THE ZERO CROSSING TECHNIQUE

THE ZERO CROSSING TECHNIQUE

SWITCHING OF HIGHER POWER WITH MINIMUM CONTACT STRESS

An alternating electrical signal oscillates between positive and negative values. The zero
crossing point, just before the sign change, is called zero crossing.
This characteristic of alternating electrical quantities offers the opportunity to improve the
switching operation in various respects. RL621 is a third generation relay designed to seize the
opportunity of zero voltage crossing: it is governed by a microcontroller, which operates with
extreme precision the closing and opening of an electrical contact, through the excitation of a
bistable relay.
With the same electrical contact used, zero crossing switching allows to control higher loads
with considerably higher reliability and durability compared to asynchronous switching (that is,
at random instants).
The increase in performance and reliability derives from the fact that zero
crossing switching ideally does not generate electrical stresses either on the
electrical contact or on the controlled load. To intuitively understand what
happens, we think of alternating current as the oscillation of a pendulum: if
we try to stop a heavy pendulum when it is at maximum speed, we can get hurt
because it will hit us hard (Figure 1); if, on the other hand, we grasp and hold the
pendulum at the highest point of its stroke, when it is about to reverse the direction
of the motion, we will not suffer shocks. This also happens with an alternat-
Figure 1 - the pendulum hits the
ing current: a switch that tries to block a current at a random point will un- hand in speed
dergo stresses that will instead be absent if the switch is activated exactly
in the precise moments in which the current is already stopped, that is at the instant of zero.
crossing.

REACTION OF ELECTRICAL LOADS TO THE ALTERNATE SINUSOIDAL REGIME

RL621 switches in synchrony with the moments of zero crossing of the voltage. However,
alternating current and voltage do not always cross zero at the same time.
There are three basic passive elements in electrical engineering: capacitor, inductor and re-
sistor. Inductor and capacitor are called reactive elements because they are able to phase out
the absorbed current with respect to the voltage to which they are subjected. They exhibit op-
posite behavior since the capacitor moves the current in advance by 90 ° and the inductor

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moves it 90 ° late. The resistor, on the other hand, has a neutral character, not generating cur-
rent-voltage phase shift.
In reality one does not encounter pure inductors and capacitors, but electrical loads with
more or less accentuated gradations towards the capacitive or inductive character; pure resis-
tive behavior represents the boundary between the two reactive behaviors, evident in Figure 2.

Figure 2 - The electrical character of real loads can be positioned seamlessly between the pure capacitive and pure inductive extremes.
The phase shift of the current with respect to the voltage increases as it moves towards the outer extremes and is canceled in the center..

RL621 is designed as a universal device, therefore it must be able to switch loads of different
types and therefore react in the opposite way to switching. It is clear, in fact, that apart from the
pure resistive load, the phase shift of the current means that it will not be zero in the instant
zero crossing of the voltage and this can create problems. The deleterious effects of asynchro-
nous switching (non-zero crossing) are due to the fact that during the transition from open to
closed, or vice versa, the electrical contact bears all the electrical power; remembering that the
electric power is given by the product voltage v (t) - current i (t)
𝑃 (𝑡 ) = 𝑣 (𝑡 ) ∙ 𝑖 (𝑡 )
In general, asynchronous switching occurs with voltage and currents other than zero and
therefore with non-zero electrical power. Zero crossing switching chooses the moments in

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which the voltage v (t) is zero. Consequently, this would be enough to make the electrical power
on the contact null.
However, complex phenomena occur that prevent the current from being stopped instantly
by dissipating its energy on the contact during the switching phase.

PHYSICS OF ELECTROMECHANICAL SWITCHING

The interruption of the current in the air due to the detachment of two metal surfaces is
not a trivial phenomenon as it might appear. The transition from closed to open contacts
takes a short but not non-existent period. We are used to thinking that electric sparks can
strike as a result of high potential differences between the electrodes, but the movement of
the contacts approaching or moving away favors the formation of electric arcs, which ulti-
mately are the true cause of degradation of the contact materials.
Let us consider a generic process of breaking a sinusoidal current without phase shift with
the voltage.
At the instant in which the metal surfaces of the contact begin to move away, even under
the d.d.p. modest, the electric field present in the thin interspace can be high due to the re-
duced distance, so high as to "pierce" the insulating layer of air by exceeding the dielectric
strength (point A Figure 3).

Figure 3 - At point A the current is zero and the contacts break off; in point B the contacts are at the maximum distance but the arc has
already been created. Finally, at point C the current reaches a new zero and with it the arc is extinguished.

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Between the two metal surfaces of the contact
(which from now on we can call electrodes) charge car-
riers capable of conducting current begin to produce.
These charged particles are strongly accelerated by the
electric field and collide with other neutral air mole-
cules. The ionizing impacts generate new charge carri-
ers and due to the avalanche effect an ionized channel
is formed between the electrodes in which current can
flow (point B Figure 3).
Despite, therefore, that the electrodes are physi-
cally separated, the current continues to flow, produc-
ing considerable heat in the ionized air channel. An
electric arc was formed consisting of high temperature
and high luminosity plasma: the spark is visible even to
the naked eye.
Plasma is therefore a very hot gas capable even of
melting the metal of the electrical contact. If the circu-
lating current is high, the points of the metal surface hit
by the plasma can melt and evaporate with progressive
corrosion; this is the classic wear phenomenon which
attacks the contacts of non-zero crossing switching
devices. Sometimes the fusion leads to the bonding of
the contact with the impossibility of separation; the
fault is irreversible and the switching device must be
thrown away.
The arc maintains itself as long as input power is
supplied, therefore, until the moment in which the cur-
rent passes through zero crossing. When the current
ceases, the plasma of the electric arc cools, there is a
recombination between ions and electrons in neutral
molecules of air and the insulating property of the die-
lectric begins to recover (point C Figure 3). If the cool-
ing is not fast enough or if the voltage after zero cross-
ing rises too quickly, the electric arc could re-ignite,
failing the task of interrupting the circulation of current

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Figure 4 - Simplified representation of the phases of separation and extinction of the current between two electrodes of a contact.

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OSCILLOSCOPE ANALYSIS
CONTACT OPENING

The optimal calibration of the instant of activation of the bistable relay for switching the power
contact tries to reconcile the following considerations:

• An inductive load such as an electromechanical transformer or electric motor lags the current
with respect to zero voltage. Opening the contacts on zero voltage leads to an overvoltage,
even high, due to the abrupt interruption of current on an inductive load. Certainly, therefore,
an electric arc will form to allow the current to run out.
• A resistive load does not phase out the current and therefore has no reactive effects.
• A capacitive load does not react to the abrupt interruption of the current since the energy
stored by it is proportional to the voltage.

To mitigate the inductive overvoltage, the contact opening instant was placed slightly delayed
after zero crossing. This would have alleviated the inductive effect and would have been almost
indifferent to resistive and capacitive load.

However, empirical evidence has shown that a detachment after zero crossing is not very ef-
fective in preventing the formation of the spark between contacts with inductive load; further-
more, with a resistive load, if the instant of separation between the electrical contacts occurs
after the zero cros-sing of voltage, it is highly probable that an electric arc will be triggered since
the voltage between the contact electrodes is increasing. As can be seen in Figure 5, the attempt
to interrupt the current fails because the voltage is increasing and if the power of the load is
such as to have a high current circulation, the electric arc strikes between the elements of the
contact in another distance, extinguishing only when the current passes through zero again.
Without the analysis of the actual excitation signal of the bistable relay (yellow line in Figure 5)
it would seem a precise zero crossing switching, with the current cut-off at exactly zero.

In reality, a considerable electric arc has formed, which for repeated operations would lead to
rapid wear of the materials of the bistable relay contact.

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Figure 5 - The slight delay after zero crossing in the opening of the contact is sufficient to ignite an electric arc which conducts the electric
current of the load throughout the half wave. The arc is extinguished only at the next zero crossing.

It should also be taken into consideration that the choice of the optimal timing must already
presuppose a certain tolerance, since while it is true that highly precise and accurate compo-
nents have been chosen, it is equally true that:
• The bistable relays used for switching cannot be perfectly identical between the various
examples.
• Aging phenomena may slightly vary the response time of the components.
• Fluctuations in the mains voltage can shift the references for the zero crossing measure-
ment.
So it is technically absurd to expect that always, in any condition and on any specimen, the
mechanical switching occurs exactly at the predetermined instant without any margin for error.
Taking into account these observations and the phenomena observed with the oscilloscope,
the choice of the optimal timing falls very slightly in advance of zero volts.
Now let's check the behavior of some of the most common types of loads in the light of this
calibration.
Having set the opening of the contacts in advance of zero crossing, with a suitable tolerance
margin, we will have the confidence that at each switching of each specimen there will not be
the firing of an electric arc extended to a full half wave, but only, at the limit a very modest
electric arc for the infinitesimal period of time between the instant of detachment of the contact
and the zero crossing of current. In fact, since the contact opens in the descending phase of

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voltage and current, any sparking phenomenon is destined to vanish within zero crossing, with-
out having a wearing effect on the materials of the electrical contact. Figure 6 shows the volt-
age-current graph for a resistive load.

Figure 6 - Zero crossing switching with 1000W resistive load.

The inductive load, with current phase shift close to quadrature, ie with maximum current
at zero voltage, is a lamellar electromechanical transformer connected to no-load. In this situa-
tion (Figure 7), the opening of the contacts to zero voltage means an attempt to interrupt the
transformer current at its maximum point; the transformer reacts by triggering an electric arc
which will discharge the residual current and the phenomenon ends with a conspicuous over-
voltage. Although RL621 is sized to safely withstand this type of switching, the switching of vac-
uum electromechanical transformers is strongly not recommended.

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Figure 7 - Switching of a 500 VA lamellar transformer connected to no-load.

A single-phase induction motor has a current phase shift that is inversely proportional to
the cosφ declared by the manufacturer as a data plate. The current flows beyond the opening
of the zero voltage contact for a short period of time.

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Figure 8 - Disconnection of a single-phase 0.8HP motor (about 590W)

We have understood that the critical loads, for the disconnection operation, are of the in-
ductive type since they manifest inertia to current variations. Capacitive loads on the other
hand, also having phase shift, have no current inertia. However, if the current-voltage phase
shift is high and the intensity of the current to be stopped is considerable, an electric arc still
occurs for the reasons explained in the Physics of electromechanical switching.
Fortunately, LED loads only partially behave like capacitive loads; they, in fact, consist of the
whole of the light source, the actual LED module, plus the electronic power supply needed to
transform an alternating voltage into continuous voltage. The shape of the current absorption
is therefore closely linked to the architecture of the electronic power supply integrated into the
lamp. In general, the absorption is impulsive, in the ascending phase of the voltage and then
rapidly reduced to zero.
Figure 9 shows the current waveform for a LED load of lamps with E27 socket, both dim-
mable and non-dimmable; the current absorption tends to be distributed along the entire half-
wave, but at the instant of contact opening it is zero. Zero crossing switching is totally harmless
to the LED load under consideration.

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Figure 9 - Combined LED load of dimmable and non-dimmable lamps.

Figure 10 instead shows the current consumption for an exclusively non-dimmable LED
load. A strong peak absorption is visible when the voltage sinusoid is close to the higher values
and then zones with zero absorption around the zero crossing.

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Figure 10 - Switching for non-dimmable LED load. Current absorption is blocked by the power supply for low voltage values; this is opti-
mal for zero crossing disconnection.

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CONTACT CLOSING

The connection of the load with the power line presents problems of another kind with respect
to the opening of the contact. Before the contact is closed, the voltage and current on the load
are zero; if even immediately after the contact is closed, the voltage and current are zero, we
will have had a totally imperceptible insertion for the contact and for the load. With the contact
closed then the voltage and current will increase according to the sinusoidal curve.
The best calibration for closing the contact is the instant of zero crossing of voltage, centered
with the highest possible precision. In this condition, the inductive inertia on the current works
in our favor, the resistive neutrality does not bother us but it is the capacitive response that
presents the criticality to pay attention to.
Finally, a new issue emerges in the closing of contacts, absent in the detachment: the me-
chanical rebound.
The metal lamellae forming the electrical contact are in effect two bodies that are quickly
moved against each other, and at the moment of impact, the elastic impact of the juxtaposed
lamellae evolves through a succession of rebounds before the final and stable electrical con-
nection. We found a rebound of 500-800 μs, also dependent on the orientation of the relay
with respect to gravity, among other things. Figure 11 shows the typical bounce behavior and
the consequences are particularly evident with LED loads that tend to absorb current in ad-
vance of voltage: when the contacts are closed there is a very low impedance of the LED load
and subsequent bounces cause strong oscillations current despite the voltage values are still
small.
It is evident that in the light of the phenomenon of mechanical rebound we can no longer
speak of a switching instant, but of a switching interval, which we have chosen to position by
centering it around the zero crossing, in order to have the average voltage values during these
vibrations. bass as possible.

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Figure 11 - Effects on current absorption when connecting an LED load.

We now show the insertion of resistive load in Figure 12. The rebound is almost invisible
with respect to the LED load.

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Figure 12 - Switching on closing of the 1000W resistive load.

Finally, as already discussed, for inductive loads which delay the rise of the current with re-
spect to the voltage, the rebound does not cause any discomfort. See Figure 13, Figure 14 and
Figure 15.

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Figure 13 - Close commutation for the 500VA no-load lamellar transformer.

Figure 14 - Commutation in closing for single-phase 0.8HP induction motor

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Figure 15 - Changeover in closing for 1000W DC motor.

CONCLUSIONS
Asynchronous power switching can cause violent current or voltage pulses both towards
the load and towards the electrical network; the organ that performs this task is directly bur-
dened by this electrical stress at each switching, in fact it happens that the asynchronous
switching can take place on any random point of the voltage sinusoid, in the worst case, being
the effective mains voltage 230V, a commutation can take place on the peak of the sinusoid, at
325V in absolute value; switching high powers and therefore with considerable currents in-
volved, with voltage steps of over 300V can be a destructive event for the switching device.
These perturbations also travel towards the load and towards the network, being able to dis-
turb the functioning of other electric appliances in the vicinity connected on the same electric
line or through electromagnetic interference.
RL621 has been designed as a switching device for high power with an electromechanical
switching organ, a highly compact and silent bistable relay, more robust than electronic relays
with semiconductor switching due to the electromechanical contact and the adoption of the
zero technique crossing controlled by integrated circuit.
With a precise zero crossing technique, the switching of the load is imperceptible from the
point of view of the electrical perturbations produced; since there are no discontinuities, no
electrical stress is created on the circuit and on the switching device and no radio frequency

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disturbances are generated. Contact wear is minimal and guarantees reliability and long prod-
uct life expectancy.

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