FOR FIGURE 1:

Capacitor commutation of thyristor and DC load is the process shown in figure 1 to switch off
the SCR.

The SCR in the figure can be switched off by moving the anode current to an alternate path for
a sufficient amount of time to allow the SCR to restore its blocking capacity. Figure 1 shows a
basic circuit with a transistor switch indicated by the letter Q. When the SCR is turned on, the
transistor is turned off. To turn off the SCR, a positive pulse is supplied to the base of Q, which
turns it on. The transistor receives the anode current. The SCR switches off when the anode
current falls below the holding current. The transistor is turned on for just long enough to turn off
the SCR.
When AC is used with a thyristor circuit, a few changes need to be made as seen below.

The reason for this arises because the AC power reverses polarity over the course of the cycle.
This means that the SCR will be reverse-biased, effectively reducing the anode voltage to zero
causing it to turn OFF during one half of each cycle. As a result there is no need to have an off
switch as this is achieved as part of the use of an AC supply.

When the switch is turned on, the circuit will need to wait until there is sufficient anode voltage
available as the AC waveform progresses along its course. Also the SCR circuit will need to wait
until the voltage within the gate section of the circuit can provide sufficient current to trigger the
SCR. For this the switch has to be in its closed position.

Once triggered the SCR will remain in its conducting state over the positive half of the cycle. As
the voltage falls, there will come a point where the anode cathode voltage is insufficient to
support conduction. At this point the SCR will stop conducting.

Then over the negative half of the cycle, the SCR will not conduct. Only when the next positive half
of the cycle returns will the process repeat.