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Industrial Electronics - Module I - Power Electronics
Industrial Electronics - Module I - Power Electronics
SCR : Introduction
SCR is a semiconductor device having 3 or
more junctions.
It is a bistable device which may be switched
from ON state to OFF state and vice versa.
SCR is a member of thyristor family.
SCR : Architecture
An SCR can be seen as a conventional rectifier
controlled by a gate signal
It is a 4-layered 3-terminal device
The architecture is as
shown in figure.
It is a four layer device
forming three junctions
J1, J2, J3.
There are 3 terminals
marked as anode A,
cathode K, gate G
Anode
P
J1
N
J2
P
Gate
J3
N
Cathode
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Anode is connected to ve
terminal of voltage source
Cathode is connected to +ve
terminal
Gate is open
J1 & J3 will be reverse
biased
J2 will be forward biased
Very small reverse leakage
current (a few mA) will be
flowing through SCR.
In the figure region OP
represents this mode.
SCR offers high impedance
in the reverse direction and
act as open switch.
Anode
to
Negative
P
J1
N
J2
P
Gate
J3
N
Cathode
to
Positive
Reverse
Leakage
current
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Forward
Leakage
current
Anode
to
Positive
P
J1
N
J2
P
Gate
J3
N
Cathode
to
Negative
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3. Forward Conduction
(ON) State
Anode
to
Positive
P
J1
N
J2
P
Gate
J3
N
Cathode
to
Negative
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Forward
Leakage
current
Anode
to
Positive
P
J1
N
J2
P
Gate
J3
N
Cathode
to
Negative
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Gate Triggering
This is the simple, reliable, efficient and most usual
method of firing the SCR.
A thyristor with VBO (800 V ) higher than normal
working voltage ( 400 V ) is chosen.
So the SCR will remain in forward blocking state with
normal working voltage across anode and cathode &
with gate open.
To turn on SCR, a positive gate voltage between gate
& cathode is applied
This will inject charges into the inner p layer and
voltage at which forward breakover occurs is reduced.
Higher the gate current, lower is the forward
breakover voltage
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The figure shows the effect of gate current on forward breakover voltage
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Temperature triggering
During forward blocking, most of the applied
voltage appears across reverse biased J2.
This raise the temperature of this junction
With increase in temperature, depletion layer
width decreases.
This further leads to more leakage current and
therefore more junction temperature.
With cumulative process, at some high
temperature, depletion layer of J2 vanishes and
the device gets turned on.
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Light triggering
A recess is made in the
inner p-layer as shown in
figure.
When this recess is
irradiated, free charge
carriers are generated
Light pulse of appropriate
wavelength is used for
irradiation.
If the intensity of this light
thrown at recess exceeds a
certain value, forward
biased SCR is turned on.
Such a thyristor is known
as Light-Activated SCR
(LASCR)
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Phototransistor
A phototransistor behaves
similar to conventional bipolar
transistor, except for the way
in which base current is
generated.
The principle of operation of
phototransistor is photoelectric effect (ie, liberation of
electrons from a material
when it is exposed to light).
It is a photoconductive device
in which the resistance of the
device decreases with increase
in the intensity of light.
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Principle of operation
The phototransistor
works based on the
principle of Photoelectric effect.
Phototransistor has a
light sensitive collector
base p-n junction
It is exposed to incident
light through a lens
placed in the transistor
package.
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A phototransistor can be
either a two lead or three lead
device.
In two lead configuration, the
base is not electrically
available and the device can
be used only with light as
input.
In three lead configuration,
the base is brought out, so
that the device can be used as
a conventional bipolar
transistor.
The figure shows typical
collector characteristic curves.
The individual curves
correspond to a particular
value of intensity.
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Light
intensity
in Lumen
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As a result, the
phototransistor Q is ON.
So no current flows
through the gate of
thyristor T.
The thyristor will be OFF
then and thus the alarm
will be disconnected
from the supply as
shown in the figure
Fig. Equivalent circuit in
presence of light
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LDR: Applications
LDRs are used in
street lamps
alarm clock
burglar alarm circuits
light intensity meters
counting the packages moving on a conveyor belt,
etc.
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IGBT Symbol
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Advantages of IGBT
IGBT possesses high input impedance like a PMOSFET
It has low on-state power loss as in a BJT.
It is free from second breakdown problem present in
BJT.
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In IGBT, p+ substrate is
called injection layer
because it injects holes
into n- layer.
The n- layer is called drift
region.
Thickness of the n- layer
determines voltage
blocking capacity of IGBT.
The p layer is called the
body of IGBT.
The n- layer in between p+
& p regions serves to
accommodate the
depletion layer of pnjunction (Junction J2)
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