di/dt protection of SCR

A thyristor requires a minimum time to spread the current conduction uniformly throughout the junctions. If
the rate of rise of the anode current is very fast compared to the spreading velocity of the turn-on process, a
localized hot-spot heating will occur due to high current density concentrated in only the areas near the gate
terminal which might have turned on first. This may cause device failure as a result of excessive temperature.
Practically it must be ensured that the rate of rise of current doesnt exceed the higher limit set by the
manufacturer. This rating is called the di/dt rating of a thyristor. Typical values of this rating may be 20-
500A/s. It is necessary to protect the thyristor against the fast rate of rise of anode current. This scheme is
discussed below:

If the switch S is closed and the SCR is given gate pulses to turn it on, the current might rise at a very fast rate.
This can be prevented by adding an inductor in series with the thyristor.

Where RL= load resistance, RT= drop across SCR when it is ON.

[ ] Where R= RL+RT

At time t=0, the di/dt is maximum.

This expression is used to design value of di/dt inductor, L

dv/dt protection of thyristor
Design of snubber circuit

or
To find optimum values of L, Rs and Cs, the RLC circuit must be analyzed:

Writing the KVL for the circuit when S is closed and SCR is in forward blocking mode.

where R= RS+RL

With zero initial conditions, the laplace transform of the above equation is:

The damping ratio is given by, = and the value is taken between .6 and 1 for an

under-damped case. The value of the snubber capacitance can be designed from this

once gate pulses are given and SCR turns on, Cs (which is fully charged to the supply voltage) will discharge
through the SCR. The forward current through the SCR will be a sum of the load current and the capacitor
discharge current:

i.e iSCR =

This current should be below the repetitive peak current rating of the SCR. Hence, Rs is chosen considering
this. If the discharge current of the capacitor is given, then

Rs =