Lecture -4

UNIT-1 (Contd----)

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
 Thyristors

• Thyristors are a family of power semiconductor devices.

• They are operated as bistable switches, operating from nonconducting state to conducting state.

• Thyristors can be assumed as ideal switches for many applications

• The practical thyristors exhibit certain characteristics and limitations.

• Compared to transistors, thyristors have lower on-state conduction losses and higher power
handling capability.

• On the other hand, transistors generally have superior switching performances in terms of faster
switching speed and lower switching losses.

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
 Power Electronics Devices
Thyristor (SCR)

• A thyristor is a four-layer
semiconductor device of
PNPN structure with
three pn junctions.
• It has three terminals:
anode, cathode, and
gate.

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
Thyristor Cross-section

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
 Working of Thyristor
• When the anode voltage is made positive with respect to the cathode, the junctions J1 and J3 are forward
biased. The junction J2 is reverse biased, and only a small leakage current flows from anode to cathode.

• The thyristor is then said to be in the forward blocking, or off-state, condition and the leakage current is
known as off-state current ID.

• If the anode-to-cathode voltage VAK is increased to a sufficiently large value, the reverse-biased junction J2
breaks. This is known as avalanche breakdown and the corresponding voltage is called forward breakdown
voltage VBO.

• Because the other junctions J1 and J3 are already forward biased, there is free movement of carriers across
all three junctions, resulting in a large forward anode current.

• The device is then in a conducting state, or on-state. The voltage drop would be due to the ohmic drop in the
four layers and it is small, typically, 1 V.

• In the on-state, the anode current is limited by an external impedance or a resistance, RL,
Thyristor (SCR) Characteristics
 Latching Current and Holding Current

• Latching current IL: is the minimum anode current required to maintain the thyristor in the on-
state immediately after a thyristor has been turned on and the gate signal has been removed.

• Holding current IH :Once a thyristor conducts, it continues to conduct because there is no

depletion layer on the junction J2 due to free movements of carriers. However, if the forward
anode current is reduced below a level known as the holding current IH, a depletion region
develops around junction J2 due to the reduced number of carriers and the thyristor is in the
blocking state.

• The holding current is on the order of milliamperes and is less than the latching current IL.

I L < IH

• Holding current IH is the minimum anode current to maintain the thyristor in the on-state.
B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-
04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
Two-Transistor Model of Thyristor (SCR)
A thyristor can be considered as two complementary
transistors, one PNP-transistor, Q1, and other NPN-
transistor, Q2
For transistor Q1, the emitter current is the anode current IA, and the collector
current IC1 can be found from Eq. :

(1)

For transistor Q2, the collector current IC2 is

(2)

By combining IC1 and IC2, we get

(3)

For a gating current of IG, IK = IA + IG and solving Eq. for IA gives

(4)
Effect of Gate current on Thyristor Characteristics

If α1 + α2 tends to be unity, the

denominator of Eq.(4) approaches
zero, resulting in a large value of anode
current IA, and the thyristor turns on
with a small gate current.

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
Thyristor Under Transient Condition

• Under transient conditions, the capacitances of the

pn-junctions, as shown in Figure , influence the
characteristics of the thyristor.
• If a thyristor is in a blocking state, a rapidly rising
voltage applied across the device would cause high
current flow through the junction capacitors.
• The current through capacitor Cj2 can be expressed as
 Thyristor Turn-ON Methods
• Thermals. If the temperature of a thyristor is high, there is an increase in the number of electron–hole pairs, which
increases the leakage currents Due to the regenerative action, α1 + α 2 may tend to unity and the thyristor may be
turned on This type of turn-on may cause thermal runaway and is normally avoided.

• Light. If light is allowed to strike the junctions of a thyristor, the electron–hole pairs increase; and the thyristor may
be turned on.

• High voltage. If the forward anode-to-cathode voltage is greater than the forward breakdown voltage VBO,
sufficient leakage current flows to initiate regenerative turn-on. This type of turn-on may be destructive and should
be avoided.

• dv/dt. It can be noted from Eq. (9.6) that if the rate of rise of the anode–cathode voltage is high, the charging
current of the capacitive junctions may be sufficient enough to turn on the thyristor. A high value of charging
current may damage the thyristor; and the device must be protected against high dv/dt.

• Gate current. If a thyristor is forward biased, the injection of gate current by applying positive gate voltage
between the gate and cathode terminals turns on the thyristor.
B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-
04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
Thyristor Turn-ON Characteristics
Turn-on characteristics.

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
Example : The capacitance of reverse-biased junction J2 in a thyristor is CJ2 = 20 pF and can be
assumed to be independent of the off-state voltage. The limiting value of the charging current to
turn on the thyristor is 16 mA. Determine the critical value of dv/dt.

• Solution:
Given : Cj2 = 20 pF and
iJ2 = 16 mA.
Because dCJ2/dt = 0, we can find the critical value of dv/dt from Equation

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
 Thyristor Turn-Off

• There are various techniques for turning off a thyristor.

• In all the commutation techniques, the anode current is maintained below the holding current for
a sufficiently long time, so that all the excess carriers in the four layers are swept out or
recombined.
Commutation

Line
Forced
Commutation
Commutation
• When AC is applied
• When DC is applied

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
 Line Commutation or Natural Commutation
The turn-off time tq is the sum of
reverse recovery time trr and
recombination time trc. In all the
commutation techniques, a reverse
voltage is applied across the thyristor
during the turn-off process.

Common in AC power control applications, where the thyristor naturally turns off when the AC voltage reverses polarity.
 Forced Commutation

• Used in DC circuits or AC circuits where

natural commutation is not possible
• An external circuit is used to force the
current through the thyristor to zero,
enabling it to turn off.
TYPES OF POWER ELECTRONICS DEVICES

UN-CONTROLLED POWER ELECTRONICS DEVICES

The Devices whose Turn on AND Turn Off cannot be controlled from its gate
terminal . Example: DIODE, DIAC

SEMI CONTROLLED POWER ELECTRONICS DEVICES

The Devices whose Turn on can be controlled from its gate terminal not turn off.
Example: SCR, TRIAC etc

FULLY CONTROLLED POWER ELECTRONICS DEVICES

The Devices whose Turn on AND Turn Off can be controlled from its gate terminal
not turn off. Example: MOSFET IGBT etc
TABLE: Characteristics and Symbols of Some Power Devices
TABLE: Characteristics and Symbols Of Some Power Devices
TABLE: Characteristics and Symbols of Some Power Devices
B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-
04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
SCR Turn ON Methods
 Resistance Firing Circuit

Fig. shows the most basic resistance triggering circuit. R2 is the

variable resistance, R is the stabilizing resistance. In case R2 is
zero, gate current may flow from source, through load, R1, D
and gate to cathode. This current should not exceed maximum
permissible gate current Igm.
R1 can therefore, be found from the relation

where Vm = maximum value of source voltage

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
R firing Circuit Wave form
R-C Firing Circuit
RC half-wave trigger circuit

• By varying the value of R, firing angle can be

controlled from 00 to 1800 •
• In the negative half cycle, capacitor C charges through
D2 with lower plate positive to the peak supply voltage
V m at wt = - 90°.
• After wt = - 900 , source voltage v, decreases
from - V m at wt = - 900 to zero at wt = 0°.
During this period, capacitor voltage Vc may fall from -
Vm at wt = - 90° to some lower value - oa at wt = 0, as
shown in Fig

B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-

04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi
• For positive half cycle, C begins to charge through variable resistance R from the initial voltage -
oa.
• When capacitor charges to positive voltage equal to gate trigger voltage Vgt SCR is fired and after
this, capacitor holds to a small positive voltage.
• Diode D1 is used to prevent the breakdown of cathode to gate junction through D2 during the
negative half cycle .
• Firing angle can never be zero and 1800.
• In the range of power frequencies RC for zero output voltage is given by

• The SCR will trigger when Vc= Vgt +Vd where Vd is the voltage drop across diode D1.
RC Firing circuit Wave form

the maximum value of R is given by

Full Wave RC firing Circuit

Diodes DI- D4 form a full wave diode bridge. In

this cireuit, the initial voltage from which the
capacitor C charges is almost zero. The
capacitor C is set to this low positive voltage
(upper plate positive) by the clamping action
of SCR gate. When capacitor charges to a
voltage equal to Vgt, SCR triggers and rectified
voltage Vd appears across load as Vo.
The value of RC is calculated by the empirical
relation

Where T = 1/f
B.Tech (Electrical) Vth Semester- EE-502 : Power Electronics-
04th Lecture: By Dr. Sadaf Naqvi