FIRING AND TRIGGERING OF SCRs

Gate triggering
 Usually ,SCR is operated with anode voltage slightly less than the
forward break-over voltage 𝑉𝐵𝑂 and is triggered into conduction
by a low power gate pulse.
 Once switched ON, gate has no further control on the device
current.
 Gate signals can be
i. dc firing signals
ii. Pulse signals
 (i) dc firing signal
 In Figure (i),with S open, the SCR does not conduct and the lamp is out.
 When S is closed momentarily ,a positive voltage is applied to the gate which
forward biases the centre P-N junction.
 As a result ,SCR is pulsed into conduction and the lamp lights up.
 SCR will remain in conduction state until the supply voltage is removed or reversed.
 (ii) Pulse signals
 Figure (ii) shows triggering by timed pulses obtained from a pulse source.
Thermal triggering
 In this case ,the temperature of the forward biased junction is
increased till the reverse biased junction breaks down.
Radiation triggering
 Triggering is achieved with the help of charge carriers which
are produced by the bombardment of the SCR with external
high energy particles like neutrons or protons.
Voltage triggering
 In this case ,the voltage applied across the anode and
cathode of the SCR is increased which decreases the width of
the depletion layer at the reverse biased junction leading to its
collapse.
 𝑑𝑣 Τ𝑑𝑡 is made more than the value of the critical rate of rise of
the voltage.
 Turning off/Commutation in SCRs
 As stated earlier, the SCR remains ON even when the triggering
pulse is removed.
 The ability of SCR to remain ON even when the gate is removed is
referred to as latching.
 SCR belongs to a class of devices known as latching devices.
 Techniques employed to turn off SCR:
i. Anode current interruption
ii. Reversing current of anode cathode voltage
iii. Reducing current through SCR to below the holding current
 The turn off process is called commutation and for a.c supply ,this will occur when
the supply reverses ,this process being called natural commutation. So ,for phase
controlled rectifiers, variation of 𝛼 within the limits of 180° provides for natural /line
commutation of SCRs.
 If the thyristor is to be turned off at the non –zero part of the a.c cycle, then it must
be commutated by forcing the current through it to zero, a process called forced
commutation ,as shown below.

A generic forced commutated system

 Phase control
 In phase control the gate triggering current is derived from the
supply itself as shown below.

 The variable resistance R limits the gate current during positive half cycles
of the supply.
 If R is adjusted to a low value, SCR will trigger almost immediately at the
commencement of the positive half cycle of the input.
 If R is set to a high resistance,SCR may not switch On until the peak of the
positive half cycle.
If 𝐼𝐺 is not enough to trigger the SCR at 90° then the
device will not trigger at all because 𝐼𝐺 has the
maximum value then.
This method is sometimes called half wave variable
resistance phase control and it is an effective method
of controlling the load power.
The purpose of the diode is to protect the gate from
negative voltage which would otherwise be applied
during the negative half cycle of the input.
It is seen that that at the instant of SCR switch-ON,
gate current flows through 𝑅𝐿 , 𝑅 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷.
𝑉−𝑉𝐷 −𝑉𝐺 −𝐼𝐺 𝑅𝐿
𝑉 = 𝐼𝐺 𝑅𝐿 + 𝐼𝐺 𝑅 + 𝑉𝐷 + 𝑉𝐺 ,and ∴ 𝑅 =
𝐼𝐺