is defined d as th he equivalent t resistance t that would b be measured at output terminal with respect t to ground. Therefore, th he output res sistance RO1 between coll lector 1 measured b C1 and gr round is equ ual to that of the collector resistance RC. Similarl ly the output t resistance RO2 measured d at C2 with respect to gr round is equ ual to that of the collector resistor RC. RO1 = RO2 O = RC (E-5) (
The curre ent gain of th he differenti ial amplifier is undefined d. Like CE a amplifier the e differential l amplifier r is a small signal amplif fier. It is gen nerally used as a voltage amplifier an nd not as cur rrent or power r amplifier. Example e-1 The follo owing specif fications are given for the dual input, , balanced-o output differe ential amplif fier: RC = 2.2 k, RB = 4.7 k, Rin 1 = Rin 2 = 50, +VCC= 10V V, -VEE = -1 10 V, dc =10 00 and VBE = 0.715V. mine the vol ltage gain. a. Determ b. Determ mine the inp put resistance e c. Determ mine the out tput resistanc ce. Solution n: (a). The parameters p of o the amplif fiers are sam me as discuss sed in examp ple-1 of lectu ure-1. The operating g point of the e two transis stors obtaine ed in lecture-1 are given below ICQ = 0.9 988 mA VCEQ=8.5 54V The ac em mitter resista ance
Therefore, substitutin ng the known n values in voltage v gain equation (E E-2), we obta ain
b). The in nput resistan nce seen from m each input t source is gi iven by (E-3 3) and (E-4): :
(c) The output o resista ance seen loo oking back into i the circu uit from each h of the two output term minals is given by b (E-5) Ro1 = Ro2 2 = 2.2 k Example e-2 For the dual d input, ba alanced outp put differenti ial amplifier r of Example e-1: a. Determ mine the out tput voltage (vo) if vin 1 = 50mV peak k to peak (pp p) at 1 kHz a and vin 2 = 20 mV pp at a 1 kHz. b. What is the maxim mum peal to peak output t voltage wit thout clippin ng? Solution n: (a) In Example-1 E we have deter rmined the voltage gain o of the dual in nput, balanc ced output differenti ial amplifier r. Substitutin ng this voltag ge gain (Ad = 86.96) and d given value es of input voltages in (E-1), we e get
(b) Note e that in case e of dual inp put, balanced d output diffe ference ampl lifier, the out tput voltage vo is measured d across the collector. Th herefore, to calculate c the e maximum p peak to peak k output volt tage, we need to determine e the voltage e drop across s each collec ctor resistor:
ting IC = ICQ = 0.988 mA A, we get Substitut
This mea ans that the maximum m ch hange in volt tage across e each collecto or resistor is 2.17 (idea ally) or 4.34 VPP. In other words, the maximum m pe eak to peak o output voltag ge with out c clipping is (2 2) (4.34) = 8.68 VPP.
Module 1
Lesson 1
Power Electronics
Introduction
This lesson provides the reader the following: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Create an awareness of the general nature of Power electronic equipment; Brief idea about topics of study involved, The key features of the principal Power Electronic Devices; An idea about which device to choose for a particular application. A few issues like base drive and protection of PE devices and equipment common to most varieties.
Power Electronics is the art of converting electrical energy from one form to another in an efficient, clean, compact, and robust manner for convenient utilisation. A passenger lift in a modern building equipped with a Variable-Voltage-Variable-Speed induction-machine drive offers a comfortable ride and stops exactly at the floor level. Behind the scene it consumes less power with reduced stresses on the motor and corruption of the utility mains.
Fig. 1.1 The block diagram of a typical Power Electronic converter Power Electronics involves the study of Power semiconductor devices - their physics, characteristics, drive requirements and their protection for optimum utilisation of their capacities, Power converter topologies involving them, Control strategies of the converters, Digital, analogue and microelectronics involved, Capacitive and magnetic energy storage elements, Rotating and static electrical devices, Quality of waveforms generated, Electro Magnetic and Radio Frequency Interference, Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 3
Thermal Management The typical converter in Fig. 1.1 illustrates the multidisciplinary nature of this subject.
How is Power electronics distinct from linear electronics?

It is not primarily in their power handling capacities. While power management IC's in mobile sets working on Power Electronic principles are meant to handle only a few milliwatts, large linear audio amplifiers are rated at a few thousand watts. The utilisation of the Bipolar junction transistor, Fig. 1.2 in the two types of amplifiers best symbolises the difference. In Power Electronics all devices are operated in the switching mode either 'FULLY-ON' or 'FULLY-OFF' states. The linear amplifier concentrates on fidelity in signal amplification, requiring transistors to operate strictly in the linear (active) zone, Fig 1.3. Saturation and cutoff zones in the VCE - IC plane are avoided. In a Power electronic switching amplifier, only those areas in the VCE - IC plane which have been skirted above, are suitable. Onstate dissipation is minimum if the device is in saturation (or quasi-saturation for optimising other losses). In the off-state also, losses are minimum if the BJT is reverse biased. A BJT switch will try to traverse the active zone as fast as possible to minimise switching losses.
Fig. 1.2 Typical Bipolar transistor based (a) linear (common emitter) (voltage) amplifier stage and (b) switching (power) amplifier
Fig 1.3 Operating zones for operating a Bipolar Junction Transistor as a linear and a switching amplifier Linear operation Active zone selected: Good linearity between input/output Switching operation Active zone avoided : High losses, encountered only during transients Saturation & cut-off zones avoided: poor Saturation & cut-off (negative bias) zones linearity selected: low losses Transistor biased to operate around No concept of quiescent point quiescent point Common emitter, Common collector, Transistor driven directly at base - emitter common base modes and load either on collector or emitter Output transistor barely protected Switching-Aid-Network (SAN) and other protection to main transistor Utilisation of transistor rating of secondary Utilisation of transistor rating optimised importance
An example illustrating the linear and switching solutions to a power supply specification will emphasise the difference. Spec: Input : 230 V, 50 Hz, Output: 12 V regulated DC, 20 W
Ferrite core HF transfr: Light, efficient Series regulator high losses 230 V
230 V
Line freq transformer: heavy, lossy
(a)
High-freq Duty-ratio (ON/OFF) control - low losses
(b)
Fig. 1.4 (a) A Linear regulator and (b) a switching regulator solution of the specification above The linear solution, Fig. 1.4 (a), to this quite common specification would first step down the supply voltage to 12-0-12 V through a power frequency transformer. The output would be rectified using Power frequency diodes, electrolytic capacitor filter and then series regulated using a chip or a audio power transistor. The tantalum capacitor filter would follow. The balance of the voltage between the output of the rectifier and the output drops across the regulator device which also carries the full load current. The power loss is therefore considerable. Also, the stepdown iron-core transformer is both heavy, and lossy. However, only twice-line-frequency ripples appear at the output and material cost and technical know-how required is low. In the switching solution Fig. 1.4 (b) using a MOSFET driven flyback converter, first the line voltage is rectified and then isolated, stepped-down and regulated. A ferrite-core high-frequency (HF) transformer is used. Losses are negligible compared to the first solution and the converter is extremely light. However significant high frequency (related to the switching frequency) noise appear at the output which can only be minimised through the use of costly 'grass' capacitors.
Power Semiconductor device - history

Power electronics and converters utilizing them made a head start when the first device the Silicon Controlled Rectifier was proposed by Bell Labs and commercially produced by General Electric in the earlier fifties. The Mercury Arc Rectifiers were well in use by that time and the robust and compact SCR first started replacing it in the rectifiers and cycloconverters. The necessity arose of extending the application of the SCR beyond the line-commutated mode of action, which called for external measures to circumvent its turn-off incapability via its control terminals. Various turn-off schemes were proposed and their classification was suggested but it became increasingly obvious that a device with turn-off capability was desirable, which would permit it a wider application. The turn-off networks and aids were impractical at higher powers. The Bipolar transistor, which had by the sixties been developed to handle a few tens of amperes and block a few hundred volts, arrived as the first competitor to the SCR. It is superior to the SCR in its turn-off capability, which could be exercised via its control terminals. This permitted the replacement of the SCR in all forced-commutated inverters and choppers. However, the gain (power) of the SCR is a few decades superior to that of the Bipolar transistor Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 6
and the high base currents required to switch the Bipolar spawned the Darlington. Three or more stage Darlingtons are available as a single chip complete with accessories for its convenient drive. Higher operating frequencies were obtainable with a discrete Bipolars compared to the 'fast' inverter-grade SCRs permitting reduction of filter components. But the Darlington's operating frequency had to be reduced to permit a sequential turn-off of the drivers and the main transistor. Further, the incapability of the Bipolar to block reverse voltages restricted its use. The Power MOSFET burst into the scene commercially near the end seventies. This device also represents the first successful marriage between modern integrated circuit and discrete power semiconductor manufacturing technologies. Its voltage drive capability giving it again a higher gain, the ease of its paralleling and most importantly the much higher operating frequencies reaching upto a few MHz saw it replacing the Bipolar also at the sub-10 KW range mainly for SMPS type of applications. Extension of VLSI manufacturing facilities for the MOSFET reduced its price vis--vis the Bipolar also. However, being a majority carrier device its on-state voltage is dictated by the RDS(ON) of the device, which in turn is proportional to about VDSS2.3 rating of the MOSFET. Consequently, high-voltage MOSFETS are not commercially viable. Improvements were being tried out on the SCR regarding its turn-off capability mostly by reducing the turn-on gain. Different versions of the Gate-turn-off device, the Gate turn-off Thyristor (GTO), were proposed by various manufacturers - each advocating their own symbol for the device. The requirement for an extremely high turn-off control current via the gate and the comparatively higher cost of the device restricted its application only to inverters rated above a few hundred KVA. The lookout for a more efficient, cheap, fast and robust turn-off-able device proceeded in different directions with MOS drives for both the basic thysistor and the Bipolar. The Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) basically a MOSFET driven Bipolar from its terminal characteristics has been a successful proposition with devices being made available at about 4 KV and 4 KA. Its switching frequency of about 25 KHz and ease of connection and drive saw it totally removing the Bipolar from practically all applications. Industrially, only the MOSFET has been able to continue in the sub 10 KVA range primarily because of its high switching frequency. The IGBT has also pushed up the GTO to applications above 2-5 MVA. Subsequent developments in converter topologies especially the three-level inverter permitted use of the IGBT in converters of 5 MVA range. However at ratings above that the GTO (6KV/6KA device of Mitsubishi) based converters had some space. Only SCR based converters are possible at the highest range where line-commutated or load-commutated converters were the only solution. The surge current, the peak repetition voltage and I2t ratings are applicable only to the thyristors making them more robust, specially thermally, than the transistors of all varieties.
1200V Version 3 ASIPM
Presently there are few hybrid devices and Intelligent Power Modules (IPM) are marketed by some manufacturers. The IPMs have already gathered wide acceptance. The 4500 V, 1200 A Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 7
IEGT (injection-enhanced gate transistor) of Toshiba or the 6000 V, 3500 A IGCT (Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristors) of ABB which are promising at the higher power ranges. However these new devices must prove themselves before they are accepted by the industry at large. Silicon carbide is a wide band gap semiconductor with an energy band gap wider than about 2 eV that possesses extremely high thermal, chemical, and mechanical stability. Silicon carbide is the only wide band gap semiconductor among gallium nitride (GaN, EG = 3.4 eV), aluminum nitride (AlN, EG = 6.2 eV), and silicon carbide that possesses a high-quality native oxide suitable for use as an MOS insulator in electronic devices The breakdown field in SiC is about 8 times higher than in silicon. This is important for high-voltage power switching transistors. For example, a device of a given size in SiC will have a blocking voltage 8 times higher than the same device in silicon. More importantly, the on-resistance of the SiC device will be about two decades lower than the silicon device. Consequently, the efficiency of the power converter is higher. In addition, SiC-based semiconductor switches can operate at high temperatures (~600 C) without much change in their electrical properties. Thus the converter has a higher reliability. Reduced losses and allowable higher operating temperatures result in smaller heatsink size. Moreover, the high frequency operating capability of SiC converters lowers the filtering requirement and the filter size. As a result, they are compact, light, reliable, and efficient and have a high power density. These qualities satisfy the requirements of power converters for most applications and they are expected to be the devices of the future. Ratings have been progressively increasing for all devices while the newer devices offer substantially better performance. With the SCR and the pin-diodes, so called because of the sandwiched intrinsic i-layer between the p and n layers, having mostly line-commutated converter applications, emphasis was mostly on their static characteristics - forward and reverse voltage blocking, current carrying and over-current ratings, on-state forward voltage etc and also on issues like paralleling and series operation of the devices. As the operating speeds of the devices increased, the dynamic (switching) characteristics of the devices assumed greater importance as most of the dissipation was during these transients. Attention turned to the development of efficient drive networks and protection techniques which were found to enhance the performance of the devices and their peak power handling capacities. Issues related to paralleling were resolved by the system designer within the device itself like in MOSFETS, while the converter topology was required to take care of their series operation as in multi-level converters. The range of power devices thus developed over the last few decades can be represented as a tree, Fig. 1.5, on the basis of their controllability and other dominant features.
POWER SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
UNCONTROLLED
CONTROLLED
RECTIFIERS
ACCESSORIES
REGENERATIVE SCR TRIAC GTO
NON-REGENERATIVE BJT MOSFET IGBT
INTEGRATED IGCT PIC INTELLIGENT POWER MODULES
POWER SILICON DIODES FREDS SCHOTTKY
DIAC Zenner MOV
Fig. 1.5 Power semiconductor device variety
Power Diodes
diF /dt
t0
t1
t2
SNAPPY
SOFT to Q1 Q2
IRM
VRM
Fig. 1.6 Typical turn-off dynamics of a soft and a 'snappy' diode' Silicon Power diodes are the successors of Selenium rectifiers having significantly improved forward characteristics and voltage ratings. They are classified mainly by their turn-off (dynamic) characteristics Fig. 1.6. The minority carriers in the diodes require finite time - trr (reverse recovery time) to recombine with opposite charges and neutralise. Large values of Qrr (= Q1 + Q2) - the charge to be dissipated as a negative current when the and diode turns off and trr (= t2 - t0) - the time it takes to regain its blocking features, impose strong current stresses on the controlled device in series. Also a 'snappy' type of recovery of the diode effects high di/dt voltages on all associated power device in the converter because of load or stray inductances present in the network. There are broadly three types of diodes used in Power electronic applications: Line-frequency diodes: These PIN diodes with general-purpose rectifier type applications, are available at the highest voltage (~5kV) and current ratings (~5kA) and have excellent overcurrent (surge rating about six times average current rating) and surge-voltage withstand capability. They have relatively large Qrr and trr specifications.
Fast recovery diodes: Fast recovery diffused diodes and fast recovery epitaxial diodes, FRED's, have significantly lower Qrr and trr (~ 1.0 sec). They are available at high powers and are mainly used in association with fast controlled-devices as free-wheeling or DC-DC choppers and rectifier applications. Fast recovery diodes also find application in induction heating, UPS and traction. Schottky rectifiers: These are the fastest rectifiers being majority carrier devices without any Qrr.. However, they are available with voltage ratings up to a hundred volts only though current ratings may be high. Their conduction voltages specifications are excellent (~0.2V). The freedom from minority carrier recovery permits reduced snubber requirements. Schottky diodes face no competition in low voltage SPMS applications and in instrumentation.
Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)

The Silicon Controlled Rectifier is the most popular of the thyristor family of four layer regenerative devices. It is normally turned on by the application of a gate pulse when a forward bias voltage is present at the main terminals. However, being regenerative or 'latching', it cannot be turned off via the gate terminals specially at the extremely high amplification factor of the gate. There are two main types of SCR's. Converter grade or Phase Control thyristors These devices are the work horses of the Power Electronics. They are turned off by natural (line) commutation and are reverse biased at least for a few milliseconds subsequent to a conduction period. No fast switching feature is desired of these devices. They are available at voltage ratings in excess of 5 KV starting from about 50 V and current ratings of about 5 KA. The largest converters for HVDC transmission are built with series-parallel combination of these devices. Conduction voltages are device voltage rating dependent and range between 1.5 V (600V) to about 3.0 V (+5 KV). These devices are unsuitable for any 'forced-commutated' circuit requiring unwieldy large commutation components. The dynamic di/dt and dv/dt capabilities of the SCR have vastly improved over the years borrowing emitter shorting and other techniques adopted for the faster variety. The requirement for hard gate drives and di/dt limting inductors have been eliminated in the process. Inverter grade thyristors: Turn-off times of these thyristors range from about 5 to 50 secs when hard switched. They are thus called fast or 'inverter grade' SCR's. The SCR's are mainly used in circuits that are operated on DC supplies and no alternating voltage is available to turn them off. Commutation networks have to be added to the basic converter only to turn-off the SCR's. The efficiency, size and weight of these networks are directly related to the turn-off time, tq of the SCR. The commutation circuits utilised resonant networks or charged capacitors. Quite a few commutation networks were designed and some like the McMurray-Bedford became widely accepted. Asymmetrical, light-activated, reverse conducting SCR's Quite a few varieties of the basic SCR have been proposed for specific applications. The Asymmetrical thyristor is convenient when reactive powers are involved and the light activated SCR assists in paralleling or series operation.
MOSFET
The Power MOSFET technology has mostly reached maturity and is the most popular device for SMPS, lighting ballast type of application where high switching frequencies are desired but operating voltages are low. Being a voltage fed, majority carrier device (resistive behaviour) with a typically rectangular Safe Operating Area, it can be conveniently utilized. Utilising shared manufacturing processes, comparative costs of MOSFETs are attractive. For low frequency applications, where the currents drawn by the equivalent capacitances across its terminals are small, it can also be driven directly by integrated circuits. These capacitances are the main hindrance to operating the MOSFETS at speeds of several MHz. The resistive characteristics of its main terminals permit easy paralleling externally also. At high current low voltage applications the MOSFET offers best conduction voltage specifications as the RDS(ON) specification is current rating dependent. However, the inferior features of the inherent antiparallel diode and its higher conduction losses at power frequencies and voltage levels restrict its wider application.
The IGBT
It is a voltage controlled four-layer device with the advantages of the MOSFET driver and the Bipolar Main terminal. IGBTs can be classified as punch-through (PT) and non-punchthrough (NPT) structures. In the punch-through IGBT, a better trade-off between the forward voltage drop and turn-off time can be achieved. Punch-through IGBTs are available up to about 1200 V. NPT IGBTs of up to about 4 KV have been reported in literature and they are more robust than PT IGBTs particularly under short circuit conditions. However they have a higher forward voltage drop than the PT IGBTs. Its switching times can be controlled by suitably shaping the drive signal. This gives the IGBT a number of advantages: it does not require protective circuits, it can be connected in parallel without difficulty, and series connection is possible without dv/dt snubbers. The IGBT is presently one of the most popular device in view of its wide ratings, switching speed of about 100 KHz a easy voltage drive and a square Safe Operating Area devoid of a Second Breakdown region.
The GTO
The GTO is a power switching device that can be turned on by a short pulse of gate current and turned off by a reverse gate pulse. This reverse gate current amplitude is dependent on the anode current to be turned off. Hence there is no need for an external commutation circuit to turn it off. Because turn-off is provided by bypassing carriers directly to the gate circuit, its turn-off time is short, thus giving it more capability for highfrequency operation than thyristors. The GTO symbol and turn-off characteristics are shown in Fig. 30.3. GTOs have the I2t withstand capability and hence can be protected by semiconductor fuses. For reliable operation of GTOs, the critical aspects are proper design of the gate turn-off circuit and the snubber circuit.
Power Converter Topologies

A Power Electronic Converter processes the available form to another having a different frequency and/or voltage magnitude. There can be four basic types of converters depending upon the function performed: Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 11
CONVERSION FROM/TO
NAME
FUNCTION
SYMBOL
DC to DC
Chopper
Constant to variable DC or variable to constant DC
DC to AC
Inverter
DC to AC of desired voltage and frequency
~ ~ ~
AC to DC
Rectifier
AC to unipolar (DC) current
AC to AC
Cycloconverter, AC-PAC, Matrix converter
AC of desired frequency and/or magnitude from generally line AC
Base / gate drive circuit

All discrete controlled devices, regenerative or otherwise have three terminals. Two of these are the Main Terminals. One of the Main Terminals and the third form the Control Terminal. The amplification factor of all the devices (barring the now practically obsolete BJT) are quite high, though turn-on gain is not equal to turn-off gain. The drive circuit is required to satisfy the control terminal characteristics to efficiently tun-on each of the devices of the converter, turn them off, if possible, again optimally and also to protect the device against faults, mostly overcurrents. Being driven by a common controller, the drives must also be isolated from each other as the potentials of the Main Terminal which doubles as a Control terminal are different at various locations of the converter. Gate-turn-off-able devices require precise gate drive waveform for optimal switching. This necessitates a wave-shaping amplifier. This amplifier is located after the isolation stage. Thus separate isolated power supplies are also required for each Power device in the converter (the ones having a common Control Terminal - say the Emitter in an IGBT - may require a few less). There are functionally two types of isolators: the pulse transformer which can transmit after isolation, in a multi-device converter, both the un-shaped signal and power and optical isolators which transmit only the signal. The former is sufficient for a SCR without isolated power supplies at the secondary. The latter is a must for practically all other devices. Fig. 1.7 illustrates to typical drive circuits for an IGBT and an SCR. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 12
IGBT
Vref
COMPARATOR
TIMER
Fig. 1.7 Simple gate-drive and protection circuit for a stand-alone IGBT and a SCR
Protection of Power devices and converters

Power electronic converters often operate from the utility mains and are exposed to the disturbances associated with it. Even otherwise, the transients associated with switching circuits and faults that occur at the load point stress converters and devices. Consequently, several protection schemes must be incorporated in a converter. It is necessary to protect both the Main Terminals and the control terminals. Some of these techniques are common for all devices and converters. However, differences in essential features of devices call for special protection schemes particular for those devices. The IGBT must be protected against latching, and similarly the GTO's turn-off drive is to be disabled if the Anode current exceeds the maximum permissible turn-off-able current specification. Power semiconductor devices are commonly protected against: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Over-current; di/dt; Voltage spike or over-voltage; dv/dt ; Gate-under voltage; Over voltage at gate; Excessive temperature rise; Electro-static discharge;
Semiconductor devices of all types exhibit similar responses to most of the stresses, however there are marked differences. The SCR is the most robust device on practically all counts. That it has an I2t rating is proof that its internal thermal capacities are excellent. A HRC fuse, suitably selected, and in co-ordination with fast circuit breakers would mostly protect it. This sometimes becomes a curse when the cost of the fuse becomes exorbitant. All transistors, specially the BJT and the IGBT is actively protected (without any operating cost!) by sensing the Main Terminal voltage, as shown in Fig. 1.7. This voltage is related to the current carried by the device. Further, the transistors permit designed gate current waveforms to minimise voltage spikes as a consequence of sharply rising Main terminal currents. Gate resistances have significant effect on turn-on and turn-off times of these devices - permitting optimisation of switching times for the reduction of switching losses and voltage spikes.
Protection schemes for over-voltages - the prolonged ones and those of short duration - are guided by the energy content of the surges. Metal Oxide Varistors (MOV's), capacitive dynamic voltage-clamps and crow-bar circuits are some of the strategies commonly used. For high dv/dt stresses, which again have similar effect on all devices, R-C or R-C-D clamps are used depending on the speed of the device. These 'snubbers' or 'switching-aid-networks', additionally minimise switching losses of the device - thus reducing its temperature rise. Gates of all devices are required to be protected against over-voltages (typically + 20 V) specially for the voltage driven ones. This is achieved with the help of Zener clamps - the zener being also a very fast-acting device. Protection against issues like excessive case temperatures and ESD follow well-set practices. Forced-cooling techniques are very important for the higher rated converters and whole environments are air-cooled to lower the ambient.
Objective type questions

Qs#1 Which is the Power semiconductor device having a) b) c) d) Highest switching speed; Highest voltage / current ratings; Easy drive features; Can be most effectively paralleled; e) Can be protected against over-currents with a fuse; f) Gate-turn off capability with regenerative features; g) Easy drive and High power handling capability Ans:
a) MOSFET; b) SCR; c) MOSFET; d) MOSFET; e) SCR ; (f) GTO; (g) IGBT
Qs#2 An SCR requires 50 mA gate current to switch it on. It has a resistive load and is supplied from a 100 V DC supply. Specify the Pulse transformer details and the circuit following it, if the driver circuit supply voltage is 10 V and the gate-cathode drop is about 1 V. Ans: The most important ratings of the Pulse transformer are its volt-secs rating, the isolation voltage and the turns ratio. The volt-secs is decided by the product of the primary pulse-voltage multiplied by the period for which the pulse is applied to the winding If the primary pulse voltage = (Supply voltage drive transistor drop) The turn-on time of he SCR may be in the range 50 secs for an SCR of this rating. Consequently the volt secs may be in the range of 9 x 50 = 450 volt-secs = 2.5 KV, IM = 150 mA The Pulse transformer may be chosen as: 1:1, 450 Vs, Visol The circuit shown in Fig. 1.7 may be used. Diodes 1N4002 Series resistance = (Supply voltage drive transistor drop gate-cathode drop)/100mA = (10 1 1) / 100 E-3 = 80 Ohm = 49 or 57 Ohm (nearest available lower value) Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 14
Module 1
Lesson 4
Thyristors and Triacs
Instructional objects
On completion the student will be able to Explain the operating principle of a thyristor in terms of the two transistor analogy. Draw and explain the i-v characteristics of a thyristor. Draw and explain the gate characteristics of a thyristor. Interpret data sheet rating of a thyristor. Draw and explain the switching characteristics of a thyristor. Explain the operating principle of a Triac.
4.1 Introduction
Although the large semiconductor diode was a predecessor to thyristors, the modern power electronics area truly began with advent of thyristors. One of the first developments was the publication of the P-N-P-N transistor switch concept in 1956 by J.L. Moll and others at Bell Laboratories, probably for use in Bells Signal application. However, engineers at General Electric quickly recognized its significance to power conversion and control and within nine months announced the first commercial Silicon Controlled Rectifier in 1957. This had a continuous current carrying capacity of 25A and a blocking voltage of 300V. Thyristors (also known as the Silicon Controlled Rectifiers or SCRs) have come a long way from this modest beginning and now high power light triggered thyristors with blocking voltage in excess of 6kv and continuous current rating in excess of 4kA are available. They have reigned supreme for two entire decades in the history of power electronics. Along the way a large number of other devices with broad similarity with the basic thyristor (invented originally as a phase control type device) have been developed. They include, inverter grade fast thyristor, Silicon Controlled Switch (SCS), light activated SCR (LASCR), Asymmetrical Thyristor (ASCR) Reverse Conducting Thyristor (RCT), Diac, Triac and the Gate turn off thyristor (GTO). From the construction and operational point of view a thyristor is a four layer, three terminal, minority carrier semi-controlled device. It can be turned on by a current signal but can not be turned off without interrupting the main current. It can block voltage in both directions but can conduct current only in one direction. During conduction it offers very low forward voltage drop due to an internal latch-up mechanism. Thyristors have longer switching times (measured in tens of s) compared to a BJT. This, coupled with the fact that a thyristor can not be turned off using a control input, have all but eliminated thyristors in high frequency switching applications involving a DC input (i.e, choppers, inverters). However in power frequency ac applications where the current naturally goes through zero, thyristor remain popular due to its low conduction loss its reverse voltage blocking capability and very low control power requirement. In fact, in very high power (in excess of 50 MW) AC DC (phase controlled converters) or AC AC (cyclo-converters) converters, thyristors still remain the device of choice.
4.2 Constructional Features of a Thyristor

Fig 4.1 shows the circuit symbol, schematic construction and the photograph of a typical thyristor.
A A
p n-
G K (a) G
n+
p
n+
K (b)
(c)
Fig. 4.1: Constructional features of a thysistor (a) Circuit Symbol, (b) Schematic Construction, (c) Photograph As shown in Fig 4.1 (b) the primary crystal is of lightly doped n- type on either side of which two p type layers with doping levels higher by two orders of magnitude are grown. As in the case of power diodes and transistors depletion layer spreads mainly into the lightly doped nregion. The thickness of this layer is therefore determined by the required blocking voltage of the device. However, due to conductivity modulation by carriers from the heavily doped p regions on both side during ON condition the ON state voltage drop is less. The outer n+ layers are formed with doping levels higher then both the p type layers. The top p layer acls as the Anode terminal while the bottom n+ layers acts as the Cathode. The Gate terminal connections are made to the bottom p layer. As it will be shown later, that for better switching performance it is required to maximize the peripheral contact area of the gate and the cathode regions. Therefore, the cathode regions are finely distributed between gate contacts of the p type layer. An Involute structure for both the gate and the cathode regions is a preferred design structure.
4.3 Basic operating principle of a thyristor

The underlying operating principle of a thyristor is best understood in terms of the two transistor analogy as explained below.
A p n
-
A p n J2
n+
-
A IA Q1 (1) iC2 np
n+
J1
iC1 IG G
p
n+
J3
(2) Q2 J2 J3 IK K
G K (a) (b)
K (c)
Fig. 4.2: Two transistor analogy of a thyristor construction. (a) Schematic Construction, (b) Schematic division in component transistor (c) Equivalent circuit in terms of two transistors. a) Schematic construction, b) Schematic division in component transistor c) Equivalent circuit in terms of two transistors. Let us consider the behavior of this p n p n device with forward voltage applied, i.e anode positive with respect to the cathode and the gate terminal open. With this voltage polarity J1 & J3 are forward biased while J2 reverse biased. Under this condition.
ic1 = 1 I A + I co1 ic 2 = 2 I K + I co2
( 4.1) ( 4.2 )
Where 1 & 2 are current gains of Q1 & Q2 respectively while Ico1 & Ico2 are reverse saturation currents of the CB junctions of Q1 & Q2 respectively. Now from Fig 4.2 (c). i c1 + i c2 = I A
& IA = IK Combining Eq 4.1 & 4.4

IA =
( 4.3) ( 4.4 ) ( I G = 0 )
( 4.5 )
I co1 + I co2 I co = 1- ( 1 + 2 ) 1- ( 1 + 2 )
Where I co I co1 + I co2 is the total reverse leakage current of J2 Now as long as VAK is small Ico is very low and both 1 & 2 are much lower than unity. Therefore, total anode current IA is only slightly greater than Ico. However, as VAK is increased up to the avalanche break down voltage of J2, Ico starts increasing rapidly due to avalanche multiplication process. As Ico increases both 1 & 2 increase and 1 + 2 approaches unity. Under this condition large anode current starts flowing, restricted only by the external load resistance. However, voltage drop in the external resistance causes a collapse of voltage across the thyristor. The CB junctions of both Q1 & Q2 become forward biased and the total voltage drop across the device settles down to approximately equivalent to a diode drop. The thyristor is said to be in ON state. Just after turn ON if Ia is larger than a specified current called the Latching Current IL, 1 and 2 remain high enough to keep the thyristor in ON state. The only way the thyristor can be turned OFF is by bringing IA below a specified current called the holding current (IH) where upon 1 & 2 starts reducing. The thyristor can regain forward blocking capacity once excess stored charge at J2 is removed by application of a reverse voltage across A & K (ie, K positive with respect A). It is possible to turn ON a thyristor by application of a positive gate current (flowing from gate to cathode) without increasing the forward voltage across the device up to the forward break-over level. With a positive gate current equation 4.4 can be written as
IK = IA + IG
( 4.6 )
2 I G + I co 1- ( 1 + 2 )
Combining with Eqns. 4.1 to 4.3 I A =
( 4.7 )
Obviously with sufficiently large IG the thyristor can be turned on for any value of Ico (and hence VAK). This is called gate assisted turn on of a Thyristor. This is the usual method by which a thyristor is turned ON. When a reverse voltage is applied across a thyristor (i.e, cathode positive with respect to anose.) junctions J1 and J3 are reverse biased while J2 is forward biased. Of these, the junction J3 has a very low reverse break down voltage since both the n+ and p regions on either side of this junction are heavily doped. Therefore, the applied reverse voltage is almost entirely supported by junction J1. The maximum value of the reverse voltage is restricted by a) The maximum field strength at junction J1 (avalanche break down) b) Punch through of the lightly doped n- layer. Since the p layers on either side of the n- region have almost equal doping levels the avalanche break down voltage of J1 & J2 are almost same. Therefore, the forward and the reverse break down voltage of a thyristor are almost equal.Up to the break down voltage of J1 the reverse current of the thyristor remains practically constant and increases sharply after this voltage. Thus, the reverse characteristics of a thyristor is similar to that of a single diode. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 7
If a positive gate current is applied during reverse bias condition, the junction J3 becomes forward biased. In fact, the transistors Q1 & Q2 now work in the reverse direction with the roles of their respective emitters and collectors interchanged. However, the reverse 1 & 2 being significantly smaller than their forward counterparts latching of the thyristor does not occur. However, reverse leakage current of the thyristor increases considerably increasing the OFF state power loss of the device. If a forward voltage is suddenly applied across a reverse biased thyristor, there will be considerable redistribution of charges across all three junctions. The resulting current can become large enough to satisfy the condition 1 + 2 = 1 and consequently turn on the thyristor. This is called dv turn on of a thyristor and should be avoided. dt Exercise 4.1 1) Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) i. A thyristor is a ________________ carrier semi controlled device. ii. A thyristor can conduct current in ________________ direction and block voltage in ________________ direction. iii. A thyristor can be turned ON by applying a forward voltage greater than forward ________________ voltage or by injecting a positive ________________ current pulse under forward bias condition. iv. To turn OFF a thyristor the anode current must be brought below ________________ current and a reverse voltage must be applied for a time larger than ________________ time of the device. v. A thyristor may turn ON due to large forward ________________. Answers: (i) minority; (ii) one, both; (iii) break over, gate; (iv) holding, turn off; (v) dv dt 2. Do you expect a thyristor to turn ON if a positive gate pulse is applied under reverse bias condition (i. e cathode positive with respect to anode)? Answer: The two transistor analogy of thyristor shown in Fig 4.2 (c) indicates that when a reverse voltage is applied across the device the roles of the emitters and collectors of the constituent transistors will reverse. With a positive gate pulse applied it may appear that the device should turn ON as in the forward direction. However, the constituent transistors have very low current gain in the reverse direction. Therefore no reasonable value of the gate current will satisfy the turn ON condition (i.e.1 + 2 = 1). Hence the device will not turn ON.
4.4 Steady State Characteristics of a Thyristor 4.4.1 Static output i-v characteristics of a thyristor
IA VBRF
VAK
IA ig
K Ig IL VBRF ig1 ig2 ig3 ig4
VBRR Is IH
VAK VH ig4 > ig3 > ig2 > ig1 > ig = 0 ig4 > ig3 > ig2 > ig1 > ig = 0
Fig. 4.3: Static output characteristics of a Thyristor The circuit symbol in the left hand side inset defines the polarity conventions of the variables used in this figure. With ig = 0, VAK has to increase up to forward break over voltage VBRF before significant anode current starts flowing. However, at VBRF forward break over takes place and the voltage across the thyristor drops to VH (holding voltage). Beyond this point voltage across the thyristor (VAK) remains almost constant at VH (1-1.5v) while the anode current is determined by the external load. The magnitude of gate current has a very strong effect on the value of the break over voltage as shown in the figure. The right hand side figure in the inset shows a typical plot of the forward break over voltage (VBRF) as a function of the gate current (Ig) After Turn ON the thyristor is no more affected by the gate current. Hence, any current pulse (of required magnitude) which is longer than the minimum needed for Turn ON is sufficient to effect control. The minimum gate pulse width is decided by the external circuit and should be long enough to allow the anode current to rise above the latching current (IL) level.
The left hand side of Fig 4.3 shows the reverse i-v characteristics of the thyristor. Once the thyristor is ON the only way to turn it OFF is by bringing the thyristor current below holding current (IH). The gate terminal has no control over the turn OFF process. In ac circuits with resistive load this happens automatically during negative zero crossing of the supply voltage. This is called natural commutation or line commutation. However, in dc circuits some arrangement has to be made to ensure this condition. This process is called forced commutation. During reverse blocking if ig = 0 then only reverse saturation current (Is) flows until the reverse voltage reaches reverse break down voltage (VBRR). At this point current starts rising sharply. Large reverse voltage and current generates excessive heat and destroys the device. If ig > 0 during reverse bias condition the reverse saturation current rises as explained in the previous section. This can be avoided by removing the gate current while the thyristor is reverse biased. The static output i-v characteristics of a thyristor depends strongly on the junction temperature as shown in Fig 4.4. VBRF IA
Tj = 150 135 25 75 125 150 Tj 25 75 125
VAK
Tj = 125 75 25
135 150
Fig. 4.4: Effect of junction temperature (Tj) on the output i v characteristics of a thyristor.
4.4.2 Thyristor Gate Characteristics

The gate circuit of a thyristor behaves like a poor quality diode with high on state voltage drop and low reverse break down voltage. This characteristic usually is not unique even within the same family of devices and shows considerable variation from device to device. Therefore, manufacturers data sheet provides the upper and lower limit of this characteristic as shown in Fig 4.5.
Vg E
Vg max c d Rg ig Vg Pgm e
S2
Load line Vg min Vng g Ig min b h
E Pgav Max
S1 f Ig max Ig
Fig. 4.5: Gate characteristics of a thyristor. Each thyristor has maximum gate voltage limit (Vgmax), gate current limit (Igmax) and maximum average gate power dissipation limit ( Pgav Max ) . These limits should not be exceeded in order to avoid permanent damage to the gate cathode junction. There are also minimum limits of Vg (Vgmin) and Ig (Igmin) for reliable turn on of the thyristor. A gate non triggering voltage (Vng) is also specified by the manufacturers of thyristors. All spurious noise signals should be less than this voltage Vng in order to prevent unwanted turn on of the thyristor. The useful gate drive area of a thyristor is then b c d e f g h. Referring to the gate drive circuit in the inset the equation of the load line is given by Vg = E - Rgig A typical load line is shown in Fig 4.5 by the line S1 S2. The actual operating point will be some where between S1 & S2 depending on the particular device. For optimum utilization of the gate ratings the load line should be shifted forwards the Pgav curve without violating Vg
Max Max
or IgMax ratings. Therefore, for a dc source E c f represents the
optimum load line from which optimum values of E & Rg can be determined. It is however customary to trigger a thyristor using pulsed voltage & current. Maximum power dissipation curves for pulsed operation (Pgm) allows higher gate current to flow which in turn reduces the turn on time of the thyristor. The value of Pgm depends on the pulse width (TON) of the gate current pulse. TON should be larger than the turn on time of the thyristor. For TON larger Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 11
than 100 s, average power dissipation curve should be used. For TON less than 100 s the following relationship should be maintained.
Pgm Pgav
Max
( 4.9 )
Where = TON f p, f p = pulse frequency.

The magnitude of the gate voltage and current required for triggering a thyristor is inversely proportional to the junction temperature. The gate cathode junction also has a maximum reverse (i.e, gate negative with respect to the cathode) voltage specification. If there is a possibility of the reverse gate cathode voltage exceeding this limit a reverse voltage protection using diode as shown in Fig 4.6 should be used. A A
Rg G E K E K
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4.6: Gate Cathode reverse voltage protection circuit. Exercise 4.2 1) i. ii. iii. iv. v. Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) Forward break over voltage of a thyristor decreases with increase in the ________________ current. Reverse ________________ voltage of a thyristor is ________________ of the gate current. Reverse saturation current of a thyristor ________________ with gate current. In the pulsed gate current triggering of a thyristor the gate current pulse width should be larger than the ________________ time of the device. To prevent unwanted turn ON of a thyristor all spurious noise signals between the gate and the cathode must be less than the gate ________________ voltage.
Answer: (i) gate; (ii) break down, independent; (iii) increases; (iv) Turn ON; (v) nontrigger. 2) A thyristor has a maximum average gate power dissipation limit of 0.2 watts. It is triggered with pulsed gate current at a pulse frequency of 10 KHZ and duly ratio of 0.4. Assuming the gate cathode voltage drop to be 1 volt. Find out the allowable peak gate current magnitude. Answer: On period of the gate current pulse is
TON = TS =
fs
0.4 sec = 40 s < 100 s. 10 4
Therefore, pulsed gate power dissipation limit Pgm can be used. From Equation 4.9
Pgm Pgav ( Max ) or Pgm

But Pgm = Ig Vg; Vg = 1V
0.2 watts = .5watts .5 = 0.5Amps. I g Max = 1
4.5 Thyristor ratings

Some useful specifications of a thyristor related to its steady state characteristics as found in a typical manufacturers data sheet will be discussed in this section.
4.5.1 Voltage ratings

Peak Working Forward OFF state voltage (VDWM): It specifics the maximum forward (i.e, anode positive with respect to the cathode) blocking state voltage that a thyristor can withstand during working. It is useful for calculating the maximum RMS voltage of the ac network in which the thyristor can be used. A margin for 10% increase in the ac network voltage should be considered during calculation. Peak repetitive off state forward voltage (VDRM): It refers to the peak forward transient voltage that a thyristor can block repeatedly in the OFF state. This rating is specified at a maximum allowable junction temperature with gate circuit open or with a specified biasing resistance between gate and cathode. This type of repetitive transient voltage may appear across a thyristor due to commutation of other thyristors or diodes in a converter circuit. Peak non-repetitive off state forward voltage (VDSM): It refers to the allowable peak value of the forward transient voltage that does not repeat. This type of over voltage may be caused due to switching operation (i.e, circuit breaker opening or closing or lightning surge) in a supply network. Its value is about 130% of VDRM. However, VDSM is less than the forward break over voltage VBRF.
Peak working reverse voltage (VDWM): It is the maximum reverse voltage (i.e, anode negative with respect to cathode) that a thyristor can with stand continuously. Normally, it is equal to the peak negative value of the ac supply voltage. Peak repetitive reverse voltage (VRRM): It specifies the peak reverse transient voltage that may occur repeatedly during reverse bias condition of the thyristor at the maximum junction temperature. Peak non-repetitive reverse voltage (VRSM): It represents the peak value of the reverse transient voltage that does not repeat. Its value is about 130% of VRRM. However, VRSM is less than reverse break down voltage VBRR.
Fig 4.7 shows different thyristor voltage ratings on a comparative scale. IA VBRR VRSM VRRM VRWM
VDWM VDRM VDSM
VBRF
VAK
Fig. 4.7: Voltage ratings of a thyristor.
4.5.2 Current ratings

Maximum RMS current (Irms): Heating of the resistive elements of a thyristor such as metallic joints, leads and interfaces depends on the forward RMS current Irms. RMS current rating is used as an upper limit for dc as well as pulsed current waveforms. This limit should not be exceeded on a continuous basis.
Maximum average current (Iav): It is the maximum allowable average value of the forward current such that i. ii. Peak junction temperature is not exceeded RMS current limit is not exceeded
Manufacturers usually provide the forward average current derating characteristics which shows Iav as a function of the case temperature (Tc ) with the current conduction angle as a parameter. The current wave form is assumed to be formed from a half cycle sine wave of power frequency as shown in Fig 4.8. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 14
Iav Amps
= 180
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
= 120 = 60 = 30
60
80 TC (C)
100
120
140
Fig. 4.8: Average forward current derating characteristics Maximum Surge current (ISM): It specifies the maximum allowable non repetitive current the device can withstand. The device is assumed to be operating under rated blocking voltage, forward current and junction temperation before the surge current occurs. Following the surge the device should be disconnected from the circuit and allowed to cool down. Surge currents are assumed to be sine waves of power frequency with a minimum duration of cycles. Manufacturers provide at least three different surge current ratings for different durations.
For example
I sM = 3000 A for 1 cycle 2 I sM = 2100 A for 3 cycles I sM = 1800 A for 5 cycles

Alternatively a plot of IsM vs. applicable cycle numbers may also be provided.
Maximum Squared Current integral (i2dt): This rating in terms of A2S is a measure of the energy the device can absorb for a short time (less than one half cycle of power frequency). This rating is used in the choice of the protective fuse connected in series with the device. Latching Current (IL): After Turn ON the gate pulse must be maintained until the anode current reaches this level. Otherwise, upon removal of gate pulse, the device will turn off. Holding Current (IH): The anode current must be reduced below this value to turn off the thyristor. Maximum Forward voltage drop (VF): Usually specified as a function of the instantaneous forward current at a given junction temperature.
Average power dissipation Pav): Specified as a function of the average forward current (Iav) for different conduction angles as shown in the figure 4.9. The current wave form is assumed to be half cycle sine wave (or square wave) for power frequency.
Pav 60 90
= 180
30
iF t
Iav
Fig. 4.9: Average power dissipation vs average forward current in a thyristor.
In the above diagram

1 i d 2 o F 1 Pav = v i d 2 o F F I av =
( 4.10 ) ( 4.11)
4.5.3 Gate Specifications

Gate current to trigger (IGT): Minimum value of the gate current below which reliable turn on of the thyristor can not be guaranteed. Usually specified at a given forward break over voltage. Gate voltage to trigger (VGT): Minimum value of the gate cathode forward voltage below which reliable turn on of the thyristor can not be guaranteed. It is specified at the same break over voltage as IGT. Non triggering gate voltage (VGNT): Maximum value of the gate-cathode voltage below which the thyristor can be guaranteed to remain OFF. All spurious noise voltage in the gate drive circuit must be below this level. Peak reverse gate voltage (VGRM): Maximum reverse voltage that can appear between the gate and the cathode terminals without damaging the junction.
Average Gate Power dissipation (PGAR): Average power dissipated in the gate-cathode junction should not exceed this value for gate current pulses wider than 100 s. Peak forward gate current (IGRM): The forward gate current should not exceed this limit even on instantaneous basis. Exercise 4.3
1)
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) i. Peak non-repetitive over voltage may appear across a thyristor due to ________________ or ________________ surges in a supply network.
ii. VRSM rating of a thyristor is greater than the ________________ rating but less than the ________________ rating. iii. Maximum average current a thristor can carry depends on the ________________ of the thyristor and the ________________ of the current wave form. iv. The ISM rating of a thyristor applies to current waveforms of duration ________________ than half cycle of the power frequency where as the i2dt rating applies to current durations ________________ than half cycle of the power frequency. v. The gate non-trigger voltage specification of a thyristor is useful for avoiding unwanted turn on of the thyristor due to ________________ voltage signals at the gate. Answer: (i) switching, lightning; (ii) VRRM, VBRR; (iii) case temperature, conduction angle; (iv) greater, less; (v) noise 2. A thyristor has a maximum average current rating 1200 Amps for a conduction angle of 180. Find the corresponding rating for = 60. Assume the current waveforms to be half cycle sine wave.
Answer: The form factor of half cycle sine waves for a conduction angle is given by
I F.F = RMS = Iav 1 2 1 2
Sin d Sin d
2 o o
- 1 Sin 2 2 1- Cos
2 RMS current rating of the thyristor = 1200

3 = 2.778 3 4 Since RMS current rating should not exceeded For = 60, F.F = 2
For = 180, F.F =
= 1885 Amps.
Maximum Iav for = 60 =

4
1200 3 3 4
= 679.00 Amps.
4.6 Switching Characteristics of a Thyristor

During Turn on and Turn off process a thyristor is subjected to different voltages across it and different currents through it. The time variations of the voltage across a thyristor and the current through it during Turn on and Turn off constitute the switching characteristics of a thyristor.
4.6.1 Turn on Switching Characteristics

A forward biased thyristor is turned on by applying a positive gate voltage between the gate and cathode as shown in Fig 4.10. + vAK ig iA t iA 0.9 ION ION 0.1 ION vAK VON 0.1 VON td tON tr t tp
Fig. 4.10: Turn on characteristics of a thyristor.
ig Vi R
t 0.9 VON vAK
Firing angle Vi iA
Expanded scale
Fig 4.10 shows the waveforms of the gate current (ig), anode current (iA) and anode cathode voltage (VAK) in an expanded time scale during Turn on. The reference circuit and the associated waveforms are shown in the inset. The total switching period being much smaller compared to the cycle time, iA and VAK before and after switching will appear flat. As shown in Fig 4.10 there is a transition time tON from forward off state to forward on state. This transition time is called the thyristor turn of time and can be divided into three separate intervals namely, (i) delay time (td) (ii) rise time (tr) and (iii) spread time (tp). These times are shown in Fig 4.10 for a resistive load.
Delay time (td): After switching on the gate current the thyristor will start to conduct over the portion of the cathode which is closest to the gate. This conducting area starts spreading at a finite speed until the entire cathode region becomes conductive. Time taken by this process constitute the turn on delay time of a thyristor. It is measured from the instant of application of the gate current to the instant when the anode current rises to 10% of its final value (or VAK falls to 90% of its initial value). Typical value of td is a few micro seconds. Rise time (tr): For a resistive load, rise time is the time taken by the anode current to rise from 10% of its final value to 90% of its final value. At the same time the voltage VAK falls from 90% of its initial value to 10% of its initial value. However, current rise and voltage fall characteristics are strongly influenced by the type of the load. For inductive load the voltage falls faster than the current. While for a capacitive load VAK falls rapidly in the beginning. However, as the current increases, rate of change of anode voltage substantially decreases.
If the anode current rises too fast it tends to remain confined in a small area. This can give rise to local hot spots and damage the device. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the rate of rise of the di ON state current A by using an inductor in series with the device. Usual values of maximum dt allowable di A is in the range of 20-200 A/s. dt
Spread time (tp): It is the time taken by the anode current to rise from 90% of its final value to 100%. During this time conduction spreads over the entire cross section of the cathode of the thyristor. The spreading interval depends on the area of the cathode and on the gate structure of the thyristor.
4.6.2 Turn off Switching Characteristics

Once the thyristor is on, and its anode current is above the latching current level the gate loses control. It can be turned off only by reducing the anode current below holding current. The turn off time tq of a thyristor is defined as the time between the instant anode current becomes zero and the instant the thyristor regains forward blocking capability. If forward voltage is applied across the device during this period the thyristor turns on again. During turn off time, excess minority carriers from all the four layers of the thyristor must be removed. Accordingly tq is divided in to two intervals, the reverse recovery time (trr) and the gate recovery time (tqr). Fig 4.11 shows the variation of anode current and anode cathode voltage with time during turn off operation on an expanded scale.
iA
di A dt
vAK iA ig Vi Qrr t Irr iA t Vrr Expanded scale
vAK
vi t vi
trr
tq
tgr
Fig. 4.11: Turn off characteristics of a thyristor.
The anode current becomes zero at time t1 and starts growing in the negative direction with the same di A till time t2. This negative current removes excess carriers from junctions J1 & J3. At dt time t2 excess carriers densities at these junctions are not sufficient to maintain the reverse current and the anode current starts decreasing. The value of the anode current at time t2 is called the reverse recovery current (Irr). The reverse anode current reduces to the level of reverse saturation current by t3. Total charge removed from the junctions between t1 & t3 is called the reverse recovery charge (Qrr). Fast decaying reverse current during the interval t2 t3 coupled with the di limiting inductor may cause a large reverse voltage spike (Vrr) to appear across the dt device. This voltage must be limited below the VRRM rating of the device. Up to time t2 the voltage across the device (VAK) does not change substantially from its on state value. However, after the reverse recovery time, the thyristor regains reverse blocking capacity and VAK starts following supply voltage vi. At the end of the reverse recovery period (trr) trapped charges still exist at the junction J2 which prevents the device from blocking forward voltage just after trr. These trapped charges are removed only by the process of recombination. The time taken for this recombination process to complete (between t3 & t4) is called the gate recovery time (tgr). The time interval tq = trr + tgr is called device turn off time of the thyristor. No forward voltage should appear across the device before the time tq to avoid its inadvertent turn on. A circuit designer must provide a time interval tc (tc > tq) during which a reverse voltage is applied across the device. tc is called the circuit turn off time. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 20
The reverse recovery charge Qrr is a function of the peak forward current before turn off and its di for rate of decrease A . Manufacturers usually provide plots of Qrr as a function of di A dt dt different values of peak forward current. They also provide the value of the reverse recovery current Irr for a given IA and di A . Alternatively Irr can be evaluated from the given Qrr dt characteristics following similar relationships as in the case of a diode. As in the case of a diode the relative magnitudes of the time intervals t1 t2 and t2 t3 depends on the construction of the thyristor. In normal recovery converter grade thyristor they are almost equal for a specified forward current and reverse recovery current. However, in a fast recovery inverter grade thyristor the interval t2 t3 is negligible compared to the interval t1 t2. This helps reduce the total turn off time tq of the thyristor (and hence allow them to operate at higher switching frequency). However, large voltage spike due to this snappy recovery will appear across the device after the device turns off. Typical turn off times of converter and inverter grade thyristors are in the range of 50-100 s and 5-50 s respectively. As has been mentioned in the introduction thyristor is the device of choice at the very highest power levels. At these power levels (several hundreds of megawatts) reliability of the thyristor power converter is of prime importance. Therefore, suitable protection arrangement must be made against possible overvoltage, overcurrent and unintended turn on for each thyristor. At the highest power level (HVDC transmission system) thyristor converters operate from network voltage levels in excess of several hundreds of kilo volts and conduct several tens of kilo amps of current. They usually employ a large number of thyristors connected in series parallel combination. For maximum utilization of the device capacity it is important that each device in this series parallel combination share the blocking voltage and on state current equally. Special equalizing circuits are used for this purpose.
Exercise 4.4
1) i. ii. iii. iv.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) A thyristor is turned on by applying a ________________ gate current pulse when it is ________________ biased. Total turn on time of a thyristor can be divided into ________________ time ________________ time and ________________ time. During rise time the rate of rise of anode current should be limited to avoid creating local ________________. A thyristor can be turned off by bringing its anode current below ________________ current and applying a reverse voltage across the device for duration larger than the ________________ time of the device.
v.
Reverse recovery charge of a thyristor depends on the ________________ of the forward current just before turn off and its ________________. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 21
vi.
Inverter grade thyristors have ________________ turn off time compared to a converter grade thyristor.
Answer: (i) positive, forward; (ii) delay, rise, spread; (iii) hot spots (iv) holding, turn off; (v) magnitude, rate of decrease (vi) faster 2. With reference to Fig 4.10 find expressions for (i) turn on power loss and (ii) conduction power loss of the thyristor as a function of the firing angle . Neglect turn on delay time and spread time and assume linear variation of voltage and current during turn on period. Also assume constant on state voltage VH across the thyristor. Answer: (i) For a firing angle the forward bias voltage across the thyristor just before turn on is VON = 2Vi Sin ; Vi = RMS value of supply voltage. Current after the thyristor turns on for a resistive load is
I ON = VON R = 2 Vi R Sin
Neglecting delay and spread time and assuming linear variation of voltage and current during turn on
Vak = 2 Vi Sin 1 - t t . where VH has been neglected. ON
2 Vi Sin R Total switching energy loss ia =

E ON =
t ON
t ON
t ON 2Vi 2 1 - t t Sin 2 dt t ON o o R t ON 2Vi 2 t 2 Vi 2 = Sin 2 ON 1 - = Sin 2 t ON R 2 3 3R
v ak i a dt =
EON occurs once every cycle. If the supply frequency is f then average turn on power loss is given by.
PON = E ON f = Vi 2 Sin 2 t ON f 3R
(ii) If the firing angle is the thyristor conducts for - angle. Instantaneous current through the device during this period is 2 Vi Sin t ia = R <t R Where tON & VH have been neglected for simplicity. total conduction energy loss over one cycle is
E C = Vak i a dt =
1 V H
2 Vi Sin d = R
2 Vi VH (1 + Cos ) R
Average conduction power loss = PC = E cf =
2 Vi VH (1 + Cos ) 2R
Fuse i1 Vi if 220 V 50 HZ
3. In the ideal single phase fully controlled converter T1 & T2 are fired at a firing angle after the positive going zero crossing of Vi while T3 & T4 are fired angle after the negative going zero crossing of Vi, If all thyristors have a turn off time of 100 s, find out maximum allowable value of . Answer: As T1 & T2 are fired at an angle after positive going zero crossing of Vi, T3 & T4 are subjected to a negative voltage of Vi. Since this voltage remain negative for a duration (-) angle (after which Vi becomes positive) for safe commutation 0 ( - Max) t off Max = 178.2 .
4.7 The Triac

The Triac is a member of the thyristor family. But unlike a thyristor which conducts only in one direction (from anode to cathode) a triac can conduct in both directions. Thus a triac is similar to two back to back (anti parallel) connected thyristosr but with only three terminals. As in the case of a thyristor, the conduction of a triac is initiated by injecting a current pulse into the gate terminal. The gate looses control over conduction once the triac is turned on. The triac turns off only when the current through the main terminals become zero. Therefore, a triac can be categorized as a minority carrier, a bidirectional semi-controlled device. They are extensively used in residential lamp dimmers, heater control and for speed control of small single phase series and induction motors.
4.7.1 Construction and operating principle

Fig. 4.12 (a) and (b) show the circuit symbol and schematic cross section of a triac respective. As the Triac can conduct in both the directions the terms anode and cathode are not used for Triacs. The three terminals are marked as MT1 (Main Terminal 1), MT2 (Main Terminal 2) and the gate by G. As shown in Fig 4.12 (b) the gate terminal is near MT1 and is connected to both Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 23
N3 and P2 regions by metallic contact. Similarly MT1 is connected to N2 and P2 regions while MT2 is connected to N4 and P1 regions. MT1 MT2
N3 N2 N2
P2
P2 N1 P1
N3 G MT1
(a)
P2 N1
N4
P1
MT2
(b)
Fig. 4.12: Circuit symbol and schematic construction of a Triac (a) Circuit symbol (b) Schematic construction.
Since a Triac is a bidirectional device and can have its terminals at various combinations of positive and negative voltages, there are four possible electrode potential combinations as given below 1. MT2 positive with respect to MT1, G positive with respect to MT1 2. MT2 positive with respect to MT1, G negative with respect to MT1 3. MT2 negative with respect to MT1, G negative with respect to MT1 4. MT2 negative with respect to MT1, G positive with respect to MT1 The triggering sensitivity is highest with the combinations 1 and 3 and are generally used. However, for bidirectional control and uniforms gate trigger mode sometimes trigger modes 2 and 3 are used. Trigger mode 4 is usually averded. Fig 4.13 (a) and (b) explain the conduction mechanism of a triac in trigger modes 1 & 3 respectively.
IG
IG MT1 (-) N2 IG P2 N1 P1 MT1 (+) N3
IG P2 N1
P1
N4
MT2 (+)
MT2 (-)
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4.13: Conduction mechanism of a triac in trigger modes 1 and 3 (a) Mode 1 , (b) Mode 3 .
In trigger mode-1 the gate current flows mainly through the P2 N2 junction like an ordinary thyristor. When the gate current has injected sufficient charge into P2 layer the triac starts conducting through the P1 N1 P2 N2 layers like an ordinary thyristor. In the trigger mode-3 the gate current Ig forward biases the P2 P3 junction and a large number of electrons are introduced in the P2 region by N3. Finally the structure P2 N1 P1 N4 turns on completely.
4.7.2 Steady State Output Characteristics and Ratings of a Triac

I
Ig3 > Ig2 > Ig1 > Ig = 0 -VBO VBO -Ig3 < Ig2 < Ig1 V
Ig = 0
Fig. 4.14: Steady state V I characteristics of a Triac
From a functional point of view a triac is similar to two thyristors connected in anti parallel. Therefore, it is expected that the V-I characteristics of Triac in the 1st and 3rd quadrant of the V-I plane will be similar to the forward characteristics of a thyristors. As shown in Fig. 4.14, with no signal to the gate the triac will block both half cycle of the applied ac voltage provided its peak value is lower than the break over voltage (VBO) of the device. However, the turning on of the triac can be controlled by applying the gate trigger pulse at the desired instance. Mode-1 triggering is used in the first quadrant where as Mode-3 triggering is used in the third quadrant. As such, most of the thyristor characteristics apply to the triac (ie, latching and holding current). However, in a triac the two conducting paths (from MT1 to MT2 or from MT1 to MT1) interact with each other in the structure of the triac. Therefore, the voltage, current and frequency ratings of triacs are considerably lower than thyristors. At present triacs with voltage and current ratings of 1200V and 300A (rms) are available. Triacs also have a larger on state voltage drop compared to a thyristor. Manufacturers usually specify characteristics curves relating rms device current and maximum allowable case temperature as shown in Fig 4.15. Curves relating the device dissipation and RMS on state current are also provided for different conduction angles.
A 200
Bidirectional ON state current (RMS)
150 100 For all conduction angles 50
20
40
60
80
100
120
Maximum allowable case temperature (TC)

Fig. 4.15: RMS ON state current Vs maximum case temperature.
4.7.3 Triac Switching and gate trigger circuit

Unlike a thyristor a triac gets limited time to turn off due to bidirectional conduction. As a result the triacs are operated only at power frequency. Switching characteristics of a triac is similar to that of a thyristor. However, turn off of a triac is extremely sensitive to temperature variation and may not turn off at all if the junction temperature exceeds certain limit. Problem may arise when a triac is used to control a lagging power factor load. At the current zero instant (when the triac turns off) a reverse voltage will appear across the triac since the supply voltage is negative at that instant. The rate of rise of this voltage is restricted by the triac junction capacitance only. The resulting dv may turn on the triac again. Similar problem occurs when a triac is used to dt control the power to a resistive element which has a very low resistance before normal working condition is reached. If such a load (e.g. incandescent filament lamp) is switch on at full supply voltage very large junction capacitance charging current will turn ON the device. To prevent such condition an R-C snubber is generally used across a triac. The triac should be triggered carefully to ensure safe operation. For phase control application, the triac is switched on and off in synchronism with the mains supply so that only a part of each half cycle is applied across the load. To ensure clean turn ON the trigger signal must rise rapidly to provide the necessary charge. A rise time of about 1 s will be desirable. Such a triac gate triggering circuit using a diac and an R-C timing network is shown in Fig 4.16.
LOAD
R1 D1 R
R2 V1 C1
Fig. 4.16: Triac triggering circuit using a diac.
In this circuit as Vi increases voltage across C1 increases due to current flowing through load, R1, R2 and C1. The voltage drop across diac D1 increases until it reaches its break over point. As D1 conducts a large current pulse is injected into the gate of the triac. By varying R2 the firing can be controlled from zero to virtually 100%.
Exercise 4.5
1) i. ii. iii.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s) A Triac is a ________________ minority carrier device A Triac behaves like two ________________ connected thyristors. The gate sensitivity of a triac is maximum when the gate is ________________ with respect to MT1 while MT2 is positive with respect to MT1 or the gate is ________________ with respect to MT1 while MT2 is negative with respect to MT1
iv. v.
A Triac operates either in the ________________ or the ________________ quadrant of the i-v characteristics. In the ________________ quadrant the triac is fired with ________________ gate current while in the ________________ quadrant the gate current should be ________________.
vi.
The maximum possible voltage and current rating of a Triac is considerably ________________ compared to thyristor due to ________________ of the two current carrying paths inside the structure of the triac.
vii.
To avoid unwanted turn on of a triac due to large dv across triacs.
dt
________________ are used
viii.
For clean turn ON of a triac the ________________ of the gate current pulse should be as ________________ as possible.
Answer: (i) bidirectional; (ii) anti parallel; (iii) positive, negative; (iv) first, third; (v) first, positive, third, negative (vi) lower, interaction; (vii) R-C shubbers; (viii) rise time, small.
References
1. Dr. P.C. Sen, Power Electronics; Tata McGrow Hill Publishing Company Limited; New Delhi. 2. Dr. P.S. Bimbhra, Power Electronics Khanna Publishers
Lesson Summary
Thyristor is a four layer, three terminal, minority carrier, semi-controlled device. The three terminals of a thyristor are called the anode, the cathode and the gate. A thyristor can be turned on by increasing the voltage of the anode with respect to the cathode beyond a specified voltage called the forward break over voltage. A thyristor can also be turned on by injecting a current pulse into the gate terminal when the anode voltage is positive with respect to the cathode. This is called gate triggering. A thyristor can block voltage of both polarity but conducts current only from anode to cathode. After a thyristor turns on the gate looses control. It can be turned off only by bringing the anode current below holding current. After turn on the voltage across the thyristor drops to a very low value (around 1 volt). In the reverse direction a thyristor blocks voltage up to reverse break down voltage. A thyristor has a very low conduction voltage drop but large switching times. For this reason thyristors are preferred for high power, low frequency line commutated application. A thyristor is turned off by bringing the anode current below holding current and simultaneously applying a negative voltage (cathode positive with respect to anode) for a minimum time called turn off time. A triac is functionally equivalent to two anti parallel connected thyristors. It can block voltages in both directions and conduct current in both directions. A triac has three terminals like a thyristor. It can be turned on in either half cycle by either a positive on a negative current pulse at the gate terminal. Triacs are extensively used at power frequency ac load (eg heater, light, motors) control applications.
Practice Problems and Answers
1. Explain the effect of increasing the magnitude of the gate current and junction temperature on (i) forward and reverse break down voltages, (ii) forward and reverse leakage currents. Th 15 V R
iB
N1 N2
2. The thyristor Th is triggered using the pulse transformer shown in figure. The pulse transformer operates at 10 KHZ with a duty cycle of 40%. The thyristor has maximum average gate power dissipation limit of 0.5 watts and a maximum allow able gate voltage limit of 10 volts. Assuming ideal pulse transformer, find out the turns ratio N1/N2 and the value of R. Fuse i1 Vi if 220 V 50 HZ
3. A thyristor full bridge converter is used to drive a dc motor as shown in the figure. The thyristors are fired at a firing angle = 0 when motor runs at rated speed. The motor has on armature resistance of 0.2 and negligible armature inductance. Find out the peak surge current rating of the thyristors such that they are not damaged due to sudden loss of field excitation to the motor. The protective fuse in series with the motor is designed to disconnect the motor within 1 cycle of fault. Find out the i 2 dt rating of the 2 thyristors. 4. Why is it necessary to maximize the peripheral contact area of the gate and the cathode regions? A thyristor used to control the voltage applied to a load resistance from a 220v, Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 33
50HZ single phase ac supply has a maximum value of the

di a dt
di a
dt
rating of 50 A / s. Find out the
limiting inductor to be connected in series with the load resistance. THM + C THA 20 A
200V 200V
5. In a voltage commutated dc dc thyristor chopper the main thyristor THM is commutated by connecting a pre-charged capacitor directly across it through the auxiliary thyristor THA as shown in the figure. The main thyristor THM has a turn off time off 50s and maximum dv rating of 500v/ s. Find out a suitable value of C for safe dt commutation of THM.
Answers to Practice Problems
1. i. Forward break down voltage reduces with increasing gate current. It increases with junction temperature up to certain value of the junction temperature and then falls rapidly with any further increase in temperature. Reverse break down voltage is independent of the gate current magnitude but decreases with increasing junction temperature. Forward leakage current is independent of the gate current magnitude but increases with junction temperature. Reverse leakage current increases with both the junction temperature and the magnitude of the gate current. THM + C THA 20 A
ii.
200V 200V
2. Figure shows the equivalent gate drive circuit of the thyristor. For this circuit one can write E = R i g + Vg OR Vg = E - R i g The diode D clamps the gate voltage to zero when E goes negative. Now for ig = O, Vg = E. Since Vg
Max
= 10 v
10 = 1.5
E = 10 v
But E =
N2
N1
15
N2
N1
= 15
Gate pulse width = 0.4 10-4 Sec = 40s. <100s. instantaneous gate power dissipation limit can be used.
0.2 Max = = 0.5 watts 0.4 For maximum utilization of the gate power dissipation limit the gate load line ie Vg = E igR = 10 igR should be tangent to the maximum power dissipation curve Vg ig = 0.5 Vg i g
Max
Pav
Let the operating Vg and ig be Vgo & igo

Vgo = 10 - i go R Vgo i go = 0.5 i go 2 R - 10 i go + 0.5 = 0
Since Vg = 10 ig R is tangent to Vg ig = 0.5 at Vgo, igo. Slope of the tangent of Vgig = 0.5 at (Vgo, igo) = -R
-R = R = i go 2
dv g - vg v = = - go di g ( vgo,igo ) i g ( vgo,igo ) i go
v go v i 0.5 = go 2go = 2 i go i go i go or 10i go = 1 or i go = 0.1
0.5 - 10i go + 0.5 = 0 i go 2 i go

2
R = 0.5
0.5 = 50 .01
Back emf. Va t ia (normal) t
ia (with field loss) t 3. Figure shows the armature voltage (firm line) and armature current of the motor under normal operating condition at rated speed. If there is a sudden loss of field excitation back emf will become zero and armature current will be limited solely by the armature resistance. 220 2 The peak magnitude of the fault current will be = 1556(Amps) . .2 It the thyristors have to survive this fault at least for 1 cycle (after which the fuse blows) IsM > 2 1556 Amps. cycle of the fault occurring. Therefore the thyristors must withstand 2 the fault for at least 1 cycle. 2 2 Therefore, the i t rating of the thyristor should be The fuse blows within 1
2 i dt =
(1556 Sin 100 t )

0
10-2
(1556 )
2
10-2
[1 -
Cos 200 t ] dt
2 = 1 10 -2 (1556 ) = 1.21 10 4 A 2 Sec 2
4. At the beginning of the turn on process the thyristor starts conducting through the area adjacent to the gate. This area spreads at a finite speed. However, if rate of increase of anode current is lager than the rate of increase of the current conduction are, the current density increases with time. This may lead to thyristor failure due to excessive local heating. However, if the contact area between the gate and the cathode is large a thyristor will be able to handle a di relatively large a without being damaged. dt The maximum
di a dt
will occur when the thyristor is triggered at = 90. Then
L
Since
di a
di a = dt
2 220 Sin 90 0
dt
Max
= 50 10 6 A Sec
min
2 220 = 6.22 10 -6 H = 6.22 H di a dt Max
VC vTHM
toff
200 V
dv / dt
iC 20 Amps. t
5. As soon as THA is turned on the load current transfer from THM to C. the voltage across THM is the negative of the capacitance voltage. Figure shows the waveforms of voltage across the capacitor (vc), voltage across the main thyristor (VTHM) and the capacitor current ic. From dv i = c figure c dt dv = 500 v s Now ic = 20 Amps & dt Max
Min
ic
dv dt
=
Max
20 -8 F = 0.04 F 6 = 4 10 50010
The circuit turn off time is the time taken by the capacitor voltage to reach zero from an initial value of 200v. This time must be greater than the turn off time of the device. Now C
dv c = i c = 20 dt 20 t v c = c
200 =
v = 200 - 0 = 200 t = t off
20 50 10 -6 C 20 50 10 -6 C = = 5 F 200
For safe commutation of THM the higher value of C must the chosen the required value of C = 5 F.
Module 5
DC to AC Converters
Lesson 33
Introduction to Voltage Source Inverters
After completion of this lesson the reader will be able to: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Identify the essential components of a voltage source inverter. Explain the principle behind dc to ac conversion. Identify the basic topology of single-phase and three-phase inverters and explain its principle of operation. Explain the gate drive circuit requirements of inverter switches.
The word inverter in the context of power-electronics denotes a class of power conversion (or power conditioning) circuits that operates from a dc voltage source or a dc current source and converts it into ac voltage or current. The inverter does reverse of what ac-to-dc converter does (refer to ac to dc converters). Even though input to an inverter circuit is a dc source, it is not uncommon to have this dc derived from an ac source such as utility ac supply. Thus, for example, the primary source of input power may be utility ac voltage supply that is converted to dc by an ac to dc converter and then inverted back to ac using an inverter. Here, the final ac output may be of a different frequency and magnitude than the input ac of the utility supply. [The nomenclature inverter is sometimes also used for ac to dc converter circuits if the power flow direction is from dc to ac side. However in this lesson, irrespective of power flow direction, inverter is referred as a circuit that operates from a stiff dc source and generates ac output. If the input dc is a voltage source, the inverter is called a voltage source inverter (VSI). One can similarly think of a current source inverter (CSI), where the input to the circuit is a current source. The VSI circuit has direct control over output (ac) voltage whereas the CSI directly controls output (ac) current. Shape of voltage waveforms output by an ideal VSI should be independent of load connected at the output.] The simplest dc voltage source for a VSI may be a battery bank, which may consist of several cells in series-parallel combination. Solar photovoltaic cells can be another dc voltage source. An ac voltage supply, after rectification into dc will also qualify as a dc voltage source. A voltage source is called stiff, if the source voltage magnitude does not depend on load connected to it. All voltage source inverters assume stiff voltage supply at the input. Some examples where voltage source inverters are used are: uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units, adjustable speed drives (ASD) for ac motors, electronic frequency changer circuits etc. Most of us are also familiar with commercially available inverter units used in homes and offices to power some essential ac loads in case the utility ac supply gets interrupted. In such inverter units, battery supply is used as the input dc voltage source and the inverter circuit converts the dc into ac voltage of desired frequency. The achievable magnitude of ac voltage is limited by the magnitude of input (dc bus) voltage. In ordinary household inverters the battery voltage may be just 12 volts and the inverter circuit may be capable of supplying ac voltage of around 10 volts (rms) only. In such cases the inverter output voltage is stepped up using a transformer to meet the load requirement of, say, 230 volts.
33.1 How to Get AC Output From DC Input Supply?

Figs. 33.1(a) and 33.1(b) show two schematic circuits, using transistor-switches, for generation of ac voltage from dc input supply. In both the circuits, the transistors work in common emitter configuration and are interconnected in push-pull manner. In order to have a single control signal Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 3
for the transistor switches, one transistor is of n-p-n type and the other of p-n-p type and their emitters and bases are shorted as shown in the figures. Both circuits require a symmetrical bipolar dc supply. Collector of n-p-n transistor is connected to positive dc supply (+E) and that of p-n-p transistor is connected to negative dc supply of same magnitude (-E). Load, which has been assumed resistive, is connected between the emitter shorting point and the power supply ground. In Fig. 33.1(a), the transistors work in active (amplifier) mode and a sinusoidal control voltage of desired frequency is applied between the base and emitter points. When applied base signal is positive, the p-n-p transistor is reverse biased and the n-p-n transistor conducts the load current. Similarly for negative base voltage the p-n-p transistor conducts while n-p-n transistor remains reverse biased. A suitable resistor in series with the base signal will limit the base current and keep it sinusoidal provided the applied (sinusoidal) base signal magnitude is much higher than the base to emitter conduction-voltage drop. Under the assumption of constant gain (hfe) of the transistor over its working range, the load current can be seen to follow the applied base signal. Fig. 33.2(a) shows a typical load voltage (in blue color) and base signal (green color) waveforms. This particular figure also shows the switch power loss for n-p-n transistor (in brown color). The other transistor will also be dissipating identical power during its conduction. The quantities in Fig. 33.2(a) are in per unit magnitudes where the base values are input supply voltage (E) and the load resistance (R). Accordingly the base magnitudes of current and power are E/R and E2/R respectively. As can be seen, the power loss in switches is a considerable portion of circuits input power and hence such circuits are unacceptable for large output power applications. As against the amplifier circuit of Fig. 33.1(a), the circuit of Fig. 33.1(b) works in switched mode. The conducting switch remains fully on having negligible on-state voltage drop and the non-conducting switch remains fully off allowing no leakage current through it. The load voltage waveform output by switched-mode circuit of Fig. 33.1(b) is rectangular with magnitude +E when the n-p-n transistor is on and E when p-n-p transistor is on. Fig. 33.2(b) shows one such waveform (in pink color). The on and off durations of the two transistors are controlled so that (i) the resulting rectangular waveform has no dc component (ii) has a fundamental (sinusoidal) component of desired frequency and magnitude and (iii) the frequencies of unwanted harmonic voltages are much higher than that of the fundamental component. The fundamental sine wave in Fig. 33.2(b), shown in blue color, is identical to the sinusoidal output voltage of Fig. 33.2(a). Both amplifier mode and switched mode circuits of Figs. 33.1(a) and 33.1(b) are capable of producing ac voltages of controllable magnitude and frequency, however, the amplifier circuit is not acceptable in power-electronic applications due to high switch power loss. On the other hand, the switched mode circuit generates significant amount of unwanted harmonic voltages along with the desired fundamental frequency voltage. As will be shown in some later lessons, the frequency spectrum of these unwanted harmonics can be shifted towards high frequency by adopting proper switching pattern. These high frequency voltage harmonics can easily be blocked using small size filter and the resulting quality of load voltage can be made acceptable.
+E
+E
LOAD (R)
*
S
LOAD (R)
-E
Fig. 33.1 (a): A push-pull active amplifier circuit
-E
Fig. 33.1 (b): A push-pull switched mode circuit
The magnitude, phase and frequency of the fundamental voltage waveform in Fig. 33.2(b) is solely determined by the magnitude of supply voltage and the switching pattern of the push-pull circuit shown in Fig. 33.1(b). Thus, as long as the transistors work in the switch-mode (fully on or fully off), the output voltage is essentially load-independent.
33.2 What If The Load Is Not Resistive?

Circuit of Fig. 33.1(b) will not be able to output proper voltage waveform for a non-resistive load for the reasons mentioned below. Transistors used in the circuit of Fig. 33.1(b) are meant to carry only unidirectional current (from collector to emitter) and thus if the upper (n-p-n) transistor is on, the current must enter the star (*) marked terminal of the load and this same terminal will get connected to the positive dc supply (+E), other load terminal being at ground potential. When n-p-n transistor turns off and pn-p type turns on, the load voltage and current polarities reverse simultaneously (p-n-p transistor can only carry current coming out of star marked end of load). Such one to one matching between the instantaneous polarities of load voltage and load current can be achieved only in purely resistive loads. For a general load the instantaneous current polarity may be different from instantaneous load-voltage polarity. As pointed out in section 33.1, the inverter switching-pattern fixes the output waveform irrespective of the load. Thus the magnitude, phase and frequency of the fundamental voltage output by a VSI is independent of the nature of load. Thus it turns out that for a non-resistive load the switches in the circuit of Fig. 33.1(b) should be able to carry bidirectional current and at the same time be controllable. [A mechanical switch realized using an electromagnetic contactor is one example of the bi-directional current carrying controllable switch. However electromagnetic contactors are not capable of operating at high frequency, in the range of kilohertz, and may not be suitable for present application.] If an anti-parallel diode is connected across each transistor switch, as shown in Fig. 33.3(a), the combination can conduct a bi-directional current. Now the transistor in anti-parallel with the diode may be considered as a single switch. [A major difference exists between this bidirectional electronic switch and a bi-directional current carrying mechanical switch. The mechanical switch can be subjected to bi-directional voltage. When off, the mechanical switch can block both positive and negative voltage across its terminals. The electronic switch of Fig. 33.3(a) can block only one polarity of voltage, the one that keeps the diode reverse biased. Under this polarity of voltage the switch can remain off as long as the base (or the gate) terminal is not given the turn-on signal. When applied voltage polarity is reversed the diode starts conducting and so the switch is not able to block the flow of reverse current.] In spite of unidirectional voltage blocking capability, the new electronic switch (similar to the one shown in Fig. 33.3(a)) suffices for the inverter application as pointed out in the following paragraphs. The push-pull circuit operation is now revisited using bi-directional current carrying switches. The modified circuit is shown in Fig. 33.3(b). It may be noted that both IGBT and BJT type transistors, when bypassed by anti-parallel diode, qualify as bi-directional current carrying switches. However, IGBT switch is controlled by gate voltage whereas the BJT
+E Input / Output Q1 SW1 D1 LOAD Analogous to Control S Q2
+
Gate (control)
*
D2 SW2
Input / Output
-E
Fig. 33.3 (b): Modified push-pull circuit
Fig. 33.3(a): Bi-directional controlled switch
switch is controlled using base current. [IGBT switches are easier to use, are much faster and are available in higher voltage and current ratings. As a result BJT switches are becoming obsolete.] In the circuit of Fig. 33.3(b), n-p-n transistor (Q1) together with diode (D1) constitutes the upper switch (SW1). Similarly lower switch (SW2) consists of p-n-p transistor (Q2) in antiparallel with diode (D2). By applying positive base-to-emitter voltage of suitable magnitude to transistor Q1, the upper switch is turned on. Once the upper switch (diode D1or transistor Q1) is conducting star end of load is at +E potential and diode D2 of lower switch gets reverse biased. Transistor Q2 is also reverse biased due to application of positive base voltage to the transistors. Thus while switch SW1is conducting current, switch SW2 is off and is blocking voltage of magnitude 2E. Similarly when applied base voltage to the transistors is made negative, Q1 is reverse biased and Q2 is forward biased. This results in SW1 turning off and SW2 turning on. Now SW1 blocks a voltage of magnitude 2E. It may be interesting to see how diodes follow the switching command given to the transistor part of the switches. To illustrate this point some details of circuit operation with an inductive load, consisting of a resistor and an inductor in series, is considered. As is well known, current through such loads cannot change abruptly. The electrical inertial time constant of the load, given by its L (inductance) / R (resistance) ratio, may in general be large compared to the chosen switching time period of the transistor switches. Thus the transistors Q1 and Q2 may turn-on and turn-off several times before the load current direction changes. Let us consider the time instant when instantaneous load current is entering the star end of the load in Fig. 33.3(b). Now with the assumed load current direction when Q1 is given turn-on signal current flows from positive dc supply, through transistor Q1, to load. Next, when Q1 is turned-off and Q2 is turned on (but load current direction remaining unchanged) the load current finds its path through diode of lower switch (D2). Whether D2 or Q2 conducts, voltage drop across SW2 is virtually zero and it can be considered as a closed or a fully-on switch. In the following switching cycle when Q1 is turned on again (load current direction still unchanged) the load current path reverts back from D2 to Q1. It may not be difficult to see how this happens. While current flowed through D2 the load circuit got connected to negative emf (-E) of the supply. When Q1 conducts the positive (+E) emf supports the load current. The natural choice for load current is to move from D2 to Q1. In fact turning on of Q1 will make D2 reverse biased. The reader may repeat a similar exercise when the instantaneous load current comes out of the star end of load. Thus it will be evident that diodes do not need a separate command to turn on and off. Irrespective of the load current direction, turning on of Q1 makes SW1 on and Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 7
similarly turning off of Q1 (with simultaneous turn-on of Q2) makes SW2on. Q1 and Q2 are turned on in a complementary manner. It may not be difficult to see that the circuit of Fig. 33.3(b) will work satisfactorily for a purely resistive load and a series connected resistorcapacitor load too. The push-pull circuit of Fig. 33.3(b) has some technical demerits that have been discussed below. First, it needs a bipolar dc supply with identical magnitudes of positive and negative supply voltages. For practical reasons it would have been simpler if only one (uni-polar) dc source was required. In fact some circuit topologies realize a bi-polar dc supply by splitting the single dc voltage-source through capacitive potential divider arrangement. [A resistive potential divider will be terribly inefficient.] Two identical capacitors of large magnitude are put across the dc supply and the junction point of the capacitors is used as the neutral (ground) point of the bipolar dc supply. Fig. 33.3(c) shows one such circuit where a single dc supply has been split in two halves. In such circuits the voltages across the two capacitors may not remain exactly balanced due to mismatch in the loading patterns or mismatch in leakage currents of the individual capacitors. Also, unless the capacitors are of very large magnitude, there may be significant ripple in the capacitor voltages, especially at low switching frequencies. The requirement of splitting a single dc source is eliminated if a full bridge circuit, as mentioned in the next section, is used. The second demerit of the push-pull circuit shown in Fig. 33.3(b) is the requirement of two different kinds of transistors, one n-p-n type and the other p-n-p type. The switching speeds of np-n and p-n-p transistors are widely different unless they are produced carefully as matched pairs. In power electronic applications, n-p-n transistors are preferred as they can operate at higher switching frequencies. Similarly n-channel MOSFETs and IGBTs are preferred over their p-channel counterparts. The difficulty in using two n-p-n transistors in the above discussed pushpull circuit is that they can no longer have a common base and a common emitter point and thus it wont be possible to have a single base drive signal for controlling both of them. The base signals for the individual transistors will then need to be separate and isolated from each other. The difficulty in providing isolated base signals for the two transistors is, often, more than compensated by the improved capability of the circuit that uses both n-p-n transistors or nchannel IGBTs. The circuit in Fig. 33.3(c) shows identical transistors (n-channel IGBTs) for both upper and lower switches. The gate drive signals of the two transistors (IGBTs) now need to be different and isolated as the two emitter points are at different potentials. The circuit in Fig. 33.3(c) is better known as a half bridge inverter.
P + _ Edc + _
0.5Edc
Q1
D1
O + _
LOAD 0.5Edc Q2
A D2
N Fig. 33.3(c): Topology of a 1-phase half bridge VSI
33.3 General Structure of Voltage Source Inverters

Figs. 33.4 (a) and 33.4(b) show the typical power-circuit topologies of a single-phase and a three-phase voltage source inverter respectively. These topologies require only a single dc source and for medium output power applications the preferred devices are n-channel IGBTs. Edc is the input dc supply and a large dc link capacitor (Cdc) is put across the supply terminals. Capacitors and switches are connected to dc bus using short leads to minimize the stray inductance between the capacitor and the inverter switches. Needless to say that physical layout of positive and negative bus lines is also important to limit stray inductances. Q1, Q2, Q3 etc. are fast and controllable switches. D1, D2, D3 etc. are fast recovery diodes connected in anti-parallel with the switches. A, B and C are output terminals of the inverter that get connected to the ac load. A three-phase inverter has three load-phase terminals whereas a single-phase inverter has only one pair of load terminals. The current supplied by the dc bus to the inverter switches is referred as dc link current and has been shown as idc in Figs 33.4(a) and 33.4(b). The magnitude of dc link current often changes in step (and some times its direction also changes) as the inverter switches are turned on and off. The step change in instantaneous dc link current occurs even if the ac load at the inverter output is drawing steady power. However, average magnitude of the dc link current remains positive if net power-flow is from dc bus to ac load. The net power-flow direction reverses if the ac load connected to the inverter is regenerating. Under regeneration, the mean magnitude of dc link current is negative. [The dc link current may conceptually be decomposed into its dc and ac components. The individual roles of the dc voltage source and the dc link capacitor may be clearly seen with respect to the dc and ac components of the dc link current. For the dc component of current the capacitor acts like open circuit. As expected, under steady state, the capacitor does not supply any dc current. The dc part of bus current is supplied solely by the dc source. A practical dc voltage source may have some resistance as well as some inductance in series with its internal emf. For dc component of bus current, the source voltage appears in series with its internal resistance (effect of source inductance is not felt). But for ac component of current, the internal dc emf of source appears as short and its series impedance (resistance in series with inductance) appears in parallel with the dc-link Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 9
capacitor. Thus the ac component of current gets divided into these two parallel paths. However, the high frequency component of ac current mainly flows through the capacitor, as the capacitive impedance is lower at high frequencies. The step change in dc link current is associated with significant amount of high frequency components of current that essentially finds its path through the capacitor.] For an ideal input (dc) supply, with no series impedance, the dc link capacitor does not have any role. However a practical voltage supply may have considerable amount of output impedance. The supply line impedance, if not bypassed by a sufficiently large dc link capacitor, may cause considerable voltage spike at the dc bus during inverter operation. This may result in deterioration of output voltage quality, it may also cause malfunction of the inverter switches as the bus voltage appears across the non-conducting switches of the inverter. Also, in the absence of dc link capacitor, the series inductance of the supply line will prevent quick build up or fall of current through it and the circuit behaves differently from the ideal VSI where the dc voltage supply is supposed to allow rise and fall in current as per the demand of the inverter circuit. [It may not be possible to reduce supply line inductance below certain limit. Most dc supplies will inherently have rather significant series inductance, for example a conventional dc generator will have considerable armature inductance in series with the armature emf. Similarly, if the dc supply is derived after rectifying ac voltage, the ac supply line inductance will prevent quick change in rectifier output current. The effect of ac line inductance is reflected on the dc side as well, unless this inductance is effectively bypassed by the dc side capacitor. Even the connecting leads from the dc source to the inverter dc bus may contribute significantly to the supply line inductance in case the lead lengths are large and circuit lay out is poor. It may be mentioned here that an inductance, in series with the dc supply, may at times be welcome. The reason being that for some types of dc sources, like batteries, it is detrimental to carry high frequency ripple current. For such cases it is advantageous if the dc source has some series inductance. Due to series inductance of the source, the high frequency ripple will prefer to flow through the dc link capacitor and thus relieve the dc source.] The dc link capacitor should be put very close to the switches so that it provides a low impedance path to the high frequency component of the switch currents. The capacitor itself must be of good quality with very low equivalent series resistor (ESR) and equivalent series inductor (ESL). The length of leads that interconnect switches and diodes to the dc bus must also be minimum to avoid insertion of significant amount of stray inductances in the circuit. The overall layout of the power circuit has a significant effect over the performance of the inverter circuit.
idc
D1 D3 Edc LOAD D2 Q4 B D4
idc
D1 D3
Q1 Edc
Q3
Q1
Q3
Q5
D5
+ Cdc _ A
Q2
+ Cdc _
Q2
A D2
B D4
C D6
Q4
Q6
Fig. 33.4(a): Topology of a 1-phase VSI
Fig. 33.4(b): Topology of a 3-phase VSI
[One of the thumb rules for good circuit layout is to put the conductor pairs carrying same magnitude but opposite direction of currents close by, the minimum distance between them being decided only by their voltage isolation requirement. Thus the positive and negative terminals of the dc bus should run close by. A twisted wire pair may be an example of two closely running wires.] The details of the inverter circuits shown in Figs. 33.4(a) and 33.4(b) are discussed in later lessons. However it may be mentioned here that these circuits are essentially extension of the half bridge circuit shown in Fig. 33.3(c). For example, the single-phase bridge circuit of Fig. 33.4(a) may be thought of as two half-bridge circuits sharing the same dc bus. Thus the single phase full-bridge (often, simply called as bridge) circuit has two legs of switches, each leg consisting of an upper switch and a lower switch. Junction point of the upper and lower switches is the output point of that particular leg. Voltage between output point of legs and the midpotential of the dc bus is called as pole voltage referred to the mid potential of the dc bus. One may think of pole voltage referred to negative bus or referred to positive bus too but unless otherwise mentioned pole voltages are assumed to be referred to the mid-potential of the dc bus. The two pole voltages of the single-phase bridge inverter generally have same magnitude and frequency but their phases are 1800 apart. Thus the load connected between these two pole outputs (between points A and B) will have a voltage equal to twice the magnitude of the individual pole voltage. The pole voltages of the 3-phase inverter bridge, shown in Fig. 33.4(b), are phase apart by 1200 each.
33.4 Need For Isolated Gate-Control Signals For The Switches

As already mentioned the switches in bridge configurations of inverters, as in Figs. 33.3(c), 33.4(a) and 33.4(b), need to be provided with isolated gate (or base) drive signals. The individual control signal for the switches needs to be provided across the gate (base) and source (or emitter) terminals of the particular switch. The gate control signals are low voltage signals referred to the source (emitter) terminal of the switch. For n-channel IGBT and MOSFET switches, when gate to source voltage is more than threshold voltage for turn-on, the switch turns on and when it is less than threshold voltage the switch turns off. The threshold voltage is generally of the order of +5 volts but for quicker switching the turn-on gate voltage magnitude is kept around +15 volts Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 11
where as turn-off gate voltage is zero or little negative (around 5 volts). It is to be remembered that the two switches of an inverter-leg are controlled in a complementary manner. When the upper switch of any leg is on, the corresponding lower switch remains off and vice-versa. When a switch is on its emitter and collector terminals are virtually shorted. Thus with upper switch on, the emitter of the upper switch is at positive dc bus potential. Similarly with lower switch on, the emitter of upper switch of that leg is virtually at the negative dc bus potential. Emitters of all the lower switches are solidly connected to the negative line of the dc bus. Since gate control signals are applied with respect to the emitter terminals of the switches, the gate voltages of all the upper switches must be floating with respect to the dc bus line potentials. This calls for isolation between the gate control signals of upper switches and between upper and lower switches. Only the emitters of lower switches of all the legs are at the same potential (since all of them are solidly connected to the negative dc bus) and hence the gate control signals of lower switches need not be isolated among themselves. As should be clear from the above discussion, the isolation provided between upper and lower switches must withstand a peak voltage stress equal to dc bus voltage. Gate-signal isolation for inverter switches is generally achieved by means of optical-isolator (opto-isolator) circuits. Fig.33.5 shows a typical optoisolator circuit. The circuit makes use of a commercially available opto-coupler IC, shown within dotted lines in the figure. Input stage of the IC is a light emitting diode (LED) that emits light when forward biased. The light output of the LED falls on reverse biased junction of an optical diode. The LED and the photo-diode are suitably positioned inside the opto-coupler chip to ensure that the light emitted by the LED falls on the photo-diode junction. The gate control pulses for the switch are applied to the input LED through a current limiting resistor of appropriate magnitude. These gate pulses, generated by the gate logic circuit, are essentially in the digital form. A high level of the gate signal may be taken as on command and a low level (at ground level) may be taken as off command. Under this assumption, the cathode of the LED is connected to the ground point of the gate-logic card and anode is fed with the logic card output. The circuit on the output (photo-diode) side is connected to a floating dc power supply, as shown in Fig. 33.5. The control (logic card) supply ground is isolated from the floating-supply ground of the output. In the figure the two grounds have been shown by two different symbols. The schematic connection shown in the figure indicates that the photo-diode is reverse biased. A resistor in series with the diode indicates the magnitude of the reverse leakage current of the diode. When input signal to LED is high, LED conducts and the emitted light falls on the reverse biased p-n junction. Irradiation of light causes generation of significant number of electron-hole pairs in the depletion region of the reverse biased diode. As a result magnitude of reverse leakage current of the diode increases appreciably. The resistor connected in series with the photo-diode now has higher voltage drop due to the increased leakage current. A signal comparator circuit senses this condition and outputs a high level signal, which is amplified before being output. Thus an isolated and amplified gate signal is obtained and may directly be connected to the gate terminal of the switch (often a small series resistor, as suggested by the switch manufacturer, is put between the output signal and the gate terminal of the switch).
+VCC (floating) Photo-diode L E D Signal comparator and power amplifier circuit
Output
Control Ground
Floating Ground Fig.33.5: A schematic opto-isolator circuit
33.5 Classification of Voltage Source Inverters

Voltage source inverters can be classified according to different criterions. They can be classified according to number of phases they output. Accordingly there are single-phase or three-phase inverters depending on whether they output single or three-phase voltages. It is also possible to have inverters with two or five or any other number of output phases. Inverters can also be classified according to their ability in controlling the magnitude of output parameters like, frequency, voltage, harmonic content etc. Some inverters can output only fixed magnitude (though variable frequency) voltages whereas some others are capable of both variable voltage, variable frequency (VVVF) output. Output of some voltage source inverters is corrupted by significant amount of many low order harmonics like 3rd, 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th order of the desired (fundamental) frequency voltage. Some other inverters may be free from low order harmonics but may still be corrupted by some high order harmonics. Inverters used for ac motor drive applications are expected to have less of low order harmonics in the output voltage waveform, even if it is at the cost of increased high order harmonics. Higher order harmonic voltage distortions are, in most ac motor loads, filtered away by the inductive nature of the load itself. Inverters may also be classified according to their topologies. Some inverter topologies are suitable for low and medium voltage ratings whereas some others are more suitable for higher voltage applications. The inverters shown in Figs. 33.3(c), 33.4(a) and 33.4(b) are two level inverters as the pole voltages may acquire either positive dc bus or negative dc bus potential. For higher voltage applications it may not be uncommon to have three level or five level inverters.
Quiz Problems
1. A large capacitor, put across dc bus of a voltage source inverter, is intended to: (a) allow a low impedance path to the high frequency component of dc link current. (b) to minimize high frequency current ripple through the ideal dc source. (c) to maintain a constant dc link current. (d) to protect against switch failure. 2. A diode in anti-parallel with the controlled switch, like IGBT, is used in VSI to: (a) prevent reversal of dc link current. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 13
(b) allow a non-unity power factor load at the output. (c) protect the circuit against accidental reversal of dc bus polarity. (d) none of the above. 3. The inverter switches work in fully-on or fully-off mode to achieve: (a) easier gate control circuit for the switching devices. (b) minimum distortion in the output voltage waveform. (c) reduced losses in the switches. (d) satisfactory operation for non-resistive load at the output. 4. Gate (base) signals to the VSI switches, using n-channel IGBTs, need to be isolated to allow: (a) protection of switches against short at the inverter output terminals. (b) switches to be connected in bridge fashion. (c) lower losses in the gate drive circuit. (d) a dc link voltage higher than the switch voltage rating. (Answers to the quiz problems: 1-a, 2-b, 3-c, 4-b)
Module 5
DC to AC Converters
Lesson 34
Analysis of 1-Phase, Square - Wave Voltage Source Inverter
After completion of this lesson the reader will be able to: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Explain the operating principle of a single-phase square wave inverter. Compare the performance of single-phase half-bridge and full-bridge inverters. Do harmonic analysis of load voltage and load current output by a single-phase inverter. Decide on voltage and current ratings of inverter switches.
Voltage source inverters (VSI) have been introduced in Lesson-33. A single-phase square wave type voltage source inverter produces square shaped output voltage for a single-phase load. Such inverters have very simple control logic and the power switches need to operate at much lower frequencies compared to switches in some other types of inverters, discussed in later lessons. The first generation inverters, using thyristor switches, were almost invariably square wave inverters because thyristor switches could be switched on and off only a few hundred times in a second. In contrast, the present day switches like IGBTs are much faster and used at switching frequencies of several kilohertz. As pointed out in Lesson-26, single-phase inverters mostly use half bridge or full bridge topologies. Power circuits of these topologies are redrawn in Figs. 34.1(a) and 34.1(b) for further discussions. P + C_ Edc + _ Sw1 0.5Edc Edc O + C_ LOAD 0.5Edc Sw2 N Fig. 34.1(a): A 1-phase half bridge VSI Sw2 N Fig. 34.1(b): A 1-phase full-bridge VSI Sw4 A P idc Sw1 Sw3
+ Cdc _ A
LOAD
In this lesson, both the above topologies are analyzed under the assumption of ideal circuit conditions. Accordingly, it is assumed that the input dc voltage (Edc) is constant and the switches are lossless. In half bridge topology the input dc voltage is split in two equal parts through an ideal and loss-less capacitive potential divider. The half bridge topology consists of one leg (one pole) of switches whereas the full bridge topology has two such legs. Each leg of the inverter consists of two series connected electronic switches shown within dotted lines in the figures. Each of these switches consists of an IGBT type controlled switch across which an uncontrolled diode is put in anti-parallel manner. These switches are capable of conducting bi-directional current but they need to block only one polarity of voltage. The junction point of the switches in each leg of the inverter serves as one output point for the load. In half bridge topology the single-phase load is connected between the mid-point of the input dc supply and the junction point of the two switches (in Fig. 34.1(a) these points are marked as O and A respectively). For ease of understanding, the switches Sw1 and Sw2 may be assumed to Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 3
be controlled mechanical switches that open and close in response to the switch control signal. In fact in lesson-33 (section 33.2) it has been shown that the actual electronic switches mimic the function of the mechanical switches. Now, if the switches Sw1 and Sw2 are turned on alternately with duty ratio of each switch kept equal to 0.5, the load voltage (VAO) will be square wave with a peak-to-peak magnitude equal to input dc voltage (Edc). Fig. 34.2(a) shows a typical load voltage waveform output by the half bridge inverter. VAO acquires a magnitude of +0.5 Edc when Sw1 is on and the magnitude reverses to -0.5 Edc when Sw2 is turned on. Fig. 24.2 also shows the fundamental frequency component of the square wave voltage, its peak-to-peak magnitude being equal to 4 Edc . The two switches of the inverter leg are turned on in a complementary
manner. For a general load, the switches should neither be simultaneously on nor be simultaneously off. Simultaneous turn-on of both the switches will amount to short circuit across the dc bus and will cause the switch currents to rise rapidly. For an inductive load, containing an inductance in series, one of the switches must always conduct to maintain continuity of load current. In Lesson-33 (section 33.2) a case of inductive load has been considered and it has been shown that the load current may not change abruptly even though the switching frequency is very high. Such a situation, as explained in lesson-33, demands that the switches must have bidirectional current carrying capability.
34.1 Harmonic Analysis of The Load Voltage And Load Current Waveforms
The load voltage waveform shown in Fig. 34.2(a) can be mathematically described in terms of its Fouriers components as: 2E VAO = ndc sin(nwt ) (34.1) n =1,3,5,7,..., ,where n is the harmonic order and w is the frequency (f) of the square wave. f also 2 happens to be the switching frequency of the inverter switches. As can be seen from the expression of Eqn. 34.1, the square wave load voltage consists of all the odd harmonics and their magnitudes are inversely proportional to their harmonic order. Accordingly, the fundamental Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 4
frequency component has a peak magnitude of
Edc and the nth harmonic voltage (n being odd
2 Edc . The magnitudes of very high order harmonic voltages n become negligibly small. In most applications, only the fundamental component in load voltage is of practical use and the other higher order harmonics are undesirable distortions. Many of the practical loads are inductive with inherent low pass filter type characteristics. The current waveforms in such loads have less higher order harmonic distortion than the corresponding distortion in the square-wave voltage waveform. A simple time domain analysis of the load current for a series connected R-L load has been presented below to corroborate this fact. Later, for comparison, frequency domain analysis of the same load current has also been done.
integer) has a peak magnitude of
34.1.1 Time Domain Analysis

The time domain analysis of the steady state current waveform for a R-L load has been presented here. Under steady state the load current waveform in a particular output cycle will repeat in successive cycles and hence only one square wave period has been considered. Let t=0 be the instant when the positive half cycle of the square wave starts and let I0 be the load current at this instant. The negative half cycle of square wave starts at t=0.5T and extends up to T. The circuit equation valid during the positive half cycle of voltage can be written as below: di Ri + L = 0.5Edc , for 0 < t < 0.5T ...(34.2) dt Similarly the equation for the negative half cycle can be written as di Ri + L = 0.5 Edc , for 0.5T < t < T .(34.3) dt , where T (=1/f) is the time period of the square wave. The instantaneous current i during the first half of square wave may be obtained by solving Eqn.(34.2) and putting the initial value of current as I0. t t 0.5 Edc (1 e ) + I 0 e for 0 < t < 0.5T ..(34.4) Accordingly, i (t ) = R , where = L/R is the time constant of the R-L load. The current at the end of the positive half cycle becomes the starting current for the negative half cycle. T T 0.5 Edc (1 e 2 ) + I 0 e 2 . The Thus the next half cycle starts with an initial current = R circuit equation for the next half cycle may now be written as
i(t ) =
0.5Edc (1 e R
T (t ) 2
T (t ) T T 2 0.5E dc )+ (1 e 2 ) + I 0e 2 e R
for 0.5T <t< T
Simplifying the above equation one gets:

i (t ) =
t t E 0.5 Edc (1 + e ) + I 0 e + dc e R R
(t
T ) 2
, for 0.5T < t < T
.(34.5)
Under steady state, the instantaneous magnitude of inductive load current at the end of a periodic cycle must equal the current at the start of the cycle. Thus putting t=T in Eqn. (34.5), one gets the expression for I0 as, T T E T 0.5Edc (1 + e ) + I 0 e + dc e 2 I0 = R R T 0.5E T E T dc (1 e ) + dc e 2 1 or, I 0 1 e = R R
T 0.5Edc Edc 0.5Edc 1 e 2 1 .(34.6) or, I 0 = = R T T R R 2 1 + e 2 1 + e Substituting the above expression for I0 in Eqn. (34.4) one gets, t T 0.5 Edc 1 + e 2 2e i(t ) = T R 2 1 e + , for 0 < t < 0.5T ....(34.7)
It may be noted from Eqn. (34.7) that the load current at the end of the positive half cycle of square wave (at t=0.5T) simply turns out to be I0. This is expected from the symmetry of the load voltage waveform. Load current expression for the negative half cycle of square wave can similarly be calculated by substituting for I0 in Eqn. (34.5). Accordingly,
T (t ) 2 Edc e + R T 1 + e 2
i (t ) =
0.5 Edc R
, for 0.5T < t < T
or, i (t ) =
0.5 Edc R
T (t ) 2 T 1 + e 2 2e T 1 + e 2
, for 0.5T < t < T ............... (34.8)
The current expressions given by Eqns. (34.7) and (34.8) have been plotted in Figs. 34.2(b) to 34.2(e) for different time constants of the R-L load. The current waveforms have been E normalized against a base current of 0.5 dc . The square wave voltage waveform, normalized R against a base voltage of 0.5Edc has also been plotted together with the current waveforms. It can be seen that the load current waveform repeats at fundamental frequency and the higher order harmonic distortions reduce as the load becomes more inductive. For L/R ratio of 2, the 3rd order harmonic distortion in the load current together with its fundamental component has been shown in Fig. 34.2(e). In this case, it can be seen that the relative harmonic distortion in load current waveform is much lower than that of the voltage waveform shown in Fig. 34.2(a). The basis for calculating the magnitude of different harmonic components of load current waveform has been shown in the next subsection that deals with frequency domain analysis.
34.1.2 Frequency Domain Analysis

The square shape load voltage may be taken as superposition of different harmonic voltages described by Eqn. 34.1. The load current may similarly be taken as superposition of harmonic currents produced by the different harmonic voltages. The load current may be expressed in terms of these harmonic currents. To illustrate this the series connected R-L load has once again been considered here. First the expressions for different harmonic components of load current are calculated in terms of load parameters: R and L/R (or ) and inverter parameters: dc link voltage (Edc) and time period of square wave (T).
For the fundamental harmonic frequency the load impedance (Z1) and load power factor angle (1) can be calculated to be Z1 =
2 2 R 2 + ( 4 L 2)
2 L and 1 = tan 1 ..(34.9) TR
The load impedance and load power factor angle for the nth harmonic component (Zn and n respectively) will similarly be given by, Zn =
2 2 2 R 2 + (4 n L 2)
2 nL and n = tan 1 ..(34.10) TR
The fundamental and nth harmonic component of load current, (Iload)1 and (Iload)n respectively, can be found to be (Iload)1 =
2 Edc 2 Edc sin( wt 1 ) and (Iload)n = sin(nwt n ) (34.11) n Z n Z1
The algebraic summation of the individual harmonic components of current will result in the following expression for load current.
I Load = 2 Edc sin(nwt n ) .(34.12) n =1,3,5,7,..., n Z n
From Eqns. 34.10 and 34.12 it may be seen that the contribution to load current from very higher order harmonics become negligible and hence the infinite series based expression for load current may be terminated beyond certain values of harmonic order n. For L/R ratio = 2T, the individual harmonic components of load current normalized against a base current of 0.5 Edc have been calculated below: R 4 sin( wt tan 1 4 ) = 0.1sin( wt 1.491) (Iload)1,normalized = 2 1 + 16 4 sin(3wt tan 1 12 ) = 0.011sin(3wt 1.544) (Iload)3,normalized = 2 3 1 + 144 4 sin(5wt tan 1 20 ) = 0.004sin(5wt 1.555) (Iload)5,normalized = 2 5 1 + 400 4 sin(7 wt tan 1 28 ) = 0.002sin(7 wt 1.559) (Iload)7,normalized = 2 7 1 + 784 4 sin(11wt tan 1 44 ) = 0.0008sin(11wt 1.564) (Iload)11,normalized = 2 11 1 + 1936
It may be concluded that for L/R = 2T, the contribution to load current from 13th and higher order harmonics are less than 1% of the fundamental component and hence they may be neglected without any significant loss of accuracy. Fig. 34.2(f) shows the load voltage and algebraic summation of the first five dominant harmonics (fundamental, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 11th) in the load current, the expressions for which have been given above. In Fig. 34.2(g) the load current waveforms of Fig. 34.2(e) and 34.2(f) have been superimposed for comparison. It may be seen that the load current waveform of Fig. 34.2(f) calculated using truncated series of the frequency domain analysis very nearly matches with the exact waveform of Fig. 34.2(e), calculated using time domain analysis.
34.2 Analysis Of The Single-Phase Full Bridge Inverter

Single-phase half bridge inverter has already been described above. The single-phase full bridge circuit (Fig. 34.1(b)) can be thought of as two half bridge circuits sharing the same dc bus. The full bridge circuit will have two pole-voltages (VAO and VBO), which are similar to the pole voltage VAO of the half bridge circuit. Both VAO and VBO of the full bridge circuit are square waves but they will, in general, have some phase difference. Fig. 34.3 shows these pole voltages staggered in time by t seconds. It may be more convenient to talk in terms of the phase displacement angle defined as below: t = (2 ) Radians..(34.13) T , where t is the time by which the two pole voltages are staggered and T is the time period of the square wave pole voltages. The pole voltage VAO of the full bridge inverter may again be written as in Eqn. 34.1, used earlier for the half bridge inverter. Taking the phase shift angle into account, the pole-B voltage may be written as 2E VBO = ndc sin n(wt ) (34.14) n =1,3,5,7,..., Difference of VAO and VBO gives the line voltage VAB. In full bridge inverter the single phase load is connected between points A and B and the voltage of interest is the load voltage VAB. Taking difference of the voltage expressions given by Eqns. 34.1 and 34.14, one gets 2E VAB = ndc [sin nwt sin n(wt )] (34.15) n =1,3,5,7,...,
The fundamental component of VAB may be written as 2 Edc 4E VAB ,1 = [sin wt sin( wt )] = dc cos( wt ) sin ...(34.16) 2 2 The nth harmonic component in VAB may similarly be written as 2 Edc 4E n .(34.17) VAB ,n = [sin nwt sin n( wt )] = dc cos n( wt ) sin n n 2 2 From Eqn. 34.16, the rms magnitude of the fundamental component of load voltage may be written as ....(34.18) (VAB ,1 ) rms = 0.9 Edc sin 2 The rms magnitude of load voltage can be changed from zero to a peak magnitude of 0.9 Edc . The peak load voltage magnitude corresponds to = 180 degrees and the load voltage will be zero for = 00. For = 180 degrees, the load voltage waveform is once again square wave of time period T and instantaneous magnitude E. As the phase shift angle changes from zero to 1800 the width of voltage pulse in the load voltage waveform increases. Thus the fundamental voltage magnitude is controlled by pulse-width modulation. Also, from Eqns. 34.17 and 34.1 it may be seen that the line voltage distortion due to higher order harmonics for pulse width modulated waveform (except for = 1800) is less than the corresponding distortion in the square wave pole voltage. In fact, for some values of phase shift angle () many of the harmonic voltage magnitudes will drastically reduce or may even get eliminated from the load voltage. For example, for = 600 the load voltage will be free from 3rd and multiples of third harmonic. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 10
34.3 Voltage And Current Ratings Of Inverter Switches

Switches in each leg of the inverter operate in a complementary manner. When upper switch of a leg is on the lower switch will need to block the entire dc bus voltage and vice versa. Thus the switches must be rated to block the worst-case instantaneous magnitude of dc bus voltage. In practical inverters the switch voltage ratings are taken to be somewhat higher than the worst-case dc voltage to account for stray voltages produced across stray inductances, the turn-on transient voltage of a power diode etc. For a well laid out circuit a 50% margin over the dc-bus voltage may be the optimum switch voltage rating. Each switch of the inverter carries load current during half of the current cycle. Hence the switches must be rated to withstand the peak magnitude of instantaneous load current. The semiconductor switches have very small thermal time constant and they cannot withstand overheating for more than a few milli seconds. Thus even though the load current passes through the switches only in alternate half cycles, the thermal limit may be reached during half cycle of current itself. It may be pointed out that each inverter switch consists of a controlled switch in anti-parallel with a diode. The distribution of current between the diode and the controlled switch will depend on the load power factor at the operating frequency. In general both diode as well as the controlled switch should be rated to carry the peak load current.
34.4 Applications Of Square Wave Inverter

The square wave voltage-source inverter discussed in this lesson finds application in many low cost ac motor drives, uninterruptible power supply units and in circuits utilizing electrical resonance between an inductor and a capacitor. Some examples of circuits utilizing resonance phenomenon are induction heating units and electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamps.
Quiz Problems
1. A single-phase full bridge inverter with square wave pole voltages is connected to a dc input voltage of 600 volts. What maximum rms load voltage can be output by the inverter? How much will be the corresponding rms magnitude of 3rd harmonic voltage (a) (b) (c) (d) Approximately 270 volts of fundamental and 30 volts of 3rd harmonic voltage Approx. 480 volts fundamental and 160 volts of 3rd harmonic voltage Approx. 540 volts fundamental and 180 volts of 3rd harmonic voltage Approx. 270 volts fundamental and 90 volts of 3rd harmonic voltage
2. How does the output power handling capacity of a single-phase half bridge inverter compare with that of a single-phase full bridge inverter when they are connected to same dc bus voltage and the peak current capability of the inverter switches is also same. Also compare their costs. (a) (b) (c) (d) The half bridge inverter can output double power but cost also doubles. The half bridge inverter can output only half the power but cost is less. The half bridge inverter can output only half the power but cost is nearly same The output power capability is same but half bridge inverter costs less.
3. A single-phase full bridge inverter is connected to a purely resistive load. Each inverter switch consists of an IGBT in anti-parallel with a diode. For this load how does the diode conduction loss compare with the IGBT conduction loss? Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 11
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Diode and IGBT will have nearly same conduction loss Diode conduction loss will be nearly half of the IGBT loss Diode will have no conduction loss IGBT will have no conduction loss
4. Using frequency domain analysis estimate the ratio of 5th and 7th harmonic currents in a purely inductive load that is connected to the output of a single phase half bridge inverter with square wave pole voltages. (a) (b) (c) (d) 5th harmonic current will be nearly double of the 7th harmonic current 5th harmonic current will be 40% more than the 7th harmonic current 5th harmonic current will be zero while 7th harmonic current will be present Both 5th and 7th harmonic currents will be zero
(Answers to the quiz problems: 1-d, 2-b, 3-c, 4-a)
Module 5
DC to AC Converters
Lesson 35
3-Phase Voltage Source Inverter With Square Wave Output
After completion of this lesson the reader will be able to: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Explain the operating principle of a three-phase square wave inverter. Understand the limitations and advantages of square-wave inverters. Do harmonic analysis of load voltage and load current output by the three-phase sq. wave inverter. Decide on voltage and current ratings of inverter switches.
The basic configuration of a Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) has been described in Lesson 33. Single-phase half-bridge and full-bridge configurations of VSI with square wave pole voltages have been analyzed in Lesson 34. In this lesson a 3-phase bridge type VSI with square wave pole voltages has been considered. The output from this inverter is to be fed to a 3-phase balanced load. Fig. 35.1 shows the power circuit of the three-phase inverter. This circuit may be identified as three single-phase half-bridge inverter circuits put across the same dc bus. The individual pole voltages of the 3-phase bridge circuit are identical to the square pole voltages output by singlephase half bridge or full bridge circuits. The three pole voltages of the 3-phase square wave inverter are shifted in time by one third of the output time period. These pole voltages along with some other relevant waveforms have been plotted in Fig. 35.2. The horizontal axis of the waveforms in Fig. 35.2 has been represented in terms of t, where is the angular frequency (in radians per second) of the fundamental component of square pole voltage and t stands for time in second. In Fig. 35.2 the phase sequence of the pole voltages is taken as VAO, VBO and VCO. The numbering of the switches in Fig. 35.1 has some special significance vis--vis the output phase sequence.
P idc Sw1 Sw3 Sw5
Edc
+ Cdc _ A
A 3-phase balanced load
Sw4 n
Sw6
Sw2
C
Fig. 35.1: A 3-phase Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) feeding a balanced load
VAO 0.5Edc 0 Sw1 Sw1 Sw4 Sw4 t
- 0.5Edc
VBO 0 Sw3 Sw6
0.5Edc Sw6
Sw3
- 0.5Edc
0.5Edc
Sw6
VCO Sw5 0 Sw2 Sw5
Sw5 Sw2 t
- 0.5Edc
Edc
VAB 0
-Edc
VAN 0 2/3Edc 1/3Edc
-1/3Edc -2/3Edc
2/3Edc 1/3Edc
VBN 0
-1/3Edc
0 /3 2/3 4/3 5/3 2
-2/3Edc
7/3 8/3 3 10/3 11/3 3 t
Fig. 35.2: Some relevant voltage waveforms output by a 3-phase square wave VSI To appreciate the particular manner in which the switches have been numbered, the conductionpattern of the switches marked in Fig. 35.2 may be noted. It may be seen that with the chosen numbering the switches turn on in the sequence:- Sw1, Sw2, Sw3, Sw4, Sw5, Sw6, Sw1, Sw2, .and so on. Identifying the switching cycle time as 360 degrees (2 radians), it can be seen that each switch conducts for 1800 and the turning on of the adjacent switch is staggered by 60 degrees. The upper and lower switches of each pole (leg) of the inverter conduct in a Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 4
complementary manner. To reverse the output phase sequence, the switching sequence may simply be reversed. Considering the symmetry in the switch conduction pattern, it may be found that at any time three switches conduct. It could be two from the upper group of switches, which are connected to positive dc bus, and one from lower group or vice-versa (i.e., one from upper group and two from lower group). According to the conduction pattern indicated in Fig. 35.2 there are six combinations of conducting switches during an output cycle:- (Sw5, Sw6, Sw1), (Sw6, Sw1, Sw2), (Sw1, Sw2, Sw3), (Sw2, Sw3, Sw4), (Sw3, Sw4, Sw5), (Sw4, Sw5, Sw6). Each of these combinations of switches conducts for 600 in the sequence mentioned above to produce output phase sequence of A, B, C. As will be shown later the fundamental component of the three output line-voltages will be balanced. The load side phase voltage waveforms turn out to be somewhat different from the pole voltage waveforms and have been dealt with in the next section.
35.1 Determination Of Load Phase-Voltages

Fig. 35.1 shows a star connected balanced 3-phase load. The three load terminals are connected to the three output points (A, B, C) of the inverter. The neutral point N of the load is deliberately left open for some good reasons mentioned later. The load side phase voltages VAN, VBN and VCN can be determined from the conduction pattern of the inverter switches. With reference to Fig. 35.2, it may be seen that for 0t/3, switches Sw5, Sw6 and Sw1 conduct. Under the assumption of ideal switches Fig. 35.3(a) will represent the equivalent inverter and load circuit during the time interval 0t/3. In the equivalent circuit representation the nonconducting switches have been omitted and a cross (X) sign is used to represent a conducting switch. For a balanced 3-phase load the instantaneous phase voltage waveforms have been derived below for the following two cases (i) when the 3-phase load is purely resistive and (ii) when the load, in each phase, consists of a resistor in series with an inductor and a back e.m.f. In both the cases the equivalent circuit of Fig. 35.3(a) has been referred to derive the expression for load-phase voltage. Sw1 X Sw5 X + Edc _ Sw6 X B A VAN = 1/3 Edc VBN = -2/3 Edc VCN = 1/3 Edc
Fig. 35.3(a): Schematic load circuit during conduction of Sw5, Sw6 and Sw1 For case (i), when the load is a balance resistive load, it is very easy to see that the instantaneous phase voltages, for 0t/3, will be given by VAN = 1/3 Edc, VBN = -2/3 Edc, VCN = 1/3 Edc. For case (ii), the following circuit relations hold good.
VAN = RiA + L
VAN VBN
di di di A + E A , VBN = RiB + L B + EB , VCN = RiC + L C + EC ...(35.1) dt dt dt = Edc , VAN = VCN ....(35.2)
where, iA , iB , iC
are the instantaneous load-phase currents entering phases A, B and C
respectively. EA , EB and EC are the instantaneous magnitudes of load phase-emfs. R and L are the per-phase load resistance and inductance that are connected in series with the corresponding phase-emf. Since the load is balanced (with its neutral point floating) the algebraic sum of the instantaneous phase currents and the phase emfs will be zero. Accordingly, iA + iB + iC = 0 and EA + EB + EC = 0(35.3) From Eqns. 35.1 and 35.3, the following may be deduced: d (i + i ) di VAN + VCN = R (i A + iC ) + L A C + ( E A + EC ) = ( RiB + L B + EB ) = VBN .... (35.4) dt dt Now from Eqns. 35.2 and 35.4 it can be easily found that VAN = 1/3 Edc, VBN = -2/3 Edc, VCN = 1/3 Edc. Thus the instantaneous magnitudes of load phase voltages, in case of a more general (but balanced) R-L-E load are same as in case of a simple balanced resistive load. Fig. 35.3(b) shows the equivalent circuit during /3t2/3, when the switches Sw6, Sw1 and Sw2 conduct. The instantaneous load phase voltages may be found to be VAN = 2/3 Edc, VBN = VCN = -1/3 Edc. Sw1 X + Edc _ Sw2 X Sw6 X A VAN = 2/3 Edc VBN = -1/3 Edc VCN = -1/3 Edc
Fig. 35.3(b): Schematic load circuit during conduction of Sw6, Sw1 and Sw2 The load phase voltage waveforms for other switching combinations may be found in a similar manner. Two of the phase voltages, VAN and VBN , along with line voltage VAB have been plotted over two output cycles in Fig. 35.2. It may be seen that voltage VBN is similar to VAN but lags it by one third of the output cycle period. Further, it can be verified that the load phase voltage VCN also has a waveform identical to the two other phase voltages but time displaced by one third of the output time period. VCN waveform leads VAN by 120 degrees in the time (t) frame. It should be obvious that the fundamental component of the phase voltage waveforms will constitute a balanced 3-phase voltage having a phase sequence A, B, C. It may also be recalled that by suitably changing the switching sequence the output phase sequence can be changed. The phase voltage waveforms of Fig. 35.2 show six steps per output cycle and are also referred as the Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 6
six-stepped waveform. A more detailed analysis of the load voltage waveforms is done in the following section.
35.2 Harmonic Analysis Of Load Voltage Waveforms

The individual pole voltage waveforms output by the 3-phase square wave inverter are identical to the output waveform of a single-phase half bridge inverter. As a consequence, the harmonic analysis of the voltage waveform presented in section 34.1 of Lesson 34 is valid here too. The expression for line voltage VAB is identical to the one given in Lesson 34 (Eqn.34.15), with of Eqn. 34.15 replaced by 2/3 radians. For convenience the expressions for pole-A voltage VAO and line voltage VAB are reproduced below in Eqns.35.5 and 35.6. The relevant waveforms are shown in Fig.35.2.
VAO = 2 Edc sin(nwt ) .....(35.5) n =1,3,5,7,..., n
2 Edc 2 sin nwt sin n( wt ) ....(35.6) n 3 n =1,3,5,7,..., Using equations 35.5 and 35.6, the expressions for remaining pole and line voltages can be written simply by shifting the time (t) origin by the phase shift angle shown in Fig.35.2. Accordingly the expressions for pole voltage VBO and line voltage VBC are written below in Eqns. 35.7 and 35.8 respectively. 2E 2 VBO = ndc sin n(wt 3 ) ...(35.7) n =1,3,5,7,..., VAB =
2 4 sin n( wt ) sin n( wt ) ....(35.8) 3 3 It may be verified that difference of VAO and VBO leads to the expression for VAB . The expression for a particular harmonic component in the voltage waveforms is determined simply by substituting n in above equations by the harmonic order. Accordingly the fundamental magnitude of line voltages VAB , VBC and VCA can be written as: VBC = 2 Edc n=1,3,5,7,..., n
2 Edc 2 2 3Edc sin wt sin( wt ) = sin( wt + ) 3 6 2 3Edc 2 3Edc 7 VBC ,1 = sin( wt ) , VCA,1 = sin( wt ) 2 6 The three fundamental line voltages are balanced (have identical magnitudes and are phase apart by 1200). For most practical loads only the fundamental component of the inverter output voltage is of interest. However the inverter output also contains significant amount of higher order harmonic voltages that cause undesirable distortion of the output waveform. It may, though, be noted that there are no even harmonics and the line voltages are free from 3rd and multiples of 3rd order harmonics. Also, as the harmonic order (n) increases their magnitudes decrease inversely with the harmonic order. When expressed as a fraction of fundamental voltage magnitude, the line voltage distortions are mainly due to 20% of 5th harmonic, nearly 14% of 7th, nearly 9% of VAB ,1 = Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 7
11th and nearly 8% of 13th harmonic. Since most loads are inductive in nature with a low pass filter type characteristics the effect of very high order harmonics may be neglected. It may be noted that though the pole voltages have 3rd and multiples of 3rd order harmonic distortions, the line voltages are free from these distortions. Hence the load neutral point, rather than being connected to the mid-potential point of the input dc supply (as in a single-phase half bridge inverter), is deliberately left floating. The floating neutral point does not allow a closed path for the 3rd and multiples of 3rd harmonic currents to flow (3rd or multiples of 3rd harmonic current, if present in the load phases, have identical instantaneous magnitudes in all the three phases and their algebraic sum needs to flow in or out of the load neutral point). By keeping the load neutral point floating, not only the need for bringing out the mid-potential point of dc supply is done away with, the triplen harmonic distortions of the load current is totally eliminated. Since there are no triplen harmonic currents in the load, the load-phase voltages are also free from triplen harmonic distortions. In fact the six-stepped load-phase voltages shown in Fig. 35.2 are found to be free from triplen harmonics. It turns out that by removing all triplen harmonics from the square-shaped pole voltage waveform one can arrive at the corresponding load-phase (six-stepped) voltage waveform. Accordingly the load-phase voltages may be expressed in terms of its harmonic contents as shown below. 2 Edc VAN = sin(nwt ) .....(35.9) n =1,5,7,11,13..., n
VBN = 2 Edc 2 sin n( wt ) ...(35.10) n 3 n=1,5,7,11,13...,
VCN =
2 Edc 2 sin n( wt + ) ...(35.11) 3 n=1,5,7,11,13..., n
For a balanced three-phase load, the instantaneous magnitude of any phase current can be determined by superposition of different harmonic currents of the phase. For a simple threephase R-L load, the phase-A current ( iA ) expression in terms of resistance (R) and inductance (L) of the load may be written as:
iA =
n=1,5,7,11,13...,
2 Edc n R 2 + n 2 2 L2
sin[nwt tan 1 (
n L )] .....(35.12) R
Phase-B and phase-C current expressions can be obtained simply by replacing t in Eqn. 35.12 2 2 by ( t ) respectively. A close look at Eqn. 35.12 will reveal that for a ) and ( t + 3 3 purely inductive 3-phase load the 5th, 7th, 11th and 13th harmonic distortion in the load current (as a percentage of fundamental component of current) will respectively be 4%, 2.04%, 0.83% and 0.59%. These distortions are much less than the corresponding distortions in the load voltage waveforms. As a result the load current for highly inductive R-L load will have close to sinusoidal shape.
35.3 Voltage And Current Ratings Of Inverter Switches

As in a single-phase square-wave inverter, switches in each leg of the three-phase inverter operate in a complementary manner. When upper switch of a leg is on the lower switch will need to block the entire dc bus voltage and vice versa. Thus the switches must be rated to block the worst-case instantaneous magnitude of dc bus voltage. An extra safety margin over the worstcase dc voltage, as discussed in Lesson-34, section 34.3, is recommended. Each inverter-switch carries load-phase current during half of the current cycle. Hence the switches must be rated to withstand the peak expected magnitude of instantaneous load-phase current. For a non-unity power factor load, the diode connected in anti-parallel with the switch will conduct part of the switch current. The distribution of current between the diode and the controlled switch will depend on the load power factor at the operating frequency. In general both diode as well as the controlled switch should be rated to carry the peak load current. These diodes also need to block a peak reverse voltage equal to worst case voltage across the switches.
35.4 Use And Limitations Of 3-Phase Square Wave Inverter

The three-phase square wave inverter as described above can be used to generate balanced threephase ac voltages of desired (fundamental) frequency. However harmonic voltages of 5th, 7th and other non-triplen odd multiples of fundamental frequency distort the output voltage. In many cases such distortions in output voltages may not be tolerable and it may also not be practical to use filter circuits to filter out the harmonic voltages in a satisfactory manner. In such situations the inverter discussed in this lesson will not be a suitable choice. Fortunately there are some other kinds of inverters, namely pulse width modulated (PWM) inverters, discussed in the next lesson, which can provide higher quality of output voltage. The square wave inverter discussed in this lesson may still be used for many loads, notably ac motor type loads. The motor loads are inductive in nature with the inherent quality to suppress the harmonic currents in the motor. The example of a purely inductive load discussed in the previous section illustrates the effectiveness of inductive loads in blocking higher order harmonic currents. In spite of the inherent low-pass filtering property of the motor load, the load current may still contain some harmonics. These harmonic currents cause extra iron and copper losses in the motor. They also produce unwanted torque pulsations. Fortunately the torque pulsations due to harmonic currents are of high frequencies and their effect gets subdued due to the large mechanical inertia of the drive system. The motor speed hardly changes in response to these torque pulsations. However in some cases torque pulsations of particular frequencies may cause unwanted resonance in the mechanical system of the drive. A special notch filter may then be required to remove these frequencies from the inverter output voltage. The input dc voltage to the inverter is often derived from an ac source after rectification and filtering. A simple diode bridge rectifier followed by a filter capacitor is often the most costeffective method to get dc voltage from ac supply. In some applications, like in un-interrupted power supplies, the dc input may be coming from a bank of batteries. In both these examples, the input dc magnitude is fairly constant. With fixed input dc voltage the square-wave inverter can output only fixed magnitude of load voltage. This does not suit the requirement in many cases where the load requires a variable voltage variable frequency (VVVF) supply. In order that ac output voltage magnitude is controllable, the inverter input voltage will need to be varied using an additional dc-to-dc converter. However a better solution will be to use a PWM inverter (to be Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 9
discussed in the next lesson), which can provide a VVVF output with enhanced output voltage quality. In spite of the limitations, discussed above, the square wave inverter may be a preferred choice on account of its simplicity and low cost. The switch control circuit is very simple and the switching frequency is significantly lower than in PWM inverters. This results in low switching losses. The switch cost may also be lower as one may do away with slower switching devices and slightly lower rated switches. Another advantage over PWM inverter is its ability to output higher magnitude of fundamental voltage than the maximum that can be output from a PWM inverter (under the given dc supply condition). Listed below are two applications where a 3phase square wave inverter could be used. (i) A low cost solid-state frequency changer circuit: This circuit converts the 3-phase ac (input) voltages of one frequency to 3-phase ac (output) voltages of the desired frequency. The input ac is first converted into dc and then converted back to ac of new frequency. The square wave inverter discussed in this lesson may be used for dc to ac conversion. Such a circuit may, for example, convert 3-phase ac voltages of 50 Hz to 3phase ac voltages of 60 Hz. The input to this circuit could as well have come from a single-phase supply, in which case the single-phase ac is first converted into dc and then converted back to 3-phase ac of the desired frequency. An uninterrupted power supply circuit: Uninterrupted power supply circuits are used to provide uninterrupted power to some critical load. Here a critical load requiring 3phase ac supply of fixed magnitude and frequency has been considered. In case ac mains supply fails, the 3-phase load may be electronically switched, within few milliseconds, to the output of the 3-phase square wave inverter. Input dc supply of the inverter often comes from a battery bank.
(ii)
Problems
(1) A 3-phase square wave inverter feeds a balanced 3-phase resistive-inductive load. The load phase current will contain, apart from the fundamental frequency current, the following harmonic currents: (a) (b) (c) (d) (2) All odd multiples of fundamental All odd and even multiples of fundamental All even multiples of fundamental except 6th and multiples of 6th All odd multiples of fundamental except 3rd and multiples of 3rd
The six-stepped load phase voltage of a 3-phase square wave inverter, with a dc link voltage of 100 volts, will have the following rms magnitudes of 1st, 3rd and 5th harmonic voltages: (a) (b) (c) (d) 10V, 30V and 50V respectively 100V, 33.3V and 20V respectively 90V, 30V and 0 respectively 45V, 0 and 9V respectively
(3)
A 3-phase square wave inverter, fed from a fixed dc input, is capable of producing the following type of ac (fundamental component) voltages: Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 10
(a) (b) (c) (d) (4)
Variable voltage variable frequency type Fixed voltage variable frequency type Variable voltage fixed frequency type None of the above
A 3-phase square wave inverter feeds a balanced 3-phase inductance type load. The worst-case load phase current (peak magnitude) is expected to be 100 amps and the worst-case dc input voltage is expected to be 600 volts. The diodes of the inverter will be subjected to the following peak voltage and current stresses: (a) (b) (c) (d) 600V, 100A 600V, 70.7A 424V, 70.7A 424V, 100A
(Answers: 1-d, 2-d, 3-b, 4-a)
Module 5
DC to AC Converters
Lesson 36
3-Phase Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) Inverter
After completion of this lesson the reader will be able to: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Explain the philosophy behind PWM inverters. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of PWM inverters. Compare the quality of output voltage produced by different PWM inverters Decide on voltage and current ratings of inverter switches.
Pulse width modulated (PWM) inverters are among the most used power-electronic circuits in practical applications. These inverters are capable of producing ac voltages of variable magnitude as well as variable frequency. The quality of output voltage can also be greatly enhanced, when compared with those of square wave inverters discussed in Lesson-35. The PWM inverters are very commonly used in adjustable speed ac motor drive loads where one needs to feed the motor with variable voltage, variable frequency supply. For wide variation in drive speed, the frequency of the applied ac voltage needs to be varied over a wide range. The applied voltage also needs to vary almost linearly with the frequency. PWM inverters can be of single phase as well as three phase types. Their principle of operation remains similar and hence in this lesson the emphasis has been put on the more general, 3-phase type PWM inverter. There are several different PWM techniques, differing in their methods of implementation. However in all these techniques the aim is to generate an output voltage, which after some filtering, would result in a good quality sinusoidal voltage waveform of desired fundamental frequency and magnitude. As will be discussed later in this chapter, for the inverter topology considered here, it may not be possible to reduce the overall voltage distortion due to harmonics but by proper switching control the magnitudes of lower order harmonic voltages can be reduced, often at the cost of increasing the magnitudes of higher order harmonic voltages. Such a situation is acceptable in most cases as the harmonic voltages of higher frequencies can be satisfactorily filtered using lower sizes of filter chokes and capacitors. Many of the loads, like motor loads have an inherent quality to suppress high frequency harmonic currents and hence an external filter may not be necessary. To judge the quality of voltage produced by a PWM inverter, a detailed harmonic analysis of the voltage waveform needs to be done. In the following discussions some of the results of harmonic analysis done in the previous lessons have been borrowed. In Lesson-35, while discussing the 3phase square wave inverter it was shown that the magnitudes of fundamental components of the inverter pole voltage (voltage between the output of an inverter leg and the mid potential point of the input dc supply) and the load phase voltage are identical provided the load is a balanced 3phase load. In fact, after removing 3rd and multiples of 3rd harmonics from the pole voltage waveform one obtains the corresponding load phase voltage waveform. The pole voltage waveforms of 3-phase inverter are simpler to visualize and analyze and hence in this lesson the harmonic analysis of load phase and line voltage waveforms is done via the harmonic analysis of the pole voltages. It is implicit that the load phase and line voltages will not be affected by the 3rd and multiples of 3rd harmonic components that may be present in the pole voltage waveforms.
36.1 Nature Of Pole Voltage Waveforms Output By PWM Inverters

Unlike in square wave inverters the switches of PWM inverters are turned on and off at significantly higher frequencies than the fundamental frequency of the output voltage waveform. The typical pole voltage waveform of a PWM inverter is shown in Fig. 36.1 over one cycle of output voltage. In a three-phase inverter the other two pole voltages have identical shapes but they are displaced in time by one third of an output cycle. Compared to the square pole voltage waveform seen in Lesson-35, the pole voltage waveform of the PWM inverter changes polarity several times during each half cycle. The time instances at which the voltage polarities reverse have been referred here as notch angles. It may be noted that the instantaneous magnitude of pole voltage waveform remains fixed at half the input dc voltage (Edc). When upper switch (SU), connected to the positive dc bus is on, the pole voltage is + 0.5 Edc and when the lower switch (SL), connected to the negative dc bus, is on the instantaneous pole voltage is - 0.5 Edc. The switching transition time has been neglected in accordance with the assumption of ideal switches. It is to be remembered that in voltage source inverters, meant to feed an inductive type load, the upper and lower switches of the inverter pole conduct in a complementary manner. That is, when upper switch is on the lower is off and vice-versa. Both upper and lower switches Pole Voltage 0.5Edc SU 0 SL -0.5Edc 1 0 2 3 /2 4 -4 -3 -1 +1 +3 3/2 2-3 2-1 +4 2-4 2-2 2 -2 +2 SL SL SL SL SL SL SL SU SU SU SU SU SU SU SU t SL
Fig.36.1: A typical pole-voltage waveform of a PWM inverter should not remain on simultaneously as this will cause short circuit across the dc bus. On the other hand one of these two switches in each pole (leg) must always conduct to provide continuity of current through inductive loads. A sudden disruption in inductive load current will cause a large voltage spike that may damage the inverter circuit and the load.
36.2 Harmonic Analysis Of Pole Voltage Waveform

The pole voltage waveform shown in Fig. 36.1 has half wave odd symmetry and quarter-wave mirror symmetry. The half wave odd symmetry of any repetitive waveform f(t), repeating after every 2/ duration, is defined by f(t) = - f(+t). Such a symmetry in the waveform amounts Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 4
to absence of dc and even harmonic components from the waveform. All inverter output voltages maintain half wave odd symmetry to eliminate the unwanted dc voltage and the even harmonics. The half wave odd symmetry followed by quarter wave mirror symmetry, defined by f(t) = f(t), results in presence of only sine components in the Fourier series representation of the waveform. It may be verified that quarter wave symmetry may not hold good once the time origin is shifted arbitrarily. However the half-wave odd symmetry is maintained in spite of shifting of time origin. This is quite expected, as by just shifting the time origin new (even) harmonic frequencies will not creep up in the voltage waveform, whereas by shifting time origin the sine wave may become cosine or may have some other phase-shift. The quarter wave symmetry talked above is not necessary for improvement of the output waveform quality; it merely simplifies the Fourier analysis of the pole voltage waveform. It may also be noted that the quarter wave symmetry is not achieved at the cost of compromising the inverters output capability (in terms of magnitude and quality of achievable output voltage). With the assumed quarter wave mirror symmetry and half wave odd symmetry the waveform shown in Fig. 36.1 may be decomposed in terms of its Fourier components as below:-
VAO =
n=1,3,5,....
bn sin n t ..(36.1)
where VAO is the instantaneous magnitude of the pole voltage shown in Fig. 36.1 and
bn is the peak magnitude of its nth harmonic component. Because of the half wave and quarter wave symmetry of the waveform, mentioned before, the pole voltage has only odd harmonics and has only sinusoidal components in the Fourier expansion. Thus the pole voltage will have fundamental, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh and other odd harmonics. The peak magnitude of nth harmonic voltage is given as: 2E bn = (1 2 cos n1 + 2 cos n 2 2 cos n 3 + 2 cos n 4 ) ..(36.2) n , where 1 , 2 3 and 4 are the four notch angles in the quarter cycle ( 0 t 2 ) of the waveform.
Now, as described in the beginning of this lesson, the third and multiples of third harmonics do not show up in the load phase and line voltage waveforms of a balanced 3-phase load. Most of the three phase loads of interest are of balanced type and for such loads one need not worry about triplen (3rd and multiples of 3rd) harmonic distortion of the pole voltages. The peak magnitudes of fundamental ( b1 ) and three other lowest order harmonic voltages that matter most to the load can be written as: 2E b1 = (1 2 cos 1 + 2 cos 2 2 cos 3 + 2 cos 4 ) ...(36.3)
2E (1 2 cos 51 + 2 cos 5 2 2 cos 5 3 + 2 cos 5 4 ) ...(36.4) 5 2E b7 = (1 2 cos 71 + 2 cos 7 2 2 cos 7 3 + 2 cos 7 4 ) ..(36.5) 5 2E b11 = (1 2 cos111 + 2 cos11 2 2 cos11 3 + 2 cos11 4 ) ...(36.6) 11 It can be seen that the 3rd and 9th harmonics have been not considered, as they will not appear in the load side phase and line voltages. Most of the industrial loads are inductive in nature with an b5 =
inherent quality to attenuate currents due to higher order harmonic voltages. Thus after fundamental voltage, the other significant voltages for the load are 5th, 7th and 11th etc. Generally, only the fundamental frequency component in the output voltage is of interest and all other harmonic voltages are undesirable. As such one would like to eliminate as many low order harmonics as possible. Accordingly the fundamental voltage magnitude ( b1 ) may be set at the desired value and the magnitudes of fifth ( b5 ), seventh ( b7 ) and eleventh ( b11 ) harmonics may be set to zero. These voltage magnitudes when substituted in the expressions given by Eqns. 36.3 to 36.6 will lead to the solutions of the notch angles. One may like to eliminate many more unwanted harmonic frequencies from the load voltage waveform but this will require introduction of more notch angles per quarter cycle of the pole voltage. In fact if there are k notch angles per quarter cycle, k number of equations may be written each of which determines the magnitude of a particular harmonic voltage. Now, each time a notch angle is encountered in the pole voltage waveform, the top and bottom switches of that particular pole undergo a switching transition (on to off or vice versa). The switching frequency (fsw) of the inverter switches can be equated to fsw = 2 k f1 ...........(36.7)
, where one turn-on and one turn-off has been taken as one switching cycle, k is the number of notches per quarter cycle and f1 is the frequency of fundamental component in the output voltage. Thus it can be seen that a better quality output waveform (in terms of elimination of more numbers of unwanted harmonic voltages) comes at the cost of increasing the switching frequency of the inverter. The switching frequency is directly proportional to the switching losses in the inverter switches. Also, the switch must be capable of being switched on and off at the required frequency. The IGBT switches used in medium power inverters are generally switched at a frequency of 20 kHz or more. With a switching frequency of 20 kHz and the output (fundamental) frequency of 50 Hz there will be up to 200 notches per quarter cycle of the output waveform. The load voltage can thus be made virtually free of low order harmonics and the load current (for an inductive load) can be expected to have a good quality sinusoidal waveform. The switching frequency of 20 kHz is important in another sense too. The range of audible noise for human beings extends from few Hertz to 20 kHz. Thus if the switching frequency is 20 kHz or beyond, the switching frequency related audible noise will not be present when the inverter operates. The inverter operation can then be very quite. If the inverter operates at low frequency, the connecting wires to the switches etc. also carry low frequency current producing low frequency vibrations (due to interaction of current with the stray magnetic field produced by other conductors etc.) and result in audible noise. Similarly low frequency current through inductors and transformers also produce audible noise. The humming or whistling type noise due to low switching frequency may at times be too annoying and unacceptable.
36.3 Trade Off Between Low Order And High Order Harmonics
The 3-phase inverter with six switches connected in the bridge fashion is also known as a twolevel inverter because the inverter pole-voltage alternates between the two voltage levels of +0.5 Edc and - 0.5 Edc (the switching transition time has been neglected). The root mean square (rms) of the pole voltage equals 0.5 Edc. Now a periodic function f ( t ) when expressed in terms of its Fourier components satisfies the following mathematical identity. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 6
[ f ( t )rms ]2 = f ( t )1,rms
n = 2,3,4,....,
f ( t ) n ,rms ..(36.8)
In Eqn. (36.8), f ( t )rms is the rms magnitude of the given periodic waveform where as
f ( t )1,rms and f ( t )n,rms are the rms magnitudes of the fundamental component and nth harmonic component of the waveform respectively.
Also, if the waveform f ( t ) has half wave odd symmetry and quarter wave mirror symmetry, its fundamental voltage can be expressed as
f ( t )1,rms =
Now let f ( t ) in the above equations (36.8 and 36.9) be replaced by the two-level pole voltage waveform of the PWM inverter. The term on the left hand side of Eqn. (36.8) equals (0.5Edc)2. The first term on the right hand side of Eqn. (36.8) is the square-of-rms (i.e., mean of square) magnitude of the fundamental component of pole voltage whereas the second term on the right hand side denotes the mean-of-square magnitude of the unwanted ripple in the pole voltage. As can be seen, the rms magnitude of the fundamental pole voltage is always going to be less than 0.5Edc. Further, as given by Eqn. (36.9), the fundamental magnitude (rms) of PWM inverters output pole-voltage will be less than 0.45Edc, which is the rms magnitude of fundamental pole voltage of a 3-phase square wave inverter. [In case of square wave output, both f ( t ) and sin t are positive during 0 t but the sign of f ( t ) in PWM waveform alternates between positive and negative values.] In case of PWM inverter the magnitude of fundamental output voltage is fixed by suitable pulse width modulation (by selection of suitable notch angles for the waveform in Fig. 36.1). However, as can be seen from Eqn. (36.8), the reduction in fundamental magnitude leads to increase in the rms magnitude of the unwanted ripple voltage. Also, after fixing the fundamental voltage magnitude if it is desired to eliminate some of the low order harmonics, it will be at the cost of increasing the magnitudes of higher order harmonics. Thus, as far as the quality of inverter pole voltage alone is concerned the PWM technique is not helping. However considering the fact that most of the loads are inductive in nature with low pass filter type characteristics the load current quality effectively improves by eliminating lower order harmonics from the pole voltage waveform (even if the higher order harmonic magnitudes increase). In case the load, on its own, is not able to filter out the harmonic voltages satisfactorily the inverter output may be passed through some external filter before being applied to load. The required size of the external filter will be small if the inverter output is free from low frequency harmonics.
t =0
{ f ( t ) sin t}d t ....(36.9)
36.4 Brief Description Of Some Popular PWM Techniques

The schematic PWM waveform shown in Fig. 36.1, is only representative in nature. The logic described to select notch angles is also specific to one particular PWM technique that is known as selective harmonic elimination technique. There are several other PWM techniques, the important ones are:- SINE-PWM technique, Space Vector based PWM technique, Hysteresis current controller based PWM technique etc. A few of these techniques have been dealt with, in detail in the next few lessons. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 7
Some of the PWM techniques can be realized using analog circuits alone; some others are more easily realized with the help of digital processors like microprocessor, Digital signal processor (DSP) or Personal Computer (PC), whereas some other PWM controllers could be a hybrid between analog and digital circuits. For example, the selective harmonic elimination technique described above requires numerical solutions of the transcendental equations for arriving at the required notch angles. These transcendental equations are solved off-line and the information regarding notch angles (switching instances) is stored in digital memory, like EPROM. It may be realized that the notch instances may not occur at regular time intervals. Similarly fundamental output voltage requirement may not remain fixed for all output frequencies and hence the transcendental equations (similar to Eqns. 36.3 to 36.6) will be different for different output frequencies. Also, as per Eqn. 36.7, if the switching frequency is kept constant, there will be more notch angles (per quarter cycle) at low output frequencies and less number of notches at higher frequencies. Thus the set of notch angles for one frequency may be different from the notch angles at some other frequency. For satisfactory implementation of this technique, generally the desired output frequency range is divided in few discrete frequencies. For example, it may be desired to output a 3-phase balanced voltage in the frequency range of 5 Hz to 50 Hz with the constraint that the ratio between output voltage magnitude and output frequency should remain fixed to some predetermined value. Under this situation the output voltage range may be discretized in steps of, say, 1Hz. Thus the available output may vary from 5 Hz to 50 Hz through the following discrete values of intermediate frequencies: 6 Hz, 7 Hz, 8 Hz, , 49 Hz. The desired magnitudes of output voltage for all these discrete frequencies is found out and accordingly the notch angles are calculated to eliminate as many unwanted harmonics as possible (keeping in mind the constraint on switching frequency). Now switching information for successive output frequencies may be stored in successive memory blocks. For each of these output frequencies, it may be convenient to discretize one complete output cycle time interval in small steps (say, in steps of 10 microseconds) and the inverter switching word (as described below) at these successive time intervals are then stored in the successive memory locations. The switching word combines the switching information for all three legs (all six switches) of the inverter and may be obtained in the form of a six bit binary word, each bit corresponding to one particular switch. When a particular bit value is 1 that particular switch may require being turned-on. Similarly 0 bit value may correspond to turn-off command of the switch. Now if the memory block, containing switching information is addressed sequentially after every 10 microsecond (this being the time step, chosen above, to discretize the output cycle time period) the desired switching pattern for the inverter switches may be obtained. The notch angles can thus be realized with a maximum time error of 10 microseconds (which for 50 Hz output corresponds to an error of 0.180 only). After completion of one output cycle the next cycle is simply repeated like the previous one. One may move from one memory block to another memory block (by suitably multiplexing the memory address-word) to obtain the inverterswitching pattern for some other output frequency. The selective harmonic elimination technique described above is also known as stored-PWM technique. The overall memory requirement may be large but since the memory cost has been reducing over the years the stored-PWM technique remains one of the most attractive techniques. In contrast to the selective harmonic elimination technique discussed above, some other PWM techniques, notably SINE-PWM and Space Vector-PWM techniques, try to match the mean value of load voltage under the rectangular PWM waveform with the mean voltage of the desired output waveform over every small time interval of the output cycle. If, for example, the desired output voltage is a sinusoidal waveform of a given magnitude and of frequency f1, then for Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 8
every small time interval t of the output cycle period (such that t << 1/ f1) the mean (dc) magnitude under desired sine wave and the mean dc voltage under the PWM pulses are made equal. Now barring the mismatch in the instantaneous magnitudes of the sine wave and the PWM wave within the small time period t, the two waveforms are matching. Thus the PWM waveform may be considered to be the superposition of the desired output waveform and ripple voltages of time period t. The ripple voltage waveform in each t time interval may not be identical and hence ripple voltage may consist of a band of harmonics of high frequency. In the frequency axis the high frequency harmonic voltages are far away from the desired voltage of fundamental frequency f1 and hence suitable low pass filter circuits may be used to block the unwanted harmonic currents without affecting the magnitude of the fundamental frequency current. Further details of these techniques may be found in later lessons.
P
+ _
Edc
0.5Edc IL
SU A SL
+ _
LOAD 0.5Edc
+ _
N Fig. 36.2: 1-phase half bridge VSI for CCPWM control
Another popular PWM technique is current controlled PWM (CCPWM) technique. Here the instantaneous magnitude of load current is directly controlled, within some tolerable error band, to match the desired current shape. This technique is described below for a single-phase half bridge inverter shown in Fig.36.2. The positive sense for the load current (IL) is taken along the direction of arrow in Fig. 36.2. The actual load current is sensed with the help of a current sensor and compared with its reference magnitude. The error in load current can be controlled, as described below, by proper switching of the inverter switches. The load could be a R-L load or a R-L-E load. In case of R-L-E load, it is assumed that the back emf (E) of the load has a peak magnitude lower than the magnitude of instantaneous pole voltage (0.5Edc). To increase the actual current along the direction of arrow (or to reduce the current flowing in a direction opposite to the arrow) upper switch SU needs to be turned on, whereas turning on of lower switch SL will produce the reverse effect. This can be verified simply by writing and analyzing the loop voltage equation.
36.5 Two-Level Versus Three-Level PWM Inverters

As described in section 36.3, the three-phase bridge inverter consisting of six switches (shown in Lesson-35) can output pole voltages of only two levels +0.5Edc and -0.5Edc. In contrast to a twolevel inverter, a three-level inverter is capable of producing three different pole-voltage levels, namely, +0.5Edc, zero and -0.5Edc. The circuit details of three-level inverter will not be discussed Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 9
in this course but it can easily be shown that the three-level inverter will have better harmonic spectrum in comparison to the two-level inverter. As described by Eqn. (36.8) in section 36.3, any reduction in the fundamental output voltage magnitude of a two level inverter results in increased rms magnitude of unwanted ripple in the output waveform. Now, let Eqn. (36.8) be considered in relation to a three-level inverter. Since the pole voltage can now have zero level too, the rms magnitude of the pole voltage can be brought below 0.5Edc. For lower magnitude of fundamental pole-voltage, as given by Eqn. (36.9), suitable intervals of zero voltage level may be introduced such that with lowering of fundamental voltage the rms of the overall pole voltage also reduces. Thus the rms of the ripple voltage, in case of three-level inverter, can be made lower than that of the two-level inverter.
P idc Sw1 Sw3
Edc
+ Cdc _ A
LOAD
Sw2 N Fig. 36.3: A 1-phase full-bridge VSI
Sw4
The three-level versus two-level comparison can be applicable to a single-phase PWM inverter too. Consider the single-phase full bridge circuit shown in Fig.36.3. For this circuit if all the time one of the two diagonal pair of switches, (Sw1 and Sw4) or (Sw2 and Sw3), conduct the load voltage will have two levels; +E or E. By suitably switching between one diagonal pair to another diagonal pair one can obtain a PWM waveform similar to the pole voltage waveform of a three-phase PWM inverter (only change is in the voltage magnitude). Now if the allowed switching combination includes conduction of Sw1 along with Sw3 (or Sw2 along with Sw4) the load voltage may have three-levels, i.e., +E, zero and E. As with a three-phase inverter, the single phase PWM inverter too will have lower voltage distortion in case of three-level load voltage (than the corresponding distortion in two level output).
36.6 Considerations On Switch Voltage And Current Ratings

As in square wave inverter the switches of PWM inverter must also be rated for the maximum dc link voltage. There will, however, be a significant difference in the switch current ratings of the square wave and PWM inverter for comparable magnitudes of inverters output current. This is due to the increased switching losses in the PWM inverter. Since the switches in PWM inverter operate at much higher frequencies than in square wave inverter, the switching losses in the former are comparable to the conduction losses. This calls for suitable de-rating of the switch current rating. For medium power rated inverters mostly IGBT switches (with fast acting antiparallel diodes) are used. Generally molded blocks of six switches and six diodes, connected in Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 10
bridge fashion with their power and control terminals brought out, are commercially available. These molded blocks come with isolated metallic case that need to be mounted on suitably sized heat sinks for dissipation of thermal losses in the switch. The switch manufacturers provide the turn-on and turn-off loss data for the switches for different magnitudes of dc link voltage, switch current and gate-to-emitter voltages. Similarly conduction loss data for the switches and the diodes are also provided. The thermal resistance data (thermal resistance between case and semiconductor-junction) for the switches and diodes are also provided. The heat-sink manufacturers provide data / guide lines for calculating the thermal resistance between heat sink and ambient. The inverter designer needs to do a detailed analysis of the worst-case thermal losses and temperature rise and need to limit the switch current accordingly. In PWM inverters, because of large number of switching per output cycle, the load current frequently jumps from controlled switch (say, IGBT) to diode and hence the diodes of the switches must also be rated to carry the peak magnitude of load current. It is to be kept in mind that in PWM inverters the load current polarity changes only according to the output frequency and not according to the switching frequency. For load power factor close to one, as the PWM inverters output voltage decreases the diode conduction duration increases. The worst-case diode losses also need to be determined for deciding on the de-rating factor for diode currents.
Quiz Problems
(1) A PWM inverter is operated from a dc link voltage of 600 volts. The maximum rms line voltage (fundamental component) will be less than or equal to: (a) 600 volts (b) 300 volts (c) 467 volts (d) 582 volts (2) In the harmonic analysis of the pole-voltage waveform (produced by a three-phase PWM inverter feeding a balanced three-phase load) the 3rd and multiples of 3rd harmonics are ignored because: (a) They will not appear in pole voltage (b) They will not appear in load phase voltage (c) They will not appear in load phase and line voltage (d) They will appear in line voltage but not in phase voltage (3) An IGBT based PWM inverter, with very large number of (nearly) evenly distributed notches per output cycle, is used to feed a three-phase balanced R-L load with a load power factor of 0.9. The peak magnitude of diode current and the IGBT current will have the following relation: (a) They will be equal (b) Peak diode current will be less than half of the peak IGBT current (c) Diode current will nearly be zero (d) Peak diode current will be less than one third of the peak IGBT current (4) A PWM inverter is capable of producing the following type of output voltage: (a) Variable in magnitude and frequency (b) Variable voltage, fixed frequency (c) Fixed voltage, variable frequency (d) Fixed voltage, fixed frequency
Answers to Quiz problems: 1-c, 2-c, 3-a, 4-a
Module 5
DC to AC Converters
Lesson 39
Current Source Inverter
Study of the following: The circuit for single-phase Current Source Inverter (CSI) using thyristors Auto-Sequential Commutated mode of operation for 1-ph. Inverter (ASCI), with waveforms Three-phase Current Source Inverter (CSI) circuit and operation, with waveforms
Introduction
In the previous six (5.1-5.6) lessons in this module, the circuit and operation of single-phase and three-phase Voltage Source Inverters (VSI), with waveforms, were described in detail. Also, the presence of harmonics in voltage waveforms, along with its reduction mainly by Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) techniques, was presented. Presently, mainly self-commutated switching devices, like say transistors, are used in the above circuits, replacing thyristors, with bulky commutation circuits needed to turn them OFF, these being force-commutated ones. In the last two (5.7-5.8) lessons in this module, the circuit and operation of different types of single-phase and three-phase Current Source Inverters (CSI), with waveforms, will be described in detail. The device used here is thyristor. In this lesson (5.7), initially, the circuit of single-phase CSI will be presented. The Auto-Sequential Commutated mode of operation for this Inverter (ASCI), using thyristors, will be discussed in detail, with waveforms. Then, the circuit and operation of threephase CSI, along with relevant waveforms, will be presented. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of CSI over VSI, in brief, are described For the VSI, as the full form denotes, the output voltage is constant, with the output current changing with the load type, and/or the values of the components. But in the CSI, the current is nearly constant. The voltage changes here, as the load is changed. In an Induction motor, the developed torque changes with the change in the load torque, the speed being constant, with no acceleration/deceleration. The input current in the motor also changes, with the input voltage being constant. So, the CSI, where current, but not the voltage, is the main point of interest, is used to drive such motors, with the load torque changing. Keywords: Single-phase and Three-phase Current Source Inverter (CSI), ASCI mode of operation, CSI using thyristors
Single-phase Current Source Inverter

I a
Th1 a I D1
C1 = C/2 + I
Th2 I D2
L' + VS b
D4 I
Load (L) + C2 = C/2
D3
Th4
Th3
b Fig. 39.1: Single phase current source inverter (CSI) of ASCI type. The circuit of a Single-phase Current Source Inverter (CSI) is shown in Fig. 39.1. The type of operation is termed as Auto-Sequential Commutated Inverter (ASCI). A constant current source is assumed here, which may be realized by using an inductance of suitable value, which must be high, in series with the current limited dc voltage source. The thyristor pairs, Th1 & Th3, and Th2 & Th4, are alternatively turned ON to obtain a nearly square wave current waveform. Two commutating capacitors C1 in the upper half, and C2 in the lower half, are used. Four diodes, D1D4 are connected in series with each thyristor to prevent the commutating capacitors from discharging into the load. The output frequency of the inverter is controlled in the usual way, i.e., by varying the half time period, (T/2), at which the thyristors in pair are triggered by pulses being fed to the respective gates by the control circuit, to turn them ON, as can be observed from the waveforms (Fig. 39.2). The inductance (L) is taken as the load in this case, the reason(s) for which need not be stated, being well known. The operation is explained by two modes.
ig1, ig3 0 ig2, ig4 0
T/2
T/2
VCo vC 0 t -VCo t2 t1 I i0 0 T/2 -I iD1 iD2 T T/2 T
i01, iD
iC1
T/2
-I
Th1 & Th3 triggered
Th2 & Th4 triggered
Th1 & Th3 triggered
Fig. 39.2: Voltage and current waveforms Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 5
Mode I: The circuit for this mode is shown in Fig. 39.3. The following are the assumptions. Starting from the instant, t = 0 , the thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4, is conducting (ON), and the current (I) flows through the path, Th2, D2, load (L), D4, Th4, and source, I. The commutating capacitors are initially charged equally with the polarity as given, i.e., vC1 = vC 2 = VC 0 . This mans that both capacitors have right hand plate positive and left hand plate negative. If two capacitors are not charged initially, they have to pre-charged. I I e D1 I c L D4 I Th4 + I a
Th1 + C1=C/2 I
Th2 f D2 d D3 h I Th3
C2=C/2
b Fig. 39.3: Mode I (1 phase CSI) At time, t = 0, thyristor pair, Th1 & Th3, is triggered by pulses at the gates. The conducting thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4, is turned OFF by application of reverse capacitor voltages. Now, thyristor pair, Th1 & Th3, conducts current (I). The current path is through Th1, C1, D2, L, D4, C2, Th3, and source, I. Both capacitors will now begin charging linearly from ( VC 0 ) by the constant current, I. The diodes, D2 & D4, remain reverse biased initially. The voltage, v D1 across D1, when it is forward biased, is obtained by going through the closed path, abcda as v D1 + Vco (1 /(C / 2) ) I dt = 0 It may be noted the voltage across load inductance, L is zero (0), as the current, I is constant. So, v D1 = Vco + (2 / C ) I dt
As the capacitor gets charged, the voltage v D1 across D1, increases linearly. At some time, say t1, the reverse bias across D1 becomes zero (0), the diode, D1.starts conducting. An identical equation can be formed for diode, D3 also. Actually, both diodes, D1 & D3, start conducting at the same instant, t1. The time t1 for which the diodes, D1 & D3, remain reverse biased is obtained by equating, v D1 = Vco + ((2 I t1 ) / C ) = 0 . The time is given by, t1 = (C /(2 I ) ) VC 0 . The capacitor voltages vC1 = vC 2 = vC , appear as reverse voltage across the thyristors, Th2 & Th4, when the thyristors, Th1 & Th3, are triggered. The value of
vC
is
vC1 = vC 2 = vC (t1 ) = Vco + ((2 I t1 ) / C ) = Vco + ((2 I ) / C ) (C /(2 I ) ) VC 0 = 0 , using the value of t1 obtained earlier. This means that the voltages across C1 & C2, varies linearly from VC 0 to zero in time, t1. Mode I ends, when t = t1 , and vC = 0 . Note that t1 is the circuit turn-off time for the thyristors.
a
vC1 = vC 2 = vC = Vco + (2 / C ) I dt ,
which,
if
computed
at
t = t1 ,
comes
out
as,
I e
Th1
+
D1 L
iC1
Th2 f D2 d
C1=C/2 I c i0 D4 g Th4 C2=C/2
D3 h I Th3
iC2
b Fig. 39.4(a): Mode II (1-phase CSI) a I I e (g)
ie i0
f (h) d I
c L
b Fig. 39.4(b): Equivalent circuit for mode II Mode II: The circuit for this mode is shown in Fig. 39.4a. Diodes, D2 & D4, are already conducting, but at t = t1 , diodes, D1 & D3, get forward biased, and start conducting. Thus, at the end of time t1, all four diodes, D1D4 conduct. As a result, the commutating capacitors now get connected in parallel with the load (L). For simplicity in analysis, the circuit is redrawn as
Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur
shown in Fig. 39.4b, where the equivalent capacitor is C / 2 , as C1 = C 2 = C . The equation for the current at the node is, I + i0 = iC (= iC1 + iC 2 ) , where, iC1 = iC 2 = iC / 2 The voltage balance equation is, di L 0 = (1 / C ) iC dt = = (1 / C ) ( I + i0 ) dt dt
d 2 i0 i0 d 2 i0 i I I + = + 0 = or, 2 2 C C (L C) (L C) dt dt 2 d i or, ( L C ) 20 + i0 = I dt The solution of the equation is, i0 = A cos ( 0 t ) + B sin ( 0 t ) + K , where, A, B & K are constants, natural frequency, f 0 = 1 / (2 ) ( L C ) , 0 = (2 ) f 0 = 1 / ( L C ) , and time period,
or, L
T = 1 / f 0 = (2 ) / 0 = (2 ) ( L C ) .
The initial conditions at t = 0 are, i0 = I and d i0 / dt = 0 . It should be noted that the time, t is measured from the instant, the diodes, D1 & D3, start coducting, i.e., from the instant, mode I is over. Using the initial conditions stated earlier, the current is, i0 = I (2 cos ( 0 t ) 1) . The capacitor current is iC = I + i0 = 2 I cos ( 0 t ) . The voltage across capacitor is, vC =
2 I 1 iC dt = sin ( 0 t ) . C C 0 This expression can also be obtained as, vC = v L = L (d i0 / dt ) = ((2 I ) ( 0 L) ) sin ( 0 t ) , where, 0 L = 1 /( 0 C ) , as can be
derived using 0 = 1 / ( L C ) . So, the above expressions are same, and can be written as,
vC = (2 I ) ( L / C ) sin ( 0 t ) , substituting the expression for 0 in any of the above

expressions. So, iC1 = iC 2 = I cos ( 0 t ) , and
i D1 = I iC1 = I (cos ( 0 t ) 1) , in the interval 0 < t < t 2 . As the current, iC1 tends to reverse, diode, D3 prevents its reversal. Similarly, the diode, D4 prevents the reversal of the current, iC 2 . From the initiation of mode II, a time, t2 must elapse for the current, iC1 to become zero (0). The time, t 2 is,
t 2 = ( / 2) / 0 = ( / 2) ( L C ) = (1 /(4 f 0 ) ) = T / 4 , as ( 0 t 2 ) = ( / 2) , using,
iC1 = I cos ( 0 t 2 ) = 0 . The capacitor voltage at time, t 2 is, vC = ((2 I ) /( 0 C ) ) = VC 0 . Note that this is also the maximum value. Now, the load current is, i0 = I (2 1) = I . This shows that the load current has reversed from +I to I during mode II, after time, t2. It is also seen that the capacitor voltage changes by 2 VC 0 (from VC 0 to VC 0 ) during each commutation interval. The time t1 , after substituting VC 0 , comes out as,
The total commutation interval is, t c = t1 + t 2 = (1 + ( / 2) ) / 0 = (1 + ( / 2) ) ( L C ) .
t1 = (C /(2 I ) VC 0 = (C /(2 I ) ((2 I ) /( 0 C ) ) = 1 / 0 = ( L C ) .
Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur
At the end of the process, constant current flows in the path, Th1, D1, load (L), D3, Th3, and source, I. This continues till the next commutation process is initiated by the triggering of the thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4. The complete commutation process is summarized here. The process (mode I) starts with the triggering of the thyristor pair, Th1 & Th3. Earlier, the thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4 were conducting. With the two commutating capacitors charged earlier with the polarity as shown (Fig. 39.3), the conducting thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4 turns off by the application of reverse voltage. Then, the voltages across the capacitors decrease to zero at time, t1 (end of mode I), as constant (source) current, I flows in the opposite direction. Mode II now starts (Fig. 39.4a), as the diodes, D1 & D3, get forward biased, and start conducting. So, all four diodes D1-D4, conduct, and the load inductance, L is now connected in parallel with the two commutating capacitors. The current in the load reverses to the value I, after time, t 2 (end of mode II), and the two capacitors also are charged to the same voltage in the reverse direction, the magnitude remaining same, as it was before the start of the process of commutation (t = 0). It may be noted that the constant current, I flows in the direction as shown, a part of which flows in the two capacitors. In the above discussion, one form of load, i.e. inductance L only, has been considered. The procedure remains nearly same, if the load consists of resistance, R only. The procedure in mode I, is same, but in mode II, the load resistance, R is connected in parallel with the two commutating capacitors. The direction of the current, I remains same, a part of which flows in the two capacitors, charging them in the reverse direction, as shown earlier. The derivation, being simple, is not included here. It is available in books on this subject.
Three-phase Current Source Inverter

+ Th1 C1 X
Th3 C3
Th5
D1 A Vdc D4
C5
D3
D5 iA iB iC D2 L R N R R
B C C4 D6 C6
Th4 Y
C2
Th6
Th2
Fig. 39.5(a): Three-phase current source inverter (CSI) Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 9
The circuit of a Three-phase Current Source Inverter (CSI) is shown in Fig. 39.5a. The type of operation in this case is also same here, i.e. Auto-Sequential Commutated Inverter (ASCI). As in the circuit of a single-phase CSI, the input is also a constant current source. The output current (phase) waveforms are shown in Fig. 39.5b. In this circuit, six thyristors, two in each of three arms, are used, as in a three-phase VSI. Also, six diodes, each one in series with the respective thyristor, are needed here, as used for single-phase CSI. Six capacitors, three each in two (top and bottom) halves, are used for commutation. It may be noted that six capacitors are equal, i.e. C1 = C 2 = " = C6 = C . The diodes are needed in CSI, so as to prevent the capacitors from discharging into the load. The numbering scheme for the thyristors and diodes are same, as used in a three-phase VSI, with the thyristors being triggered in sequence as per number assigned (Fig. 39.5b).
I 180 iA 0 120 300 360
-I
I 120 IB 0 60 -I 240 300 360
I 60 0 -I 180 240 360
IC
on off
Th1 Th5
Th2 Th6
Th3 Th1
Th4 Th2
Th5 Th3
Th6 Th4
Th1 Th5
Th1 Th6 0 60
Th1 Th2
Th3 Th2 120 180
Th3 Th4
Th5 Th4 240 300
Th5 Th6
Th1 Th6 360
Thyristors conducting Fig. 39.5(b): Phase current waveforms
The commutation process in a three-phase CSI is described in brief. The circuit, when two thyristors, Th1 & Th2, and the respective diodes, are conducting, is shown in Fig. 39.6a. The current is flowing in two phases, A & C. The three capacitors in the top half, are charged previously, or have to pre-charged as shown. But the capacitors in the bottom half are not shown.
I X
L Th1 + I D1 + C5 D3 D5 I (iA) A B C I (iC) D2 I Th2 C1 Th3 C3 + Th5
Fig. 39.6(a): Three-phase CSI with two thyristors, Th1 & Th2 conducting Mode I: The commutation process starts, when the thyristor, Th3 in the top half, is triggered, i.e. pulse is fed at its gate. Immediately after this, the conducting thyristor, Th1 turns off by the application of reverse voltage of the equivalent capacitor. Mode I (Fig. 39.6b) now starts. As the diode D1 is still conducting, the current path is via Th3, the equivalent capacitor, D1, and the load in phase A (only in the top half). The other part, i.e. the bottom half and the source, is not considered here, as the path there remains same. The current, I from the source now flows in the reverse direction, thus the voltage in the capacitor, C1 (and also the other two) decreases. It may be noted the equivalent capacitor is the parallel combination of the capacitor, C1 and the other part, being the series combination of the capacitors, C3 & C5 ( C = C / 2 ). It may be shown the its value is C eq = C / 3 , parallel combination of C & C / 2 , as C1 = C3 = C5 = C . Also, the current
in the capacitor, C1 is ( 2 / 3) I , and the current in other two capacitors, C3 & C5 is I / 3 . When the voltage across the capacitor, C1 (and also the other two) decreases to zero, the mode I ends.
I L Th1
X I C3 + I/3
2I/3 C1 + -
Th3
Th5
I + D1 C5 D3 I/3 D5 I (iA) A B C I (iC) D2 I Th2
Fig. 39.6(b): Mode I (3-phase CSI) Mode II: After the end of mode I, the voltage across the diode, D3 goes positive, as the voltage across the equivalent capacitor goes negative, assuming that initially (start of mode I) the voltage was positive. It may be noted that the current through the equivalent capacitor continues to flow in the same direction. Mode II (Fig. 39.6c) starts. Earlier, the diode, D1 was conducting. The diode, D3 now starts conducting, with the voltage across it being positive as given earlier. A circulating current path now exists between the equivalent capacitor, two conducting diodes, D1 & D3 and the load (assumed to be inductive R & L, per phase) of the two phases, A & B, the two loads and also the two diodes being now connected in series across the equivalent capacitor. The current in this path is oscillatory, and goes to zero after some time, when the mode II ends. The diode, D1 turns off, as the current goes to zero. So, at the end of mode II, the thyristor, Th3 & the diode, D3 conduct. This process has been described in detail in the earlier section on singlephase CSI (see mode II). It may be noted that the polarity of the voltage across the equivalent capacitor (at the end of mode II) has reversed from the initial voltage (at the beginning of mode I). This is needed to turn off the outgoing (conducting) thyristor, Th3, when the incoming thyristor, Th5 is triggered. The complete commutation process as described will be repeated. The diodes in the circuit prevent the voltage across the capacitors discharging through the load.
I + L Th1
I C1 +
Th3 + C3 -
Th5
D1
+ C5 D3
D5 iA iB A B C I (iC)
D2 I Th2 Y I Fig. 39.6(c): Mode II (3-phase CSI)
The circuit is shown in Fig. 39.6d, with two thyristors, Th3 & Th2, and the respective diodes conducting. The current now flows in two phases, B & C, at the end of the commutation process, instead of phase A at the beginning (Fig. 39.6a). It may be noted the current in the bottom half (phase C) continues to flow, and also the thyristor, Th2 & the diode, D2 remain in conduction mode. This, in brief, is the commutation process, when the thyristor, Th3 is triggered and the current is transferred to the thyristor, Th3 & the diode, D3 (phase B), from the thyristor, Th1 & the diode, D1 (phase A).
I + L I Th1 C1 + Th3 + C3 D1 + C5 I B C D2 I Y I Fig. 39.6(d): Three-phase CSI with two thyristors, Th3 & Th2 conducting Th2 D3 D5 I (iB) A Th5
B C I (iC)
Comments
In the introductory remarks, one merit of CSI has been stated, i.e. it can be used for the speed control of ac, specially induction, motors subject to variation in load torque. In recent years, self-commutated power switching devices, such as power transistors etc., are being used in VSI, but not costly inverter-grade thyristors (having low turn-off time), along with bulky commutation circuits. These circuits also need additional diodes for feeding the reactive power back to the supply, when used with heavily inductive loads. The advantages and disadvantages of CSI vis-vis VSI are given.
Advantages
1. The circuit for CSI, using only converter grade thyristor, which should have reverse blocking capability, and also able to withstand high voltage spikes during commutation, is simple. 2. An output short circuit or simultaneous conduction in an inverter arm is controlled by the controlled current source used here, i.e., a current limited voltage source in series with a large inductance. 3. The converter-inverter combined configuration has inherent four-quadrant operation capability without any extra power component. Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 15
Disadvantages
1. A minimum load at the output is required, and the commutation capability is dependant upon load current. This limits the operating frequency, and also puts a limitation on its use for UPS systems. 2. At light loads, and high frequency, these inverters have sluggish performance and stability problems. In this lesson the seventh one of this module, the current source inverter (CSI) vis--vis VSI, is introduced. The commutation process for Auto-Sequential Commutated Inverter (ASCI) mode of operation in single-phase CSI, is mainly described, along with circuit diagram and relevant waveforms, in detail. Then, the commutation process for the same mode of operation, i.e. ASCI, in three-phase CSI, is described, along with various circuit diagrams, in brief. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of CSI over VSI, are presented. In the next lesson, eighth and last one, of this module, the load-commutated CSI, and also the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) techniques used in CSI, will be discussed.
Module 5
DC to AC Converters
Lesson 40
Load-commutated Current Source Inverter (CSI)
Study of the circuit and operation for Load-commutated Current Source Inverter (CSI)
Introduction
In the last lesson (5.7) seventh one in this module, the circuit and operation of single-phase and three-phase Current Source Inverters (CSI), with relevant waveforms, have been described in detail. The device used is thyristor. The type is the Auto-Sequential Commutated Inverter (ASCI). In this lesson (5.8) eighth and final one in this module, the circuit and operation of load-commuted CSI, including waveforms, will be presented in detail. Keywords: Load-commutated current source inverter (CSI)
Load-Commutated CSI
In the last lesson, ASCI mode of operation for a single-phase Current Source Inverter (CSI) was presented. Two commutating capacitors, along with four diodes, are used in the above circuit for commutation from one pair of thyristors to the second pair. Earlier, also in VSI, if the load is capacitive, it was shown that forced commutation may not be needed. The operation of a single-phase CSI with capacitive load (Fig. 40.1) is discussed here. It may be noted that the capacitor, C is assumed to be in parallel with resistive load (R). The capacitor, C is used for storing the charge, or voltage, to be used to force-commutate the conducting thyristor pair as will be shown. As was the case in the last lesson, a constant current source, or a voltage source with large inductance, is used as the input to the circuit. + a i Th1 C + I Vin c v0 = vC Load (R) Th4 d iC Th2 i
Th3
Fig. 40.1: Load-commuted CSI The power switching devices used here is the same, i.e. four thyristors only in a full- bridge configuration. The positive direction for load current and voltage, is shown in Fig. 40.1. Before t = 0, the capacitor voltage is vC = V1 , i.e. the capacitor has left plate negative and right plate positive. At that time, the thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4 was conducting. When (at t = 0), the thyristor Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 3
pair, Th1 & Th3 is triggered by the pulses fed at the gates, the conducting thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4 is reverse biased by the capacitor voltage vC = V1 , and turns off immediately. The current path is through Th1, load (parallel combination of R & C), Th3, and the source. The current in the thyristors is iTh1 = iTh3 = I , the output current is iac = I ; the capacitor voltage, vC changes from
V1 to V1 , as the capacitor gets charged by the current iC during the time, (T / 2) > t > 0 . The
load voltage is v0 = vC . Thus, the waveform of the current, i0 = (v0 / R) = (vC / R) through load resistance, R has the same nature as that of vC (Fig. 40.2). Similarly, when (at t = T / 2 ), the thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4 is triggered by the pulses fed at the gates, the conducting thyristor pair, Th1 & Th3 is reverse biased by the capacitor voltage vC = V1 , and turns off immediately. The current path is through Th2, load (parallel combination of R & C), Th4, and the source. The current in the thyristors is iTh 2 = iTh 4 = I , but the output current is iac = I ; the capacitor voltage, vC changes from V1 to V1 , as the capacitor gets charged by the current iC during the time, T > t > (T / 2) .
ig1, ig3 0 ig2, ig4 0 I1, V1 0 T/2 -I1, -V1, I+I1 I-I1 iC 0 -(I-I1) -(I+I1) V1 vin 0 -V1 Th1, Th3 triggered Th2, Th4 triggered Th1, Th3 triggered iac T/2 T -I Th1, Th3 Th2, Th4 I T t T/2 T iTh2, iTh4 I T/2 T iTh1, I iTh3 0 T/2 T
v0, i0
T/2
T/2
T/2
V1 vTh1, vTh3 0 -V1 Fig. 40.2: Voltage and current waveforms. T/2 T
Various current and voltage waveforms during one cycle T > t > 0 , are shown in Fig. 40.2. At t = 0, the capacitor voltage is vC = V1 , then v0 = vC = V1 , and the load current through R is
i0 = (V1 / R) = I1 . As stated earlier, during the time (T / 2) > t > 0 , the capacitor gets charged, with its voltage changing from V1 to V1 . So, At t = T / 2 , the load current is i0 = (vC / R) = (v0 / R) = (V1 / R) = I1 . The input voltage is vin = v0 , during (T / 2) > t > 0 , and
vin = v0 , during T > t > (T / 2) . It may be observed that, when the thyristor pair, Th1 & Th3 is conducting for (T / 2) > t > 0 , the currents iC , i0 are leaving node A (Fig. 40.1), and the current, I is entering node A. Therefore, the equivalent circuit for (T / 2) > t > 0 , is shown in Fig. 40.3a. The current in node A, is iC + i0 = I or, iC = I i0 . At t = 0, i0 = I 1 , and iC = I + I 1 . The mathematical steps for a steady solution of the output current, and other parameters, such as input voltage etc., are given later. Just after (T/2), when the thyristor pair, Th2 & Th4 is conducting, the currents iC , i0 are entering node B (Fig. 40.1), and so also the current, I. The equivalent circuit for T > t > (T / 2) , is shown in Fig. 40.3b. The current in node B is iC + i0 + I = 0 or, iC = ( I + i0 ) . At t = (T/2), i0 = I 1 , and iC = ( I + I1 ) . The cycle repeats itself.
I i0 I R v0 = vC C d (b) (a) + d (b) (b) V1 c (a) iC I R v0 = vC C V1 i0 I c (a) iC +
Fig. 40.3: (a) Equivalent circuit for 0 < t < T/2 (b) Equivalent circuit for T/2 < t < T The steps to be followed to find the expression of the output current, and other parameters are described. The voltage balance equation for the equivalent circuit (Fig. 40.3a) is, R i0 (1 / C ) ( I i0 ) dt + v1 = 0
d i0 i0 I + = dt C C Solving it, with the initial condition for i0 as given earlier,
Differentiating it, we get R
i0 = I 1 e t /( RC ) I 1 e t /( RC ) To arrive at a steady solution only, the following steps are followed. At t = (T/2), the current is i0 = I 1 , as shown later. So, I1 = I 1 e T /( 2RC ) I1 e T /( 2RC )
1 e T /( 2RC ) or, I1 = I = I , if (T /( 2 R C ) ) >> 1 or, T >> ( R C ) T /( 2RC ) 1 + e
So, using the above expression, the output current, or the current in resistance, R comes out as, 2 (e t /( RC ) ) i0 = I 1 T /( 2 R C ) 1+ e The output voltage v0 , or the capacitor voltage vC is,
2 e t /( RC ) v 0 = vC = i0 R = ( R I ) 1 T /( 2 RC ) 1+ e The turn-off time provided by the circuit for each thyristor is obtained from the condition that, when t = tOFF , v0 = vC = i0 R = 0 . So,
2 e tOFF /( RC ) v0 = vC = i0 R = ( R I ) 1 1 + e T /(2RC ) or, e tOFF /( RC ) = (1 + e T /(2RC ) ) / 2
) =0

2 1 + eT /(2RC ) ) / 2 = ( R C ) log e or, tOFF = ( R C ) log e ( T /(2 RC ) 1+ e The average value of the input voltage, Vin is,
2 e t /( RC ) 1 dt T /( 2 RC ) + 1 e 0 T /( 2 RC ) 4 R C 1 e or, Vin = ( I R ) 1 T /( 2 RC ) T 1 e + When the input power ( Vin I ) is positive, power is delivered to the load. 1 Vin = T /2
T /2
2I R (i0 R ) dt = T 0
T /2
The following points may be noted. 1. It may be observed from the equation given earlier that, as the inverter frequency ( f = 1 / T ) is increased, the turn-off time provided by the circuit decreases. But, the circuit commutation time, t off , should be more than the turn-off time of the thyristor, t q , for reliable operation. This means that there is an upper limit to the inverter frequency, beyond which the thyristors in the inverter circuit will fail to commutate. 2. When the inverter frequency ( f = 1 / T ) is low, or time period, T is high, the graph of i0 (t ) or v0 (t ) as given in Fig. 40.2, becomes flatter as shown by dotted line in Fig. 40.4. As this graph is nearer to a square wave, it can be inferred that, for low inverter frequencies, the inverter has square wave output for load current or load voltage ( i0 / v0 ). When the inverter frequency ( f = 1 / T ) is high, or time period, T is low, the waveform of v0 or i0 is shown by full line in Fig. 40.4. As this graph is closer to a sine wave, it can be noted that, for higher frequency, the CSI has sinusoidal wave shape for load (output) current or voltage.
v0, i0
Small T
Large T T T/2 t
Fig. 40.4: Waveforms for CSI with resistive (R) load
(a) Square wave output: It has been found that, for obtaining square wave of the load current, T /( 2 R C ) > 5.0 . If t q is the turn-off time for the thyristors used in CSI, then form the equation given earlier, t q = ( R C ) log e 2 /(1 + e 5 ) ( R C ) log e 2 = 0.69 ( R C )
or, C = t q /(0.69 R) For T /( 2 R C ) = 5.0 or T = 10 R C , the maximum frequency is, f max = 1 / T = 1 /(10 R C ) Substituting the value of C obtained earlier, f max = 0.069 / t q (b) Sinusoidal wave output: For obtaining sinusoidal wave of the load current, the capacitive reactance, X C at three times the minimum frequency, f min , should be lower than R / 2 , i.e., 1 R , at 3 f min , X C = 2 3 f min C 2 or C 0.106 /( R f min) The inverter should therefore be operated at frequencies higher than f min in order to obtain the sinusoidal wave shape. In this lesson (5.8) eighth and final one in this (last) module (5), the circuit and operation, of load-commuted CSI, including waveforms, are discussed in detail. In this module (5), mainly two types of dc-ac converters, termed as inverters Voltage Source (VSI) and Current Source (CSI), have been presented. Both single-phase and three-phase inverters have been described, with relevant waveforms. Starting with the use of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) techniques, used for voltage control in VSI, other variations, such as Sine PWM, have been taken up. Incidentally, this is the last lesson for the course on Power Electronics.

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1) Transistors:

tor operation Transist

Relation between b different currents s in a transist tor:

Configur rations: M- Bipolar junc ction transist tors

Proof In general, the current thr rough a diode is given by

The value of o (q / KT) at 25 5C is approxim mately 40.

The value of o (q / KT) at 25 5C is approxim mately 40.

The output t voltage is give en by Vout = ic (RC || RL)

Under open n circuit condition vout = ic Rc

The emitter dc current I E is given by

Therefore, emitter ac resistance = or, AV= 56.6

and, Vout = 1.5 x 56.6 = 84 4.9 mV

The emitter ac current is given g by

Therefore, voltage gain of the amplifier =

Vout = 1.5 x 8.71 =13.1 mV

Common Emitter Curv ves:

Input Cha aracteristic:

If we requir re, VBE = - 0.1 V Then - VBB 0 V B + ICBO RB < - 0.1

Since, ICO = ICBO

Small sig gnal analysi is of basic tr ransistor am mplifier

Analysis of o CE amplifi ier:

AC & DC C Equivalent Circuits: C

Phase Inv version:

Stability of o quiescent operating o poin nt:

Differentiat ting with respec ct to IC,

Essentia als of a biasing network k

Fig. 1 In this case e

If IC is to be e made insensitive to dc than n

Collector Feedback Bias:

Fig. 2 In this circu uit, the voltage equation is giv ven by

It is better as compared to o fixed bias circ cuit. Further,

Voltage Divider D Bias:

Fig. 4 Thevenin's s voltage is

If VBE is considered to be independent of o IC, then

Fig. 5 In this circu uit, the voltage equation is giv ven by

Fig. 1 Solution: We first ob btain the Theve enin equivalent. .

The ac pow wer output can be calculated as

The power r drawn from the dc source is given by

The power r loss in the tran nsistor is given n by

Moving Ground G Aroun nd:

Biasing a pnp Transist tor:

Biasing methods m for r amplifiers s:

Field eff fect transisto or: Junction n field effect t transistor:

Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 3

Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 4

VGS n-channel depletion type MOSFET

VGS p-channel depletion type MOSFET (a)

VGS n-channel enhancement type MOSFET

VGS p-channel enhancement type MOSFET

Constructional Features of a Power MOSFET

Single MOSFET Cell

Version 2 EE IIT, Kharagpur 6

D S n p Body spreading resistance

G n Parasitic BJT nn+ D

6.3 Operating principle of a MOSFET

Gate Electrode Si02

(a) VGS2 Source Electrode n+ Depletion layer boundary.

VGS2 > VGS1

Gate Electrode Si02