Republic of the Philippines

Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

ECEN 3364-INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS AND PLC APPLICATIONS

Group Members BEN B. ANDRES, DEM, PECE
Asis, Anthony Professor
Cabuenas, John Ernann
Enoy, Kevin
Estonido, Mar Daniel
Ramirez, Martin John
Panganiban, Julius Vince Rating

EXPERIMENT NO. 3
TRIAC

I. OBJECTIVES

1. To become familiar with the structure, operation, characteristics parameters and

applications of TRIAC.
2. To demonstrate how AC current to a load can be controlled by a TRIAC.

II. DISCUSSION
The TRIAC is basically a three-layer PN device with added N regions. It can be
triggered into conduction in either direction, making it a bilateral switching device having the
official name of “bi-directional triode thyristor”.3

Structure, Equivalent Circuit and Schematic symbol of TRIAC

Figure 2.1

a) Structure

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 Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

Terminal 1

Gate (G)

Terminal 2
b) Equivalent Transistor Circuit c) Schematic Symbol

Operation of a TRIAC
The TRIAC conducts when the voltage across its main terminals (T1 and T2) exceeds
the break over points or if it is triggered by a positive or negative voltage pulse applied to
the gate lead.
Figure 2.2 Four Modes of Triggering TRIAC

a) Positive Terminal V with Positive Gate V b) Positive Terminal V with Negative Gate V

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 Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

c) Negative Terminal V with Positive Gate V d) Negative Terminal V with Negative Gate V

Current-Voltage Characteristics of a TRIAC

Figure 2.3

AC Control Using a TRIAC

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 Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

Figure 2.4 AC Triggering of a TRIAC

0o 90o 180o 270o 360o

current through the load

TRIAC on

TRIAC off

TRIAC on

a) Resistive Triggering Time= 0o to 90o and 180o to 270o

0o 90o 180o 270o 360o

current through the load

TRIAC off TRIAC on

TRIAC on

b) RC Triggering Time= entire cycle

TRIAC Definitions
Table 2.1

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 Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

+V Forward voltage or positive alternation applied to main terminals of device

-V Reverse voltage or positive alternation applied to main terminals of device
+VBO Forward breakover voltage
-VBO Reverse breakover voltage
VT1 Voltage from terminal 1 to ground
VT2 Voltage from terminal 2 to ground
+I Forward current when the TRAIC is on
-I Reverse current when the thyristor is off

III.MATERIALS NEEDED:
1 24-V rms transformer or ac source 2 100-ohm resistors at 0.5W (Rl and RA)
1 Oscilloscope (use only one channel) 1 10k-ohm potentiometer (RG)
1 2N5752 TRIAC or equivalent 1 5.0 uF capacitor at 50 WV dc (CG)
2 1N5231 zener diodes or equivalent (Z1 and Z2) 1 Breadboard for constructing circuit

IV.PROCEDURES:
Part 1. The first part of this experiment uses only a variable resistor to vary the
trigger time from 0o to 90o and 180o to 270o. An oscilloscope is used to view the voltage
waveforms across the TRIAC and RL.
1. Construct a circuit shown in the Figure 2.4a.
2. Place the oscilloscope across the TRIAC.
3. Vary RG back and forth and view the voltage waveform across the TRIAC.
4. Adjust RG so that the TRIAC triggers about halfway between 0 o and 90o and 180o
and 270o.
5. Draw the voltage waveform across the TRIAC in the space provided, making
sure to align it with the proper degrees for one cycle (indicate peak-to-peak
voltage).
6. Place the oscilloscope across RL.
7. Draw the voltage waveform across RL in the space provided, making sure to align
it with the proper degrees for one cycle. (Indicate peak-to-peak voltage).

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 Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

Part 2. In the second part of this experiment, a capacitor is added to the original circuit to
extend the trigger time for nearly the entire cycle. The Zener diodes simulate a DIAC, which
makes the trigger more symmetrical.
8. Modify the circuit shown in Figure 2.4b by adding the capacitor.
9. Place the oscilloscope across the TRIAC.
10. Vary RG back and forth and view the voltage waveform across the TRIAC.
11. Adjust RG so that the TRIAC triggers past 90o and 270o.
12. Draw the voltage waveform across the TRIAC in the space provided, making
sure to align it with the proper degrees.
13. Place the oscilloscope across RL.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

V. OBSERVATION:

When we look at the oscilloscope the behavior of the triac with respect to the
potentiomenter changes and the load resistor produces two waves. And once we added a
capacitor that waveform on the triac changes with respect to the potentiometer.

VI.CONCLUSION:
After we familiarized ourselves with the structure, operation, and the characteristic
parameters. We therefore conclude that TRIAC can controlled AC current.
Waveform across TRIAC
VII.QUESTIONS: Waveform across RL

1. A TRIAC can be triggered into conduction when the voltage on:

a.) Its T2 terminal is positive and the gate is positive.
b.) Its T2 terminal is positive and the gate is negative.
c.) Its T2 terminal is negative and the gate is positive.
d.) All of the above

2. The device that has a low-voltage drop across its main terminal in either direction when
conducting is a:
a.) SCR c.) DIAC
b.) TRIAC d.) none of the above

3. The combination of DIAC and TRIAC forms a:

a.) QUADRAC c.) Thyristor
b.) VARIAC d.) LASCR

4. The approximate trigger times for a TRIAC circuit without a capacitor are:
a.) 0o to 45o and 180o to 270o c.) 0o to 90o and 180o to 270o
o o o o
b.) 0 to 90 and 270 to 360 d.) 0o to 180o and 180o to 360o

5. The approximate trigger times for a TRIAC circuit with a capacitor can be:
a.) 0o to 90o and 180o to 270o c.) 0o to 180o
o o o o
b.) 0 to 90 and 270 to 360 d.) nearly the entire cycle

6. The turning off a thyristor is known as:

a.) Gating c.) Forward biasing
b.) Commutating d.) Interrupting

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 Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

7. Suppose a TRIAC is used to control the speed of a motor. Also assume that the motor is
highly inductive and causes loss of commutation. What is the likely result?
a.) The TRIAC will short and be ruined. c.) Power control will be lost.
b.) The TRIAC will open and be ruined. d.) The motor will lost.

8. The TRIAC is primarily:

a.) An RF device. c.) A dc power control device.
b.) An AC power control device. d.) A bidirectional diode.

9. The best device to use as a light dimmer in an ac circuit is the:

a.) Bipolar transistor. c.) TRIAC
b.) SCR. d.) Rheostat.

10. Which of the following statements is incorrect?

a.) The gate lead of a TRIAC is used to turn the device on and off.
b.) A TRIAC can be tested with an ohmmeter.
c.) The TRIAC is similar to two SCRs connected in inverse parallel with the gates tied
together.
d.) A TRIAC can be triggered on the positive and negative alternations of a sine wave.

VIII. TRIAC CIRCUITS AND APPLICATIONS

1. High Power Lamp Switching

Use of the triac as an ac on/off switch is

shown in figure. When the switch S is
in position 1, the triac is cut-off and so
the lamp-is dark. When the switch is
put in position 2, a small gate current
flowing through the gate turns the triac
on and so the lamp is switched on to
give rated output.

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Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

2. AC Power Control

A triac control circuit is shown in

figure. Here it is controlling ac power
to load by switching on and off during
the positive and negative half cycles of
the input sinusoidal signal.

During the positive half cycle of the

input voltage, diode D1 is forward
biased, D2 is reverse-biased, and the
gate terminal is positive with respect to
A1 During the negative half cycle, the
diode D2 is forward biased and diode
D1 is reverse-biased, so that the gate
becomes positive with respect to
terminal A2– The point of
commencement of conduction is
controlled by adjusting the resistance
R2.

3. Heat Control using Thermistor and This Heat control using thermistor

TRIAC and TRIAC circuit, is designed to
control the temperature of a room,
either by using a heat source such as an
electric oven heating element or by
using a fan or any cooling device.

This circuit is powered by a bridge

diode rectifier and a zener diode that
maintains the voltage stable for the
trigger circuit.

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Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

Resistor R2 is set so that the PNP

bipolar transistor Q1 is not in the cut-
off state at a given temperature. When
this transistor is in the cut-off state,
no current will charge the capacitor C1,
and therefore the UJT and the TRIACs
will be in the cut-off state.
If this transistor is saturated (ON), it
will charge the capacitor C1 and trigger
the UJT when it reaches the Vp voltage.
The time it takes to reach the VP
voltage of the UJT depends on RT
thermistor.

An increase in temperature, decreases

the value of RT and consequently
decreases the value of the collector
current of the transistor by increasing
the charge time of the capacitor
(decreases the conduction angle). On
the contrary, decreasing the temperature
increases the driving angle.

To reverse the operation of this circuit

and the way of operating with
temperature, resistors RT and R2 are
exchanged.

4. Optocoupler An ideal application for the optocoupler

is that of interfacing the output of a
low-voltage control circuit (possible
with one side of its power supply
grounded) to the input of a triac power-
control circuit that is driven from the
AC power lines and which can be used
to control the power feed to lamps,
heaters, and motors. Figure 18 shows
an example of such a circuit; the figures
in parenthesis show the component
values that should be used if 115V AC
(rather than 230V) supplies are used;
the actual triac type must be chosen to

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Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (ECE) DEPARTMENT

suit individual load/supply

requirements.
5. Dimmer Switch

When the circuit operation begins

initially, the energy is stored in the
capacitor until it reached the required
threshold value to activate the diac
( D1). Once that happens, the diac
( which acts as the voltage regulator)
generates the required gate voltage to
activate the triac which is the main
component contributing to the voltage
regulation across the load.

REFERENCE:

 http://www.circuitstoday.com/triac-applications
 https://slideplayer.com/slide/6131411/
 https://electronicsarea.com/heat-control-using-thermistor-triac/
 https://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/optocoupler-circuits#targetText=An
%20ideal%20application%20for%20the,lamps%2C%20heaters%2C%20and%20motors.
 https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/206160/light-dimming-regulator-
circuit

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