POWER ELECTRONICS PC SenPOWER ELECTRONICS PC SEN Professor of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering Jadavpur University NUT wi Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited NEW DELHI McGraw-Hill Offices New Delhi New York StLouis San Francisco Auckland Bogota Caracas Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal San Juan Singapore Sydney Tokyo Torontofata McGraw-Hill © 1987, by Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited 30th reprint 2008 RZXYCRBXRBZXC No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The program listings (if any) may be entered, stored and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication. This edition can be exported from India only by the publishers, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. 978-0-07-462400-5 0-07-462400-8 Published by the Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, 7 West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110 008, and printed at Rashtriya Pustak Bandanalya, Delhi 110 032 The McGraw-Hill Companies ECONTENTS Preface vii 1 Characteristics of Semiconductor Devi 11 Silicon diode 1 12 Fast recovery diode _/ 1.3 Schottky diode 14 14 Thermal characteristics of diode 16 1.5 Thermal resistance (0) 16 1.6 Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR (sf —Gueigger and uaimmatee Ge 83 1.8 Series and parallel connections of SCRs 104. 159° —Telggeting armangement for wien conseiea secre L #10 —Paraliet connection of SCRE 127 iain 112 The triae 1.13 Latching transistor_140 1.14" Light activated semiconductors _/4 1S —Ualuietiowiainisartisrny Ge Cs — Vou eee ae 8 2 Cooling and Protection of Power Semiconductor Devices 156 “21 Heat transfer 756 22 Mounting arrangement and effective cooling of press ——npark or hockey puk pe devs IG? 2.4 Vapour phase cooling 165 23—Froeeioa ise 2.6 Fuse protection 172 27 Overvoltage protection 192 3__Single-Phase Rectifiers 219 3.1 Half-wave rectifier with 1 resistive load 220 32 Full-wave rectifier 223 33 Rectifier with resistive-capacitive load 34 —Restfor with tesistive-inductive load 247 a5 Full-wave rectifier with large inductive loadXI CONTENTS 4 Three-Phase Rectifier and Filters 246 44 Half-wave rectifier with resistive load 247 4.2 Three-phase full-wave or six-phase half-wave rectifier 255 4.3 Double Y type rectifier with interphase transformer 258 4.4 Bridge rectifier with resistive load 265 4.5 Single-phase rectifier circuits with L-C filter 267 4.6 filter 272 4.7 Bleeder resistance with critical input inductance 274 4.8 Three-phase rectifier circuits with L-C filter 277 49 Design of filter reactor for rectifiers 280 4.10 Swinging reactors 285 4A Design of power transformers for rectifiers 285 4.12 Rectifier circuit ratios and values 3/0 5 Single-Phase-Controlled Rectifier 312 5.1 Half-wave controlled rectifier with resistive load 3/2 2 eo ‘oll il ith R- Ie 5.3 ____Half-wave controlled rectifier with R-L load and flywheel diode 32/ 54 Half-wave controlled rectifier with R-L and battery Joad 323 5.5 wv ‘ol i fi ith resi and battery load 3265 5.6 Full-wave controlled rectifier with resistance load 326 5.7 Full-wave controlled rectifier with R-L load 329 5.8 Full-wave controlled rectifier with transformer leak- age resistance and R-Lload 336 5.9 Full-wave controlled rectifier with R-L load and fly- wheel diode 339 5.10 Full-wave controlled rectifier with R-L and battery load 344 S.A Full-wave controlled rectifier with resistive and bat- tery load 352 5.12 Half-controlled bridge rectifier with resistive load 354 5.13 Half-controlled bridge rectifier with R-L load 358 5.14 Half-controlled bridge rectifier with R-L load and flywheel diode 361 5.15 Fully-controlled bridge rectifier with RZ load 369 6 Three-Phase Controlled Rectifler 378 6.1 Half-wave controlled rectifier with resistive load 379 6.2 Six-phase half-wave or double-star controlled recti- fier with resistive load 383 6.3 Half-controlled bridge with resistive load 38764 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 69 6.10 oll 6.12 6.13 CONTENTS xIIt Fully-controlled bridge with resistive load 392 Double-star with interphase reactor and resistive load 398 Half-wave controlled rectifier with R-L load 404 Six-phase half-wave controlled rectifier with R-L load Three-phase double-Y type controlled rectifier with interphase reactor and inductive load 454 Double-Y type controlled rectifier with fiywheel diode 466 Controlled bridge rectifier with R-L load 470 Half controlled bridge with R-L load 470 Fully controlled bridge rectifier with R-L load 487 Summary 5/6 7 Triggering Circuits for Phase-Controlled Rectifier Ta 7.2 13 14 mR 16 1.7 18 19 7.10 Wl 7.12 Inverse-cosine method 533 Magnetic firing circuit 535 Solid state firing circuit 543 Unijunction transistor firing circuit (constant-« firing scheme) 548 Transistorised firing circuit (constant-« control scheme) 558 Firing circuits using logic gates 563 Three-phase firing circuit 565 _ Three-phase pulse forming circuit 573 Transistorised three-phase firing circuit 576 Integral control 577 Phase-locked oscillator pulse timing controlled firing circuit 580 End-stop control 583 8 Ac and Dec Voltage Regulator 8.1 82 8.3 8.4 85 8.6 8.7 88 89 8.10 8.11 8.12 Manually controlled voltage regulator 588 Automatic voltage regulators 595 Solid state tap changer using antiparallel SCRs 599 Automatic voltage regulator using servo system 6// Phase controlled ac regulator 6/8 Three-phase ac regulator 654 Firing circuits for ac regulator 687 Ferro;resonant ac stabiliser 689 De voltage regulator 7/0 Control schemes and problems 7/2 SCR controlled de voltage regulator 7/5 Transductor controlled de voltage regulator 720 437 533ty CONTENTS 9 Inverter, Chopper and Cycloconverter 726 a1 The voltage-driven inverter 727 9.2 The current-driven inverter 736 9.3 Transistor inverter 739 9.4 Inverter starting circuits 749 9.5 Two-transformer inverter 751 9.6 Inverter with R-C timing circuit 754 9.7 Bridge inverter 756 9.8 Driven inverter 759 9.9 Selection of transistor 767 9.10 Reduction of storage time 764 9.11 Delay of turn-on of transistor 765 9.12 Digital delay circuit 766 9.13 Collector voltage spikes and second breakdown 767 9.14 Driven-bridge and half-bridge inverter 769 9.15 Inverter circuits using SCRs 771 9.16 Single phase inverter with resistive load 774 9.17 Inverter with inductive load and use of feedback diodes 784 9.18 Parallel inverter with feedback diodes 785 9.19 Centre-tapped circuit with feedback diodes (Mc Murray-Bedford commutation) 787 9.20 Bridge circuit with feedback diodes 789 9.21 Inverters with resistive load and feedback diodes 794 9.22 Bridge circuit using McMurray-Bedford commu- tation 799 9.23 The auxiliary SCR commutated inverter (Mc- Murray commutation) 802 » 9.24 Auxiliary SCR commutated single phase bridge inverter (Mc Murray commutation) 806 9.25 Current-fed inverters 808 9.26 Current-fed inverter with parallel resonant load 811 9.27 Current-fed inverter in series—parallel compensated load 8/4 9.28 Series capacitor inverter 817 9.29 Unilateral series inverter circuit 817 9.30 Bilateral series inverters 818 9.31 Three-phase inverters 823 9.32 Three-phase inverter with-interphase commutation 823 9.33 Three-phase bridge inverter with series commutation 826 9.34 Input circuit commutation with auxiliary supply 830 9.35 Control of inverter output voltage 83/ 9.36 Single pulse-width modulation 833 9.37 Multiplé pulse modulation 8379.38 9.39 9.40 9.41 CONTENTS XV Sinusoidal pulse modulation 838 Reduction of harmonics of the inverter output 839 Chopper 849 Cycloconverter 871 10 De and Ac Motor Control DC Motor Control 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 10.11 10.12 Introduction 883 Demotor 886 Single-phase SCR drive 893 Three-phase SCR drives 914 Power factor in SCR motor devices 916 Reversible SCR drives 927 Starting and dynamic braking of separately excited dc motor 928 Closed loop control system 933 Speed control of de series motor 938 Chopper controlled de drives 944 Phase locked loop control of dc motor 953 Microprocessor-controlled dc drives 955 AC Motor Control 10.13 Introduction 957 10.14 Induction motor characteristics 960 10.15 Speed control methods of induction motor 962 10.16 Closed loop control—voltage fed inverter control 978 10.17 The controlled-slip system 990 10.18 Slip power recovery system 966 10.19 Closed-loop control 1003 10.20 Braking of induction motor 1004 10.21 Synchronous motor control 1006 10.22. Commutatorless dc motor and electronic commu- tation 1009 References and Bibliography 1019 Index 1027ONE CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES The ratings, specifications and characteristics of a device are of utmost importance to the designer for designing equipment which will render lasting troublefree service. Choice of components for a particular service require- ment and design of their safety devices would be easier if detailed charac- teristics and ratings are available. Detailed specifications and ratings are available only in manufacturers’ data sheets and designers have to depend on them. In this chapter, some of the important characteristics of parameters of the devices are discussed. These may be considered a first-hand guide for the designers. 1.1 Silicon Diode Diodes are important devices in electrical technology. Their field of appli- cations is very wide. They are used in ac to de conversion for various pur- poses and also in high speed applications in computers. Silicon diodes of various ratings are available. The forward current of diodes varies from a few milliamperes to 800 A. A reverse voltage of 100 V to 2500 V is common. Diodes are simple p-n junctions and have a number of advantages such as high mechanical and thermal reliability, high peak inverse voltage combined with low reverse current, low forward voltage drop, high effici- ency and extreme compactness. 1.1.1 Forward Characteristics of Silicon Diode As silicon diodes are essentially cells containing simple p-n junctions, they have low resistance to current flow in one direction (anode to cathode), and — high resistance to current flow in the opposite direction (cathode to anode). The forward characteristics of diodes follow the e*”/*T law at low voltage. This is modified to become e**/*7 at higher voltages and finally becomesimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 9 Approximately, it can be assumed that the linear flat portion is due to the minority carrier storage and the decaying portion to the junction capacitance. I TIME te Fig. 1.9 Diode reverse recovery characteristic When the junction is forward biased, an excess of minority carriers is built up on either side of the junction region. In most diodes, the p-region is more heavily doped than the n-region, and consequently, the mino- rity carriers are predominantly holes. Accordingly, the density of holes in the n-region in the vicinity of the junction is given by Prom Pree MT (1.1) From the definition of excess density Pao Pn= Pn(eev/kT — 1) (1.2) Poexcoss Thus, the excess density is a function of the voltage across the junction of the device. For the forward bias condition, e”*7 is much greater than |, since e/kT at room temperature is about 40, When the voltage across the device drops to zero, the excess carriers are swept from the junction. This action is shown in Fig. 1.10. The holes storage delay terminates at time Y as shown in the diagram. This portion is approximately equal to the flat portion of the current reco- very curve (Fig. 1.9). At this point, if there were no junction capacitance, the current would have instantaneously dropped to reverse leakage value, provided the diode is reverse biased. However, the junction capacitance prevents this sudden change. Again, a voltage across a p-n junction is always associated with the pre- sence of a space charge oneither side of tne junction. As the voltage is increased in the forward direction, the depletion region is narrowed corres- ponding to the replacement of the charge layers in the transition region. Electrons are built up on the n-side and holes on the p-side. Small changes in the voltage add a proportionate amount of charge corresponding to the action of the condenser with a cross-sectional area and a plate separation equal to that of the junction and having a permittivity equal to that of theimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 13 1.2 Fast Recovery Diode Rectifier diodes with fast recovery characteristics are becoming increasingly important in the design of power semiconductor equipment. The major field of their application is in the electrical power conversion, ic. the free- wheeling or bypassing application and high frequency rectification and in- versions. Proper use of fast recovery diodes reduces di/dt and accompanying stress level on SCRs. The main advantage of the fast recovery diodes is that the junction heating caused by recovery action is minimised and thereby power levels may be increased, reducing the losses. In high frequency rectification, the upper limit of operating frequency is around 1 kHz with conventional alloy or diffused junctions, whereas with fast recovery diodes, it is around 10 kHz, At any operating frequency. the fast recovery characteristics reduce the power dissipation in the diode during recovery, Thus more power can be dissipated in the forward conduction without overheating the junction, thereby increasing rectification efficiency. The use of flywheel diodes becomes essential in the case of a phase con- trolled rectifier with either single or three-phase supply, particularly with inductive loads A flywheel diode is connected at the output of the rectifier, the operation of which is discussed in detail in later chapters. With induc- tive loads, the rectifier conduction may be either continuous or disconti- nuous, depending upon the firing angle and load power factor. The sudden change in the operating mode of the rectifier without flywheel diode may cause a serious instability in the closed loop regulating system. This instabi- lity is eliminated by the use of the flywheel diode. The flywheel diode redu- ces the current rating of the SCR in the phase controlled rectifiers at reduced output. The use of flywheel diodes also prevents SCRs from losing control ina half controlled rectifier circuit, with highly inductive load. Any diode may be used as a flywheel diode, but fast recovery diodes are preferable because of their low recovery losses, lower junction temperature and reduced di/dt imposed on SCR in the rectifier unit during recovery. Moreover, the flywheel diode should recover to its nonconducting state before an SCR in the recti- fier unit begins to turn on. Otherwise, a high inrush of current will flow during the recovery period of the flywheel diode, which would virtually short-circuit the SCRs and induce a very high di/dt on them. Asa result, both the SCRs and the flywheel diode may be damaged. In addition, the conventional diode may induce high voltage transient due to the holes stor- age and recovery characteristics in conjunction with the circuit inductance. This high voltage transient sometimes becomes fatal to other components. This effect is reduced by the use of the fast recovery diode. Though fast recovery diodes are superior to conventional! diodes in many high frequency power conversion applications, they are difficult to manufac- ture for the following reasons. It is known that ina diode, the forward voltage drop is directly proportional to the thickness of the silicon and in- versely to the carrier lifetime, but is more or less independent of theimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 21 The transient thermal impedance curve is quite significant in the sense that it provides a safe border line of the rating of the device for variation in repetitive pulse loads or under fault conditions. Q(tr) MAX THERMAL RESISTANCE TIME Fig. 1.19 Transient thermal impedance v. time curve 1.6 Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) The term ‘Thyristor’ has been adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) fer the silicon controlled rectifier (SCR). All devices exhibiting similar characteristics, such as silicon unilateral switch (SUS), the light activated silicon controlled rectifier (LASCR), the gate turn-off switch (GTO), the silicon bilateral switch (SBS) and the triac, are also designated by this term. A silicon controlled rectifier is basically a four layer p-n-p-n device. It has three electrodes—a cathode, an anode and a controlled electrode called the gate. In the forward direction, a high resistance is maintained until breakover occurs, either due to the magnitude of the applied voltage or toa gating signal at the gate, when the device exhibits normal silicon diode forward characteristics. In the reverse direction, the device exhibits the reverse characteristic of a silicon rectifier. 1.6.1 Two-Transistor Analogy of SCR In a simple p-n junction with a reverse bias, only a small current flows due to the minority carriers in the two regions. In the SCR, additional p-n junctions are formed on either side of the main junction giving a p-n-p-n structure as shown in Fig 1.20. In Fig. 1.20, J: and J3 are forward biased while Jz is reverse biased, but Jz would pass a greater value of leakage current than a simple p-n junction because J; and Js would act as sources of minority carriers or emitters. Junctions J;—J2 and J2—J3 can be considered to constitute a p-n-pimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 25 J-— rorwaro conouc tion (ON SATE) LAT CHING cunnewr aN FORWAR erate: HOLDING cuRReNT - __goRWARD, ~ or vel ace Ry = Ve A E FORWARD BLOCKING yy REVEKSE — avatancue | | (orestore) Te Breancont | al vease c BLOCKING (b) Ta (a) Fig. 1.23, (a) -I characteristic of SCR connected for operation in de citcuit, (b) circuit of (a) sensitive to temperature and decreases with the increase of temperature as shown in Fig. 1.24, HOLDING CURRENT (ma) JUNCTION TEMP(°c) Fig. 1.24 SCR-holding current v. temperature curve The rating of holding current is generally specified at room temperature with the gate open. The latching current of an SCR specifies a value of anode current slightly higher than the holding current, which is the minimum amount required to sustain conduction immediately after the SCR is switched from the OFF state to the ON state and the gate signal removed. Once the latching current is reached, the SCR temains in the ON siate until the anode current is decreased below the holding current value. The latching current rating is an important consideration when the deviceimage not availableimage not availableimage not available‘CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICrs 29 1.6.8 Forward Current Rating The ratings of an SCR are based primarily on the amount of heat generat- ed within the device and the ability of the device to transfer the internal heat to the external case. The power generated inside the device junctions depends on the following: 1, turn-on switching 2. forward conduction 3, turn-off or commutation 4, reverse blocking 5. triggering For normal low frequency operation, forward conduction is the main source of heat dissipation. However, for high frequency applications or for large di/dt, the ratio of peak to average current is high and turn-on switching losses become the predominant source of heat generation. The forward current rating of an SCR is a function of its maximum junction temperature, the device thermal impedances, the total device losses and the ambient temperature. The ratings of the device would be such that in no case the device maximum junction temperature is exceeded. The device dissipation versus average forward current is determined from the instantaneous VI ON state characteristics for various conduction angles and is shown in Fig. 1.27. seg 2 8 8 FORWARD ON STATE LOSSES A bk e+ 20 60 100 140 180 220 260 300 coxpue tion FORWARD AV CURRENT (A) ANGLE Tg (AV) Fig. 1.27 Maximum power dissipation v. average forward current curve for semisinusoidal waveform st various conduction angles The curve for maximum allowable case temperature versus the maximum forward average current is useful to the designer. This is obtained from the power dissipative characteristics (Fig. 1.27) in conjunction with the steady state as well as transient thermal impedances. A typical curve of maximum case temperature versus maximum average forward current for various conduction angles is shown in Fig. 1.28. This is derived from the formula — 21 max— Te max = a fay max: a. 1c ip o)image not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 33 conductive part of the lead assembly, the device wiring and internal assem- bly parts and raises the temperature. The rms current rating must be limi- ted to a safe value to prevent excessive heating in the resistive elements of the SCR, such as joints, leads, etc. The rms current rating is also important when SCRs are used.to supply high peak current to a load with low duty cycle. In such cases, the average value of the device current may remain well within the rating whereas the rms current may cross the limit, In such cases, the rms current rating should be the limiting factor and not be exceed- ed. The rms current rating of the device is provided for the worst case combi- nation of lead assembly, forward drop and thermal impedance and for resistive load. Since the current form factor for the resistive load is greatest, and since the load inductances reduce the current form factor, the average current ratings supplied by the manufacturers are conservative for inductive current waveforms. The SCR current form factor varies with various configurations of circuit applications and for different conduction angles supplying resistive load. For inductive load, the current is almost rectangular and its rms value is 1/2 [a] and can be easily calculated, tp, T and /, are the conduction period, time period or reciprocal of frequency and peak current respectively. Sometimes, the current waveforms are neither sinusoidal nor rectangular as in many inverter circuits. Since the information of rms values of current is impor- tant for selection of the SCR’s, the same is calculated using the following procedure. The current waveform is broken into suitable segments for which the rms values can be calculated individually. The [/?dt value of each segment is calculated and added up to determine the rms value of current. Referring to Fig. 1.29, the rms value of the complex current wave is as follows: 1gen tT Ts Th ype os | {fp tak [Pa af dee [Pa EP? 2m ig 13 iy ig qr ar) h ary p—— ot Fig. 1.29 Waveform of complex current wave 1.6.10 Repetitive Overload Current Rating It is not uncommon for rectifier equipments to frequently run on overload. Though the duration of overload is short, it is repetitive. It is quite obviousimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS UF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 37 tially for a step power input and if for a small duration 4¢, the temperature rise is AT, then thermal impedance is defined as the ratio 47/P for the small increment of time 4t. Conservative curves of transient thermal impe- dance between the junction and case and between the junction and the atmosphere for a particular heat sink mount are provided by the manu- facturers. Such curves are shown in Figs. 1.33 and 1.34. o-2; "cr je (tr) 011 ‘o1 % 1 10 100 Time (3) Fig. 1.33 Transient thermal impedance between junction and case y. time curve $$$ $$, “cw 0" NATURAL AIR | 8} COOLING | 07} 06 FORCED AIR COOLING 0 10' ume (8) 7 6 10° 10 Fig. 1.34 Transient thermal impedance between junction and atmosphere y. time curve Transient thermal impedance is an important parameter to determine the ultimate junction temperature of the device for an input power of irregular waveshapes, varying duty clycle, sudden overload, line fault and short-cir- cuits. The maximum allowable operation junction temperature must not be excecded in any case for recurrent load. With the exact information of input power dissipation in the device, the junction temperature risz is calculated. Steady state operation of SCR’s often requires a train of power pulses of various shapes. The exact solution of an individual case would be rather painstaking, so some typical cases are discussed below.image not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 41 4to1)=transient thermal impedance of the SCR for the overload period tp=conduction period of the rectifier circuit T=time period for the supply frequency =1/f 1.6.18 Gate Trigger Characteristics From the two-transistor analogy of an SCR, it is clear that apart from increasing the anode voltage beyond the forward breakover voltage, the SCR can be switched from the forward blocking state to the forward conducting state in the following ways. When the device temperature is increased, the leakage current increases, increasing the loop gain above unity. The same effect is achieved by applying a signal at the gate. Again, the loop gain of the device is increased by increasing the dv/dt applied at the device. If a steep wavefront or transient voltage is impressed across the anode and cathode, a current will flow through the junction capacitors and forward biased junc- tions. This current will act like a gate current and switch the device to its ON state. For light activated SCRs, the triggering is effected by suitably irradiat- ing the region near and underlying the emitter junction. In these devices, provision is made so that the emitter junction can be irradiated from the outside. The temperature and do/dt turn-on are unsuitable and dangerous for the device. The maximum rated junction temperature is generally not to be exceeded at any condition, but the temperature at which the self triggering is effective is above the maximum rated junction temperature The large dv/dt across the device results in the burning of the cathode area and the device does not remain under control. For reliable circuit operation, the device operating temperature must be well below the maximum rated value, suitable snubber circuits should be used to suppress dv/dt within the device limit and the triggering means should be of a positive nature changing the device operating state in a definite manner. This is done by a suitable gate trigger circuit which must be judi- ciously designed so that the device ratings are not exceeded. 1.6.19 Gate-Cathode Characteristics Gate triggering is the simplest and most reliable means to switch-on the SCR from its forward blocking state to conducting state. The current and power gain of this device are very high in this mode of control. For proper and reliable control, a knowledge of the gate-cathode characteristic is essential. Broadly speaking, an SCR presents an electrical characteristic of a p-n junction at its gate-cathode terminals. The simplified equivalent circuit of the gate-cathode junction is shown in Fig. 1.41. The series resistance Ri represents the lateral resistance of the p-layer to which the gate terminal is connected, and Rs represents the shunt resistance srovided by the ‘emitter short’ present in the structure. The short emitterimage not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 45 Ig, (max) Fig. 1.45 Maximum allowable positive gate current Jc y. gate trigger pulse duration f¢ during reverse period for 50 Hz frequency than the declared ones, and in such cases, the pulse duration is taken as the time between the rise and fall of gate current at 10% of the peak value. However, this peak value must not exceed the recommended figure given by the manufacturer. A train of pulse should be considered as a single pulse having a duration equivalent to that of the sum of the individual pulse width. A gate current of duration longer than 2 m sin the presence of non- sinusoidaf reverse voltage would critically influence the operation of the SCR, and in such cases, the above curve is no longer valid. The additional average reverse power loss due to the presence of positive gate current during operation in the reverse direction must be included in the sum total of the losses if it exceeds 5% of the forward ON state losses. Such losses may be evaluated from a knowledge of the relationship between the maximum value of the additional reverse current and the positive gate Ta(ma) 10° 1o 1 10 la max (A) Fig. 1.46 Additional reverse current ip v, positive gate curtent ic for T7=125 °C ~image not availableimage not availableimage not available(CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 49 incoming gate current Ig=(dg/dt) and the recombination rate. For a cons- tant Jc, i.e. for dc gate current, the free stored charge is a direct function of gate current for a given recombination rate. The SCR triggers when this free charge at the gate junction reaches a certain level.. This requires a finite time which depends on the recombination rate. If this time is to be shortened, a higher value of gate voltage and current is required for triggering as shown in Fig. 1.49, For triggering an SCR, the current must also build up rapidly at least up to the latching current during the period of presence of the gate pulse. For a highly inductive circuit, it is, therefore, necessary to increase the pulse width of the gate pulse. The use of a large current pulse reduces variations in turn-on time by minimising the effect of temperature on the triggering characteristic and switching time is reduced. A typical forward gate characteristic is shown in Fig. 1.50. 9,b, C,d,e - Pulse duration (a to, (4p) rng) (noe) PRM OO (1.46) tro (in gh where ino=( ioe \(u n) (1.47) It is assumed that the turn-off power losses occur evenly distributed over the total surface of the silicon water. Despite this, the turn-off energy dis- sipation converted into heat during the relatively short reverse current decay time, cannot be allowed to assume values of arbitrarily high magnitude, because this would lead to heat accumulations in some spots of the pallet due to small inhomogenities, these spots being subjected to localised high power loss densities during the subsequent reverse voltage loading. This could result in the destruction of this device. The turn-off energy dissipation may, therefore, be calculated as Wem=Pro to (1.48) It should be remembered that there would be a maximum allowable value of turn-off energy dissipation for different types of SCRs. If the turn-off energy dissipation is expected to exceed the maximum allowable value, which is generally specified by the manufacturer, cither a type of SCR with a lower reverse current peak value must be selected, or the values of the components of the damping circuits must be designed to suit the purpose. Particularly, steps must be taken to reduce the turn-off energy dissipation through a reduction of the reverse current peak value by using commutating reactors. A decrease in the rate of rise of reverse voltage docs not always result in a reduction of turn-off energy dissipation, especially in a range of low rate of rise of values below approximately dVr/dr=200 V/us to 400 V/us. It is, therefore, scen that the turn-off power losses, occurring during the reverse current decay time, are dependent on the magnitude of the reverse current and its decay curve, and also, on the rate of rise and the magnitude of reverse voltage. The turn-off power losses can be reduced to a large extent by suitable damping networks. 1.6.36 Effect of Anti-Parallel Diode It has already been explained earlier that if a diode is connected in anti- parallel with the SCR, the turn-off power losses can be neglected. But under certain circumstances, the inversely paralleled diode is subjected to high turn-off power losses. Though the inverse parallel diode prevents the tura- off power losses, it has the disadvantage of increasing the circuit commuta- ted turn-off time owing to a reverse voltase almost of the negligible value.image not availableimage not availableimage not availableCHARACTPRISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 81 rise is defined as the average rate of rise during the first time constant (7) of the exponential voltage curve. This condition can be obtained by charging a condenser C through a resistance R. The curve is shown in Fig. 1.86. TIME Fig. 1.86 Critical de/dr test waveform Sometimes the test voltage should increase exponentially to a peak value Vom and then within | millisecond should sink at least by 30°o. The rate of rise of voltage is defined as the gradient of a straight line through the points (r=0, »=0) and (t=7, V=0.63 Vom). By definition dv Vom ee x 0.632 (1.54) The second test condition is generally termed as reapplied do/dt, and is concerned with turn-off time of the SCR. The turn-off time of an SCR is dependent on the rate at which the OFF state voltage is reapplied after the principal current has been interrupted and a time has elapsed during which the control rectifier regains its blocking ability. The effect of reapplied dv/dt on turn-off time has already been explained in the previous section and the curves shown in Fig. 1.75. It is seen that the turn-off time increases with the increase of reapplied OFF state voltage dv/di. The rate of rise of reap- plied OFF state voltage is generally much less than the critical rate of rise of exponentially applied OFF state voltage for the device under test. In the measurement of turn-off time, the reapplied OFF state voltage is increased linearly until the rated repetitive peak OFF state voltage is reach- ed. In this case, the rate of rise is defined as the slope of this voltage which is a straight line. Therefore, it is seen that in SCRs, two critical rates of applied voltage exist. One is the critical rate of rise of exponentially applied OFF state voltage with the device initially de-energised. The other is the rate of rise of linear reapplied OFF state voltage which defines the end of turn-off period and is a parameter concerned with the turn-off time. [n many practical applications, the SCRs are subjected to a steady voltage superimposed by