Tutorial 1

1. If the latching current of the thyristor in the circuit shown is 4mA, determine the minimum
width of the gating pulse required to turn on the thyristor.

4mH
+
100V

2. The gate-cathode characteristic for a thyristor is given by a straight line with a gradient of 16
volts per ampere passing through the origin; the gate pulse is limited to 0.5A. If the gate source
voltage is 15V, calculate the external resistance to be connected in series with the thyristor gate.

3. The thyristor in question 2 is supplied with gate pulse of 4μs in length. If the gate power
dissipation is limited to 0.3W, determine the maximum gate pulse repetition rate.