Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology

ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

Power Diodes:

Power diodes are made of silicon p-n junction with two terminals, anode and
cathode. Diode is forward biased when anode is made positive with respect to the
cathode. Diode conducts fully when the diode voltage is more than the cut-in
voltage (0.7 V for Si). Conducting diode will have a small voltage drop across it.
Diode is reverse biased when cathode is made positive with respect to anode.
When reverse biased, a small reverse current known as leakage current flows.
This leakage current increases with increase in magnitude of reverse voltage until
avalanche voltage is reached (breakdown voltage). Fig.1 shows I-V
Characteristics of diode.

❖ I-V Characteristics of Power Diode:

Figure 1: I-V characteristics of Power Diode

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

In signal diodes for forward biased region the current increases exponentially
however in power diodes high forward current leads to high ohmic drop which
dominates the exponential growth and the curve increases almost linearly. The
maximum reverse voltage that the diode can withstand is depicted by VRRM, i.e.
peak reverse repetitive voltage. Above this voltage the reverse current becomes
very high abruptly and as the diode is not designed to dissipate such high amount
of heat, it may get destroyed. This voltage may also be called as peak inverse
voltage (PIV).

❖ Reverse recovery characteristics of Power Diode:

Figure 2: Reverse recovery characteristics of Power Diode

Figure 2 shows the reverse recovery characteristic of a power diode. Whenever

the diode is switched off the current decays from IF to zero and further continues
in reverse direction owing to the charges stored in the space charge region and
the semiconductor region. This reverse current attains a peak IRR and again start
approaching zero value and finally the diode is off after time trr. This time is

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

defined as reverse recovery time and is defined as time between the instant
forward current reaches zero and the instant the reverse current decays to 25% of
IRR. After this time the diode is said to attain its reverse blocking capability.

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

SCR (Silicon controlled Rectifier):

❖ A silicon controlled rectifier is a four-layer solid-state current-controlling

device which is shown in figure 2.

Figure 2: Symbol of SCR

❖ They are unidirectional devices i.e. can conduct current only in one direction.

❖ V-I Characteristics of SCR is shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: V-I Characteristics of SCR

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

❖ When anode is positive w.r.t cathode, the curve between V and I is called the
forward characteristics.

❖ If the supply voltage is increased from zero, a point reached (point A) when
the SCR starts conducting.
❖ Under this condition, the voltage across SCR suddenly drops.
❖ If proper gate current is made to flow, SCR can close at much smaller supply
voltage.
❖ When anode is negative w.r.t cathode, the curve between V and I is known as
reverse characteristics.
❖ The reverse voltage does come across SCR when it is operated with AC
supply.
❖ If the reverse voltage is gradually increased, at first the anode current remains
small (i.e. leakage current) and at some reverse voltage, avalanche breakdown
occurs and the SCR starts conducting heavily in the reverse direction.
❖ This maximum reverse voltage at which SCR starts conducting heavily is
known as reverse breakdown voltage.

In order to operate the SCR in normal operation, the following points are
kept in view:
❖ The supply voltage is generally much less than breakover voltage.
❖ The SCR is turned on by passing appropriate amount of gate current ( a few
mA) and not by breakover voltage.
❖ When SCR is operated from AC supply, the peak reverse voltage which
comes during negative half-cycle should not exceed the reverse breakdown
voltage.

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

❖ When SCR is to be turned OFF from the ON state, anode current should be
reduced to holding current.
❖ If gate current is increased above the required value, the SCR will close at
much reduced supply voltage.

TRIAC:
❖ The word TRIAC can be expanded as a TRIode for Alternating Current.
While other power electronic switches like MOSFET, IGBT, etc are used for
switching/controlling DC power, the TRIAC is used to control AC power
because once turned on TRIAC can conduct in both the direction allowing AC
voltage to passes completely in both the positive and negative cycle.

❖ The TRIAC is a three-terminal semiconductor switching device that is used

for controlling current flow in a circuit. It is one of the most important
members of the thyristor family; it is a bidirectional device that can pass the
current in both forward and reverse direction, which means that they can
conduct in both the conditions of the gate signal, positive and negative.

❖ Symbol of TRIAC is shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Symbol of TRIAC

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

The MT1 and MT 2 are also called as Anode 1 and Anode 2. The TRIAC can
be included in a circuit in a way that the current is flowing from either MT1
to MT2 or MT2 to MT1, there will not be any current until we inject a gate
current pulse at G.

❖ The V-I Characteristics of TRIAC is shown in figure 5.

Since the TRIAC is a bidirectional device it’s the VI characteristics curve of

TRIAC will be on the first and third quadrant of the graph, which is similar to
the VI characteristics of a Thyristor. If you are completely news to Thyristors
like SCR you can check the Introduction to SCR article. When the terminal
MT2 is set to be positive with respect to the terminal MT1 the TRIAC will be
operating in the forward blocking mode.

Figure 5: VI characteristics of TRIAC

During the initial stage due to the resistance of the TRIAC, there will be a
small leakage current flowing through the device as the applied voltage is less
than the breakdown voltage. When the voltage is increased and it reaches
the breakdown voltage the TRIAC is turned on and high current starts flowing
through the device.
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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

Apart from increasing the voltage of the device the TRIAC can be turned ON
by applying the gate pulse, even if the applied voltage is less than the
breakdown voltage. The same operation can be carried out in the negative
direction of the TRIAC which can leave us with a mirror image of the same
curve on the negative quadrant. The supply voltage at which the TRIAC starts
conduction will depend on the gate current applied to the TRIAC. If the gate
current is higher, then the voltage required to turn ON the TRIAC can be less.
The characteristic curve that is given above shows the operation of TRIAC in
mode 1 on the first quadrant and mode 3 on the third quadrant.

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

Introduction to Inverters and its Applications:

❖ A power inverter, or inverter, is a power electronic device or circuitry that
changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).

❖ The input voltage, output voltage and frequency, and overall power handling
depend on the design of the specific device or circuitry. The inverter does not
produce any power; the power is provided by the DC source.

❖ A power inverter can be entirely electronic or may be a combination of

mechanical effects (such as a rotary apparatus) and electronic circuitry. Static
inverters do not use moving parts in the conversion process.

❖ Power inverters are primarily used in electrical power applications where high
currents and voltages are present; circuits that perform the same function for
electronic signals, which usually have very low currents and voltages, are
called oscillators. Circuits that perform the opposite function, converting AC
to DC, are called rectifiers. Other applications of inverter are in:

o DC Power usage

o Uninterruptible power supplies

o Electric motor speed control

o In refrigeration compressors

o Power Grid

o Solar

o Induction heating

o HVDC Power transmission, etc.

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Department of Electrical Engineering Unit: I Subject: Electrical Technology
ZHCET, Aligarh Muslim University [EEEA2020]

Course Incharge: Ms. Qurratulain

Introduction to Chopper and its Applications:

❖ A chopper is a device that converts fixed DC input to a variable DC output
voltage directly. Essentially, a chopper is an electronic switch that is used to
interrupt one signal under the control of another.

❖ In power electronics applications, since the switching element is either fully

on or fully off, its losses are low and the circuit can provide high efficiency.
However, the current supplied to the load is discontinuous and may require
smoothing or a high switching frequency to avoid undesirable effects. In
signal processing circuits, use of a chopper stabilizes a system against drift of
electronic components; the original signal can be recovered after amplification
or other processing by a synchronous demodulator that essentially un-does the
"chopping" process.

❖ Applications of Chopper are:

o Switched mode power supplies, including DC to DC converters.
o Speed controllers for DC motors
o Driving brushless DC torque motors or stepper motors in actuators
o Switched capacitor filters
o Variable-frequency drives
o D.C. voltage boosting
o Battery-operated electric cars
o Battery chargers
o Railway traction, etc.

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