Advanced Power Conversion & Control 2021 - 2022 Advanced Power Conversion & Control 2021 - 2022

Introduction
Advanced Power Conversion
and Control  Silicon (Si) is the major material used in
power semiconductors devices. Atomic
number
 Stones and sand are mostly consisting of
Silicon and Oxygen (Si02).
POWER SEMICONDUCTOR
DEVICES (1)  For semiconductors, we need a
perfect Silicon crystal.

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Contents Introduction
 Introduction  Recall that in any material, there are 2 energy bands:
 Power Semiconductor Devices Used in PE  The 2 bands are separated by an energy gap called
bandgap.
 Uncontrolled devices: Power diodes  The Bandgap is the amount of energy needed for
 Half-controlled devices: Thyristors, Triacs electrons in the valence band to move to the
conduction band.
 Fully-controlled devices: GTO, IGBT, MOSFETs Conduction Band

 Other new power electronic devices Energy

Bandgap

Valence Band

 The concept of energy bands is important in classifying

materials as conductors, semiconductors and
insulators.
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Introduction Introduction
Power Semiconductor Devices
Vacuum Devices Semiconductor Devices

 For semiconductors, the bandgap lies between 1eV

and few (2-6) eV.
 Materials with larger bandgap are generally
considered as insulators. However, several
semiconductors have bandgaps above 3 eV. These are
called Wide Bandgap semiconductors.

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Introduction Power Semiconductor Devices Used in PE

 New Wide Bandgap (WBG) semiconductors such as  Power semiconductor devices can be broadly divided
Silicon Carbide (SiC) (a compound of Silicon and into three (3) main types according to the degree of
Carbon) and Galium Nitride (GaN) have the capability controllability:
to operate at: Uncontrolled device: Has only two terminals
and cannot be controlled by a control signal. ON
 Higher voltage and OFF states are controlled by the power
 Higher temperature (in the order of 300 C) circuit – Power diodes.
 Higher switching frequency Semi-controlled: Turned ON by a control signal
but turned OFF by the power circuit – Thyristors.
Fully controlled: The ON and OFF states are
controlled by a control signal – Power
transistors.

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Power Semiconductor Devices Used in PE Power Diodes

 Voltage and power ranges  Although it has no moving parts, a diode acts as a
high-speed switch whose contacts open and close
according to the following rules:
A K
_ +
 No voltage applied. The diode acts as  Inverse voltage applied. Anode is
an open switch. negative with respect to cathode. The
diode continues to act as an open circuit.
The diode is said to be reverse biased.

_
MOSFET – Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor
+
 If a momentary forward voltage (> 0.7  If the current stops flowing for even as
BJT – Bipolar Junction Transistor V) is applied. The anode is slightly positive little as 10 sec. The ideal diode
IGBT – Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor with respect to the cathode. The diode immediately returns to its original open
GTO – Gate Turn Off Thyristor acts as a closed switch and conducts state. Conducting will only resume when
GCT – Gate-Commutated Turn Off Thysistor current. The diode is said to be forward the anode again is made slightly positive
PCT – Phase Controlled Thyristor biased. with respect to the cathode.

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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Power diodes are made of silicon PN junction with two  Power diodes are mainly used in rectifiers to convert
terminals, anode (A) and cathode (K). The diode is single-phase or three-phase AC voltage to DC.
designed to allow current to flow in only one direction.  During the positive half cycle the diode will conduct
- passing current.
 During the negative half cycle the diode will not
 Power diodes have a much larger PN junction area conduct - blocking the flow of current.
than the ordinary diode resulting in a high forward
current capability of up to hundreds amps and a
reverse blocking voltage of up to several thousands
volts.
 Since most of the power electronics applications
operate at a relatively high voltage, the small voltage
drop across the power diode can therefore be
neglected.
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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Example: Consider the circuit below. Assuming the  Most important parameters are:
diode ideal, determine the value of ID when a) VA = 5 V Forward voltage: This is the voltage drop of a
(forward bias) and b) VA = -5 V (reverse bias). diode across A and K when forward biased (0.2 –
0.3 V).
Breakdown voltage: This is the voltage drop
a) When VA > 0 the diode is in RS = 50  ID across the diode when it is beyond reverse-biased
forward bias and is acting like a + level. This known as avalanche.
perfect conductor, therefore: VA
_  Note: The diode should not be operated at
ID= VA /RS = 5/50 = 100 mA. reverse voltage greater than the breakdown
voltage.
Reverse current: This is the current at a particular
b) When VA < 0 the diode is in reverse bias and is acting voltage and which is below the breakdown voltage.
like a perfect insulator, therefore no current can flow: ID =  Note: When reversed (or blocking), a negligible
0. small leakage current (A to mA) flows until the
reverse breakdown occurs.

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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Static characteristic (V-I characteristic)  Switching (dynamic) characteristic

 Two reverse recovery characteristics exist:
Current
Breakdown Reverse- Forward-
Region Biased Region Biased Region
Current Forward Current rises
significantly Current rapidly as the
small until Breakdown voltage is
breakdown is Voltage increased
reached
Voltage
Leakage
Current (a) Soft recovery (b) Abrupt recovery
BLOCKED CONDUCTING 𝒕𝑟𝑟 = reverse recovery time, measured as the time between the initial zero crossing of the
Reverse diode current to the time when this current reaches 25% of the peak reverse current.
Voltage 𝑰𝑅𝑅 = maximum reverse current.
𝒕𝑎 = time between zero crossing and the maximum reverse current and it is due to the
charge stored in the depletion region of the junction.
𝒕𝑏 = time between maximum reverse current IRR and 25% of the of the maximum reverse
current.
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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Most important parameters are:
 Reverse recovery charge QRR
Forward recovery time (𝑡𝑓𝑟 ): This is the time
required for the diode voltage to drop to a 1 1 1
QRR  I RR t a  I RR tb  I RR t rr
particular value after the forward current starts to 2 2 2
flow.
2QRR di
Reverse recovery time (𝑡𝑟𝑟 ): When a diode is I RR   ta
t rr dt
switched quickly from forward to reverse bias, it
does not regain its reverse-blocking capability t rr  t a  tb  t rr  t a (if t a  tb )
instantaneously but will continue to conduct for a
small time due to the minority free carriers
which remains in the p-n junction. These minority 2QRR di
carriers require some time to recombine with t rr ≈ I RR ≈ 2QRR
di / dt dt
opposite charges in order to be neutralised. This
is called the reverse recovery time.

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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 𝒕𝑟𝑟 is an important design parameter to evaluate the  Example: The reverse recovery time of a power diode
high-switching capability of the power diode. The is trr=3s and the rate of fall of the diode current is 30
lower 𝒕𝑟𝑟 is, the faster the diode can be switched. A/ s. What is the storage charge and the maximum
 Reverse recovery time reverse current ?

t rr  t a  tb t rr 
2QRR
 QRR 
1 di 2
t rr
 Softness factor di / dt 2 dt
ta
Sf 
tb
QRR 
1  30 
 
 3  10
2  10 6 
6

2
 1.35  10  4 C

 Maximum reverse current

I RR  t a
di I RR  2QRR
di
dt
 
 2 135  10 6 30 10 6  90 A 
dt
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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Power Diodes Types  Fast recovery diodes

Power diodes can be classified as:  Have a low recovery time generally less than 5 sec.
General purpose diodes  Ratings:
High speed (fast recovery) diodes  Current (up to 1100 A).
Schottky diodes  Voltage ( up to 6 kV).
 They are suitable for electrical power conversion (i.e.
High frequency rectifiers (AC-DC) and inverters (DC-
AC) (free-wheeling operation).

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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 General purpose diodes  Schottky Diodes

 On-state voltage very low (< 1V)  The Schottky diode has low forward voltage drop
 Have large reverse recovery time (very slow (0.5 V to 1.2 V) leading to lower levels of power loss
response) of about 25 sec. compared to ordinary PN junction diodes.
 Ratings:  Very small recovery time.
 Current (1 A – 2 kA).  Leakage current increases with voltage rating.
 Voltage (50 V – 5 kV).  Ratings:
 They are used in low frequency applications (e.g.  Current (up to 300 A).
rectifiers and converters for low input frequency up  Voltage ( up to 100 V).
to 1 kHz).  Used in low voltage, high current application such as
switched mode power supplies.

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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 If the diodes are not matched:

General Purpose Fast Recovery Schottky Diodes
 During the reverse recovery, there may be large
Diodes Diodes
voltage unbalances among the series-connected
Rating Up to 5000 V & Up to 3000 V Up to 100 V and 300 A
3500 A and 1000 A diodes.
Reverse Recovery High Low Extremely low  Some diodes may recover earlier than others (i.e.
Time ( 25 sec) (0.1 to 5 sec) (few nanoseconds) different 𝒕𝒓𝒓).
Turn Off Time High Low Extremely low  Most of these problems
Switching Frequency Low High Very high. can be overcome by
connecting a capacitor
Forward Voltage 0.7 V to 1.2 V 0.8 V to 1.5 V 0.4 V to 0.6 V and a resistor in parallel
Drop with each diode.

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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Series and parallel connection of power diodes  For high current rating applications diodes are
 Diodes can be connected in series and parallel to connected in parallel.
meet the desired voltage and current rating.  Note
 For high voltage applications diodes are 1) In order to ensure equal current sharing, diodes
connected in series. should be chosen with the same forward voltage
drop properties.
2) Diodes mounted in parallel should also be
cooled equally to ensure the operating
temperature is the same for all the diodes and
 Note therefore the diodes forward characteristics
In such a structure one must ensure that the diodes remain the same.
are properly matched especially in terms of their
reverse recovery properties.
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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Typical applications of diodes  Voltage multiplier

 Rectification By connecting diodes in a predetermined
Four diodes can be used to fully rectify an AC signal. configuration, an AC signal can be doubled, tripled
The direction of the current is decided by 2 diodes and even quadrupled.
conducting at any given time. This rectifier topology is
called bridge rectifier.

Two-stage Cockroft-Walton
Voltage multiplier

A Cockroft-Walton generator built in

1937 by Philips of Eindhoven. National
Science Museum, London, England.

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Power Diodes Power Diodes

 Voltage clamping
A clamping circuit is used to fix either the upper or
the lower peak of a signal to a defined level by
shifting its DC value.

Positive unbiased clamp. Negative unbiased clamp

Positive biased clamp Negative biased clamp

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Thyristors Thyristors

 The thyristor is also known as SCR (Silicon Controlled  Operating states of the thyristor
Rectifier). A thyristor acts in the same way as a diode in that it will
 Members of the thyrisor family are semi-controlled allow current to flow from anode to cathode. It cannot
devices i.e. they can be turned on by an appropriate flow in the other direction.
gate signal, but they turn off by themselves, like the  Step 1: Thyristor OFF
diode. When the thyristor is powered up and there is no
 The SCR is a 3-terminal device voltage on the gate of the thyristor, no current flows
with 4 layers structure of between the anode and cathode.
alternating p- and n-type
semiconductors material (i.e. 3 p-n
junctions).
 The gate is the control terminal.
Gate Voltage
 The anode and cathode are the Low
power terminals of the switch.
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Thyristors Thyristors
 Step 2: Thyristor turned ON
When a gating pulse is
applied (Gate on high
voltage), the thyristor “fires”
and the forward resistance of
the device falls to a very low Gate Voltage
High
value, allowing very large
currents to flow in the forward
conducting mode.

 Step 3: Thyristor latched ON

Once the thyristor is ON,
current flow will continue even Gate Voltage
Low
when the gate returns to low
Disk type voltage.
Stud-mounted type
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Thyristors Thyristors

 Step 4: Thyristor turned OFF  Static characteristic

For the thyristor to turn OFF the  Plot of anode current (𝒊𝑨 ) as a function of the anode-
current flow through the device cathode voltage (𝑽𝑨𝑲 ). Forward
(forward current) must be conduction
interrupted or dropped below Gate Voltage region
Low
a certain threshold value
known as the “holding Forward
current” for a short period of blocking
time (typically 10-20 sec). region

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Thyristors Thyristors

 There are two ways to turn off the thyristor:  The important points on the characteristic are:
1) The thyristor cannot be turned off by applying  Latching current (𝐼𝐿 )
negative gate current. However, due to the This is the minimum anode current required to
sinusoidal nature of the alternating current, the maintain the thyristor in the ON-state immediately
device will self-commute at the end of every half- after a thyristor has been turned on and the gate
cycle when the current goes through zero; this is signal has been removed.
called natural or line commutation.
2) By using an external circuit to momentarily force  Holding current (𝐼𝐻 )
current in the opposite direction to forward Once conduction begins, it will continue until the
conduction and this is called forced-commutation. anode current is reduced to less the holding current
 When the anode returns to a high voltage level, current 𝑰𝐻 . To stop the conduction of the thyristor, the
will not be able to flow through the device until the forward anode current must be reduced below its
gate is taken to a high voltage. holding current for a sufficient time.

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Thyristors Thyristors

 Reverse current (𝐼𝑅 )  The following should be considered when designing

When the cathode voltage is positive with respect to gate control circuits:
the anode, junction J2 is forward biased but  The gate signal should be removed after the thyristor
junctions J1 and J3 are reverse biased. The thyristor has been turned on. A gate signal applied
is in the reverse blocking state and a reverse leakage continuously will increase the power loss in the gate
current known as reverse current 𝐼 will flow junction.
through the device.  No gate signal should be applied when the thyristor is
 Forward breakover voltage (𝑉 ) reverse biased. If a gate signal is applied under these
If 𝑉 is increased beyond 𝑉 , the conditions, the thyristor may fail due to an increased
thyristor ‘self-triggers’ into the leakage current.
conducting state but this can damage the  The width of the gate pulse must be greater than the
thyristor. In practice, the forward voltage is time required for the anode current to rise to the
maintained below 𝑉 and the thyristor holding current. In practice, the gate pulse width is
is turned on via the gate signal. made wider than the turn-on time of the thyristor.

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Thyristors Thyristors

 Static characteristic: Effect of the gate current • Mode of Operation AC

supply
Load
(R)
 The effect of the gate current is to lower the blocking  Once triggered the device
Circuit
voltage at which switching takes place. conducts for the remainder
of the half cycle.
 The thyristor is turned on by
exceeding the forward  Varying the firing time (or t

breakover voltage 𝑉 or by firing angle) determines the AC supply

gate current. amount of current which

flows through the device i.e. Gate current t
the output power.
 Allows control from 0-50%
of full power. Load current
t
 The gate current 𝐼 controls Load voltage regulated by a thyristor phase control
the amount of 𝑉 required to load voltage
turning it on. trigger signal

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Thyristors The Family of Thyristors - Triacs

 A Triac is a 3 terminal switching device.
 Typical applications of thyristors  It is equivalent to two thyristors connected in back-to-
 For controlled rectifiers: The thyristors make the back configuration with a common gate terminal.
average output voltage controllable by appropriate  The cathode of one thyristor is connected to the anode
gating the thyristors. of the other and vice-versa.
 This results in a bidirectional electronic switch which can
conduct current in either directions (i.e. it can control the
current flow over both halves of alternating cycle) when
it is triggered.

Single phase controlled rectifier Three phase controlled rectifier

 In DC-AC inverter: To convert DC power (battery,

solar, etc.) into AC power.

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Thyristors The Family of Thyristors - Triacs

 For motor control: In motor control circuits, the  When voltage on A1 is positive with respect A1
thyristors are used to vary the amplitude of the to A2, a gate signal will cause the left SCR to
voltage waveform across the winding of the AC conduct.
motor.  When the anode voltages are reversed, the
gate signal will cause the right SCR to G
conduct. A2
 This gives the triac the ability to be triggered
into conduction while having a voltage of
either polarity across it. Triac on
RL
IL
A1 Delay
Vin angle
G Conduction
A2 angle
VG

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The Family of Thyristors - Triacs The Family of Thyristors - GTO

Voltage at MT2 is positive
 Static characteristic w.r.t. MT1 and gate voltage
 The GTO (Gate Turn-Off) thyristor is a three-terminal
is also positive w.r.t. first device which belongs to the thyristor family with
terminal.
four-layer structure.
 The basic operation of the GTO is the same as that of
the thyristor. The principal differences lie in the
modifications in the device to achieve gate turn OFF
capability.
 The GTO, like the thyristor,
can be turned ON by
applying a short-duration
positive gate voltage and
Voltage at MT1 is positive also it can be turned OFF by
w.r.t. MT2 and gate voltage a negative pulse on the
is negative.
gate.
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The Family of Thyristors - Triacs Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO)

• Triac applications  ON-state
Like the thyristor, the triac latches after triggering In the ON-state, the GTO operates as the
and turns off when the current is below 𝐼 (holding thyristor.
current) which happens at the end of each If the anode current remains above the holding
alternation. current level then the gate signal should be
 High power lamp switching removed to avoid power loss in the gate
junction.
 Light dimmer Because of the turn-OFF ability of the GTO, its
holding current is higher than that of the
thyristor.
The width of the gate signal should be longer
than the time required for the anode current 𝒊𝑨
to rise to the latching current 𝒊𝑳.
In practice, the pulse width 𝒕𝑮 > 𝒕𝒐𝒏.
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Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO) Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO)

 Typical applications of GTOs
 Motor drives
 Flexible AC transmission systems such as Static
VAR compensators (SVCs)
 AC/DC power supplies

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Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO)

 OFF-state
Unlike the thyristor, the GTO does not have the
ability to prevent non-gated turn-On effects.
To prevent these potentially dangerous triggering:
 Connect a recommended value resistance
between the gate and the cathode (RGK)
 Maintain a small reverse bias voltage (VRG = -2 V)
on the gate contact
 There are 2 types of GTO:
 Asymmetrical GTOs – Most common, used with
antiparallel diodes and hence does not have reverse
blocking capability which is not required in voltage
source inverters.
 Symmetrical GTOs – have reverse blocking capability
making them suitable for current source inverters.

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