EEE 121

Basic Electronics

Engr. Kresil Joy P. Jimenez-Tero

 LECTURE 7

Power Electronics
Introduction
Since the 1950’s there has been a great upsurge in
the development, production and applications of
semiconductor devices.

Today there are well over 100 million

semiconductor devices manufactured in a year.
These figures alone indicate how important
semiconductor devices have become to the
electrical industry.

In fact, the present day advancement in

technology is largely attributed to the widespread
use of semiconductor devices in the commercial
and industrial fields.

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Introduction

One major field of application of semiconductor

devices in the recent years has been to control
large blocks of power flow in a system.

This has led to the development of a new branch

of engineering called Power Electronics - the
branch of electronics which deals with the control
of power at 50 Hz (i.e. supply frequency).

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Introduction

So far we have been using electrical methods to control

(or regulate) the power fed to a load e.g. to change the
speed of a fan or motor.

However, electrical methods do not permit a *fine *For example, the

speed of a ceiling fan
control over the flow of power in a system. Moreover, can be changed in four
there is a considerable wastage of power. to five steps by
electrical method.
In the recent years, such semiconductor devices have
been developed which can exercise fine control over
the flow of large blocks of power in a system.

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Introduction

Such devices act as controlled switches and

can perform the duties of controlled
rectification, inversion and regulation of
power in a load.

The important semiconductor switching

devices are :
❑ Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)
❑ Triac
❑ Diac

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier
Silicon Controlled Rectifier

A silicon controlled rectifier or semiconductor

controlled rectifier is a four-layer solid- state
current-controlling device.

In many ways the Silicon Controlled Rectifier, SCR

or just Thyristor as it is more commonly known, is
similar in construction to the transistor.

It is a multi-layer semiconductor device, hence

the “silicon” part of its name.

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier

Why SCR is Used?

SCRs are mainly used in electronic devices that

require control of high voltage and power.

This makes them applicable in medium and high

AC power operations such as motor control
function.

An SCR conducts when a gate pulse is applied to

it, just like a diode.

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier
SCR OPERATIONS
The Silicon Control Rectifier start conduction when it is forward biased. For
this purpose the cathode is kept at negative and anode at positive. When
positive clock pulse is applied at the gate the SCR turns ON.

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier

MODE OF OPERATIONS
1. Forward Blocking
2. Reverse Blocking
3. Forward Conducting

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier
1. Forward Blocking
➢ In this state or mode, the
forward current conduction
is blocked .
➢ The upper diode and lower
diode are forward biased
and the junction in the
center is reverse biased.
➢ Thus the Thyristor does not
turn on as the gate is not
fired and no current flows
through it.

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier

2. Forward Conducting
➢ When current is applied to
the gate, the Thyristor is
triggered and it will start
conducting.

➢ This stays on until the

forward current drops
below the threshold value
and that can be achieved
by switching off the circuit.

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier

3. Reverse Blocking
➢ In this mode, the
connection of anode and
cathode is reversed and still
no current flows through it.
➢ Thyristors can conduct
current only in one
direction and it blocks in
the reverse direction and so
the flow of current is
blocked.

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier

APPLICATIONS
1. Dimmer
2. AC voltage stabilizers
3. Switch
4. choppers
5. inverters
6. power control
7. DC circuit breaker

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Silicon Controlled Rectifier

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TRIAC
Triac

▪ TRIAC is an acronym that stands for “Triode

for Alternating Current”.

▪ Triode means a three-terminal device while AC

means that it is used for switching Alternating
current.

▪ It is a three-terminal bi-directional switch that

conducts in both directions.

▪ It is made from the combination of two SCRs in

anti-parallel with their gates joined together.

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Triac

• The three terminals are Gate, A1 or MT1 and

A2 or MT2.

• It does not have an anode and cathode like

a thyristor because it can conduct in both
directions and it does not matter if the
terminals are swapped.

• TRIAC can be triggered into conduction by

either positive or negative gate current in
both directions. While it switches off when
the main current falls below the holding
current limit.

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Triac

▪ Although TRIACs and SCRs look alike, their

schematic symbols are dissimilar. The
terminals of a TRIAC are the gate, terminal 1
(T1), and terminal 2 (T2).

▪ There is no designation of anode and

cathode. Current may flow in either
direction through the main switch terminals,
T1 and T2.

▪ Terminal 1 is the reference terminal for all

voltages. Terminal 2 is the case or metal-
mounting tab to which a heat sink can be
attached.

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Triac

Operation of TRIAC

▪ The operation of TRAIC resembles

thyristor. When the voltage is
applied, it will not conduct unless the
voltage does not exceed the break
over voltage VBO or a gate pulse is
applied.

▪ As we know that TRAIC can conduct

for both polarities of applied voltage
and it can be triggered by both
polarities of gate voltage for either
direction. Therefore, the TRAIC can
operate in 4 modes.

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Triac

Operation of TRIAC

▪ The operation of TRAIC resembles

thyristor. When the voltage is
applied, it will not conduct unless the
voltage does not exceed the break
over voltage VBO or a gate pulse is
applied.

▪ As we know that TRAIC can conduct

for both polarities of applied voltage
and it can be triggered by both
polarities of gate voltage for either
direction. Therefore, the TRAIC can
operate in 4 modes.

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Triac
Advantages
• It can conduct and regulate both
halves of an AC waveform.
• It is compact and requires a smaller
heat sink as opposed to using two
SCR.
• It requires only one fuse for
protection.
• Positive as well as negative gate pulse
can be used to trigger TRAIC.
• It does not require a diode in parallel
for reverse protection as in SCR.
Disadvantages
• Its switching is asymmetrical for both
halves of AC.
• Asymmetrical switching creates
harmonics in the system causing
numerous problems.
• Its power rating is lower as compared
to SCR.
• It is less reliable than SCR.
• It has a lower switching speed.
• Requires caution while triggering as it
can be triggered in either direction.
• Its dv/dt rating is lower than SCR.

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Triac

Applications of Triac

▪ Light dimming.
▪ Heating control.
▪ Appliance type motor drives.
▪ Solid state relays with typically 50/60Hz supply frequency.
▪ It is used in control circuits.
▪ It is used in High power lamp switching.
▪ It is used in AC power control.

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DIAC
Diac

▪ DIAC is an acronym that stands for “Diode for

Alternating Current”.

▪ It is a two-terminal bidirectional switch that conducts

in both directions when the applied voltage exceeds
its break over voltage.

▪ It belongs to the family of thyristors but It is an

uncontrolled switch because it does not have a
control or gate terminal.

▪ It is mainly used for triggering other devices such as

TRIAC due to its symmetrical switching
characteristics.

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Diac

▪ The symbol of DIAC resembles two diodes in

antiparallel DIAC Symbol.

▪ It has two terminals named A1 or MT1 and A2

or MT2.

▪ Since it can conduct in both directions, there

are no anode and cathode terminal.

▪ It does not have gate or controlling terminal.

Instead, it turns on and off by increasing or
decreasing the terminal voltage above or
below its break over voltage.

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Diac

▪ DIAC is a five layer device from the

combination of two antiparallel SCR without
the gate terminals. .

▪ It has symmetrical structure from both

terminals having equal width of the regions as
well as its doping percentage.

▪ The doping and width of all layers are equal.

The symmetrical structure provides
symmetrical switching capabilities in both
forward as well as reverse polarity.

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Diac

▪ As you can see, when the voltage

is below the break over voltage
VBO, the DIAC blocks the current
except for the leakage current.

▪ The device remains in OFF-state.

Once the voltage increases, the
DIAC triggers into ON-state and
the current rises.

▪ The voltage across the device

starts to reduce to steady ON-
state voltage.

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Diac
Advantages Disadvantages
• The DIAC offer symmetrical switching • It is a low power device
characteristics. • It only conducts when voltage
• Symmetrical switching helps in increases above 30 volts.
reducing the harmonics in a system. • It cannot block high voltages.
• It has low on-state voltage drop.
• The voltage drop increases with the
voltage
• It can be easily switches by increasing
or decreasing the applied voltage.
• It offers smooth power control when
used for triggering other thyristor and
TRIAC

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Diac

Applications of Diac
▪ It can be used in an oscillator circuits.
▪ It is low power triggering device.
▪ It can be used in the lamp dimmer circuit.
▪ It is used in the heat control circuit.
▪ It is used in the speed control of a universal motor

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End of Lecture