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    SCR

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    jonalyn Escosio
    Chapter 4 scr

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Switching of uumerous industrial operations require the delivery of a variable and con- trolled amount of electrical power, Lighting, motor speed control, electric welding, and electric heating are the four most common of these operations. Its always possible to control the amount of electrical power delivered to a load by using a variable transformer to create a variable secondary output voltage. Howe in high power ratings, variable transformers are physically large and expensive and reed frequent maintenance, So much for variable transformers Another method of controlling electrical power to a load is to insert a theostat in series with the load to limit and control the current. Again, for high power ratings, sheostats are large, expensive, need maintenance, and waste energy t0 boot. Rheostats are not a desirable alternative to variable transformers in industrial power control Since 1960, an electronic device has been available which has none of the faults ‘mentioned above. The SCR is small and relatively inexpensive, needs no maintenance, and wastes very little power. Some modem SCRs can control currents of several hun: dred amperes in circuits operating at voltages higher than 1000 V, For these reasons, SCRs are very important in the field of modern industrial control, We will investigate SCRs in this chapter. OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter and performing the suggested laboratory projects, you will be able to: 1. Explain the operation of an SCR power control circuit for controlling a resistive Toad. 2, Define firing delay angle and conduction angle, and show how they affect the aver load curr Define some of the important elecircal parameters associated with SCRs, such as gate trigger current, holding current, forward ON-state voltage, eic., and give the ap- proximate range of values expected for these parameters 4, Calculate approximate resistor and capacitor sizes for an SCR gate trigger circuit xplain the operation and advantages of breakover trigger devices used with SCRs. 6, Construct an SCR circuit for use with a 115-V ac supply and measure the gate cur rent and gate voltage necessary to fire the SCR. Construct a zero-point switching circuit and explain the advantages of zero-point switching over conventional switching. -_ 150 cH.4 4-1 | THEORY AND OPERATION OF SCRS Anode Catoie | A silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) is a three-terminal device used to control rather large 4K —— cartems to load The sctematic symbol for an SCR is shown i Fig. 41, slong with the names and letter abbreviations of its terminals Gael ‘An SCR acts very much like a switch, When its turned ON, there is a low-resistance t current flow path from anode to cathode; then it acts like a closed switch. When itis RE ack tumed OFF, no current can flow from anode to cathode; then it acts like an open switch. Schematic symbol and termi- Because itis a solid-state device, the switching action of an SCR is very fast. ral names of an SCR. ‘The average current flow to a load can be controlled by placing an SCR in series with the load. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 4~2. The supply voltage in Fig. 4-2 is normally a 60-Hz ac supply, but it may be de in special circuits. If the supply voltage is ac, the SCR spends a certain portion of the ac cycle time in the ON state and the remainder of the time in the OFF state. For a 60-Hz ac supply, the cycle time is 16.67 ms, which is divided between the time spent ON and the time spent OFF. The amount of time spent in each state is controlled by the gate. How the gate does this is described later. If a small portion of the time is spent in the ON state, the average current passed to the load is small, because current can flow from the supply through the SCR to the load only for a relatively short portion of the time. If the gate signal is changed to cau the SCR to be ON for a larger portion of the time, then the average load current will be larger, because current now can flow from the supply through the SCR to the load for @ relatively longer time. In this way the current to the load can be vatied by adjusting the portion of the cycle time the SCR is switched ON, As its name suggests, the SCR is a rectifier, o it passes current only during posi tive half cycles of the ac supply. The positive half eycle is the half eyele in which the an- ode of the SCR is more positive than the cathode. This means that the SCR in Fig. 4-2 cannot be turned ON more than half the time. During the other half of the cycle time the supply polarity is negative, and this negative polarity causes the SCR to be reverse biased, preventing it from carrying any current to the load. FIGURE 4-2 Circuit relationship among the voltage supply, an SCR, =<] and the load, Votlage SER = Supply Pies ses Seay 4-2 & SCR WAVEFORMS ‘The popular terms used to describe how an SCR is operating are conduction angle and firing delay angle. Conduction angle is the number of degrees of an ac eycle during which the SCR is tuned ON. The firing delay angle is the number of degrees of an ac cycle that clapses before the SCR is turned ON. Of course, these terms are based on the notion of total cycle time equaling 360 degrees (360°). Figure 4~3 shows waveforms for an SCR control circuit for two different fring de- lay angles. Let us interpret Fig. 4~3(a) now. At the time the ac cycle stats its positive al- SCRs FIGURE: Ideal wave and load ¥ firing delay 60°, cond 120°. () angle of ab von angle SCRs FIGURE 4-3 ‘eal waveforms of SCR fain terminal voltage (Vag) ard load voltage: (8) for 2 Fring delay angle of about 160, conduction angle of 120°, (b) fora firing delay langle of about 135°, conduc on angle of 45° temation, the SCR is turned OFF. Therefore it has an instantaneous voltage across its an- ‘ode to cathode terminals equal to the supply voltage. This is just what would be seen if an open switch were put in the circuit in place of the SCR. Since the SCR is dropping the entire Supply voltage, the voltage across the Toad (Vices) is zero during this time. The reme left of the waveforms of Fig. 4~3(a) illustrates these facts, Farther to the right on the horizontal axes, Fig. 4~3(a) shows the anode to cathode voltage (Vax) dropping to zero after about one third of the positive half eycle; this isthe 60° point. When Vax drops to zero, the SCR has “fired” or tured ON. Therefore in this case the firing delay angle is 60°. During the next 120° the SCR acts like a closed switch with no voltage across its terminals. The conduction angle is 120°. The firing delay angle and conduction angle al- ways total 180°. The load voltage waveform in Fig. 4—3(a) shows that when the SCR fires, the sup ply voltage is applied tothe load. The load voltage then follows the supply voltage through the rest of the positive half cycle, until the SCR again turns OFF. Turning OEF occurs as the supply voltage passes through zero, Overall, these waveforms show that before the SCR fires, the entire supply voltage is dropped across the SCR terminals, and the load sees zero voltage, After the SCR fires, the entire supply voltage is dropped across the load, and the SCR drops zero voltage. The SCR behaves just like a fast-acting switch, Figure 4-3(b) shows the same waveforms for a different firing delay angle. In these waveforms, the firing delay angle is about 135° and the conduction angle about 45°. The load sees the supply voltage for a much shorter time as compated to Fig. 4~3(a). The av: cerage current is smaller as a result, ‘Which condition would cause the larger load current in Fig. 4-2, a firing delay angle of 30” or a firing delay angle of 45°? Solution. The firing delay angle of 30°, because the SCR would then spend a greater portion of the cycle time in the ON state. The more time spent in the ON state, he greater the average load current, a [ee a If the conduction angle of an SCR is 90° and itis desired to double the average load cut rent, what new conduction angle is necessary? The supply isan ac sine weve Solution. 180°. In this case, doubling the conduction angle doubles. the average load current, because the first 90° of a sine wave is the image of the second 90°, How- ver, in general, it is nor true that doubling the conduction angle will double the average current, . 4-3 BH SCR GATE CHARACTERISTICS FIGURE 4-4 Gate to cathode voleage (ex) and gate current (ic) needed to fre an SCR, FIGURE 4-5 SCR with a 150-2 resistor in the gate lead and its eath- ‘ode terminal connected to circuit ground. An SCR is fired by a short burst of current into the gate. This gate current ( through he junction between the gate and cathode and exits from the SCR on the cathode lead. The amount of gate current needed to fire a particular SCR is symbolized Jor. Most SCRs require a gate current of between 0.1 and 50 mA to fire (Icr = 0.1 ~ 50 mA). Since there is a standard pn junction between gate and cathode, the voltage between these ter rminals (Vix) must be slightly greater than 0.6 V. Figure 44 shows the conditions which rust exist at the gate for an SCR to fire. Once an SCR has fired, it is not necessary to continue the flow of gate current. As Jong as current continues to flow through the main terminal, from anode to cathode, th ‘SCR will remain ON, When the ariode to cathode current (i,x) drops below some mini- ‘mum value, called holding current, symbolized Io, the SCR will shut OFF. This normally ‘occurs as the ac supply voltage passes through zero into its negative region. For most medium-sized SCRs, [yg is around 10 mA. Ee For the circuit of Fig. 45, what voltage is required at point X to fire the SCR? The gate current needed to fire & 2N3669 is 20 mA under normal conditions. Solution, The voltage between point X and the cathode must be sufficient to forward bias the junction between points Gand K and also to cause 20 mA to flow through 150 0. The forward-bias voltage is about 0.7 V. From Ohm's law, Vxc = (20 mA)(150.0) = 3,0.V. Therefore total voltage = 3.0 + 0.7 = 3.7°V, 4-4 M TYPICAL GATE CONTROL CIRCUITS The simplest type of gate control circuit, sometimes called a triggering circuit, is shown in Fig, 46, This is an example of using the same voltage supply to power both the gate ccontrol circuit and the load. Such sharing is common in SCR circuits. The positions o the SCR and load are reversed from those of Fig. 4-2, but this makes no difference in ‘operation, In Fig. 4-6, ifthe supply is ac, operation is as follows. When the switch is open, i is impossible to have current flow into the gate. The SCR can never turn ON, so it is es: sentially an open circuit in series with the Toad. The load is therefore deenergized. lc). (2) Gate king ina § of about & rent is gre 4 fring dela ry 0° terminal voltage and ‘current. The dashed line sents the gate current ry to fre the SCR 2 (a) Gate current i low, ing na fring delay an- ‘of about 90°. (b) Gare nt is greater, resulting fring delay angle of a FIGURE 4-6 ‘Very simple eriggering circuit for an SCR. When SW is closed, there will be current into the gate whem the supply voltage goes positive. The firing delay angle is determined by the setting of Ro, the variable resistance. IER, is Tow, the gate current will be sufficiently large to fie the SCR when the supply volt- age is low. Therefore the firing delay angle will be small, and average load current will be large. If Rois high, the supply voltage must climb higher to deliver enough gate current 10 fire the SCR. This increases the firing delay angle and reduces average load current ‘The purpose of Ry is to maintain some fixed resistance in the gate lead even when Rp is set to zero. This is necessary to protect the gate from overcurrents, Ry also detet- mines the minimum firing delay angle. In some cases a diode is inserted in series with the gate to protect the gate-cathode junction against high reverse voltages. (One disadvantage of this simple triggering circuit is that the firing delay angle is adjustable only from about 0° to 90°, This fact can be understood by referring to Fig. 4-7, which shows that the gate current tends to be a sine wave in phase with the voltage across the SCR. In Fig 4~7(a), ig barely reaches gr, the gate current needed to trigger the SCR. Under this circumstance the SCR fires at 90° into the cycle. It can be seen that if ig were any smaller, the SCR would not fire at all. Therefore, firing delays past 90° are not pos- sible with such a gate control circuit. In Fig. 4~7(b), ig is quite bit larger. In this case, ig reaches [gr relatively early in the cycle, causing the SCR to fire early. It shouldbe understood thatthe ic waveforms of Fig. 4-7 are idealized. As soon as the SCR of Fig. 4-6 fires, the voltage from anode fo cathode drops slmost to zero (actu- ally Ito 2 V for most SCRs). Since the gate voltage is derived from the anode to cath- ode voltage, ic also drops vitally to zet0, shuting off the gate current. Furthermore, since the gate is reverse biased when the ac supply is negative, there i really no negative gate current as shown in Fig. 4-7, In reality then, the ig curve is a sine wave in phase with the supply voltage ony inthe region between O° and the triggering point. At other times iis nearly zero (One more point bears mentioning. Prior to triggering, the V4x waveform is virtually identical to the ac supply waveform, because the voltage dropped across the load in Fig. 4-6 is negligible prior to triggering. The load voltage is so small because the load resistance in such eicuits is much lower than the resistance in the gate contol circuit Load resistance is almost always less than 100.2 and often less than 10 0. the fixed resistance in the gate control circuit is typically several thousand ohms. When these two resistances are tied together in series, as they are prior to triggering, the voltage across the sill load resistance is naturally very low. Ths causes almost the entire supply volt- age to appear across the SCR terminals For Fig. 46, assume the supply is 115 Vrms, [gr = 15 mA, and Rj =3%0, The ing delay is desired to be 90°, To what value should R be adjusted? Solution. At 90°, the instantaneous supply voltage is (115 v)(1.41) = 162 Neglecting the load voltage drop and the 0.7-V drop across the gate-cathode junction (they are both negligible compared to 162 V), the total resistance in the gate lead is given by 42% < ogen 5 mA ‘Therefore 108k ~ 3k0 = 78k0 In Fig. 4-6, if the resistance ofthe load is 40 © and the supply is 115 V ms (103.5 Vay) hhow much average power is burned in the SCR when the firing delay angle is O°? Assume that the forward voltage across the SCR is constant at 1.5 V when it is tured ON and that reverse leakage current through the SCR is so small as to be negligible. (Reverse leak age current is less than 1 mA for most SCRs), Solution, Since the power burned in the SCR is zero during the negative half eycle (re- verse leakage current is negligible) the overall average power is half the average power of the positive half cycle. The average power burned during the positive half eycle equals Recall hat Ung = (090) iss the forward voltage, Vp, multiplied by the average forward current dusing the postive half cycle (In Per) = (V2) Ere) 103.5V — 1.5 Poona) = P. It can be seen from the example that SCRS are very efficient devices. In Example 4-5 the SCR controlled a load current of several amps while wasting only about 2 W of power. This is much better than a series rheostat, for comparison, ‘The reason for the remarkable efficiency of SCRs is that when they are OFF, their current is very nearly zero, and when they are ON, their voltage is very low. In either case, the product of current and voltage is very small, resulting in low power dissipation Its this low power dissipation which enables the $CR to fit into a physically small package, making it economical. Economy and small size are the two most attractive fea tures of SCRs, De supply operation. Refer o Fig. 4-6 again; if the supply voltage is de, the circuit ‘operates as follows, When SW is closed, the SCR fires. The resistance in the gate lead would be designed so that this will occur. Once fired, the SCR will remain ON and the load will remain energized until the supply voltage is removed, The SCR stays ON even is $W is reopened, because it is not necessary to continue the flow of gate current to keep an SCR turned ON. Although simple, this circuit is very useful in alarm applications. In an industrial alarm application, the SW contact could be closed when some malfunction occurs in an industrial process, As a burglar alam, SW could be closed by the opening of a door or window or by interruption of a light beam. 5H OTHER GATE CONTROL CIRCUITS 4-5-1 Capacitors Used to Delay Firing The simplest method of improving gate conteol is to add a capacitor at the bottom of the gate lead resistance, as shown in Fig. 4-8. The advantage of this circuit is that the firing delay angle can be adjusted past 90°. This ean be understood by focusing on the voltage across capacitor C. When the ac supply is negative, the reverse voltage across the SCR is applied to the RC triggering circuit, charging the capacitor negative on the top plate and positive on the bottom plate, When the supply enters its positive half cycle, the forward voltage across the SCR tends to charge C in the opposite direction. However, voltage buildup in the new direction is delayed until the negative charge is removed from the ca. pacitor plates, This delay is applying positive voltage at the gate can be extended past the 90° point. The larger the potentiometer resistance, 1 it takes to charge C positive on the top plate and the later the SCR fires. This idea can be extended by using either of the triggering circ Fig. 4-9(a) a resistor has been inserted into tho gate lead, requiring the capacitor o charge higher than 0.6 V to trigger the SCR. With the resistor in place, capscitor voltage mast FIGURE 4-8 SCR gate control circuit ‘which isan improvement on the cireult of Fig. 4-6.The capacitor provides a greater range of adjusement of the firing delay angle reach a value large enough to foree sufficient current (gr) through the resistor and int the gate terminal. Since C must now charge to a higher voltage, triggering is furthe delayed Figure 4-9(b) shows « double RC network for gate control. In this scheme, the de layed voltage across C; is used to charge Cp, resulting in even further delay in buildup o {gate voltage. The capacitors in Fig. 4-9 usually fallin the range from 0.01 10 1 wF. For given capacitor sizes, the minimum firing delay angle (maximum load current is set by fixed resistors Ry and R, and the maximum firing delay angle (minimum I current) is set mostly by the size of variable resistance R “The manufacturers of SCRs provide detailed curves to help in sizing the resistor and capacitors for the gate control circuits of Fig. 4-9. In general terms, when these gate control eicuits are used with a 60-Hz. ac supply, the time constant of the RC circuit shoul fall in the range of 1—30 ms. That is, for the single RC circuit of Fig. 4-9(a), the prod uct (R, + R:)C should fall in the range of 1 x 10-* to 30 X 10°, For the double RC gate circuit of Fig. 4-9(b), (Ry + Rp)C; should fall somewhere in that range, and RC should also fallin that range. This approximation tethod will always cause the firing behavior to be in the ri ‘ball park. The exact desired firing behavior can then be experimentally tuned in by vary ing these approximate component sizes. FIGURE 4-9 Improved SCR gate control circuits, Either one of these circuits provides a greater range of adjustment of the firing dely angle than the reuit of Fig. 4-8 Suppose that it has been decided t0 use C = 0.068 AF and C; = 0.033 uF in the gate control circuit of Fig. 4-9(b), a) Approximate the sizes of Ry, Ro, and Rs to give @ wide range of firing adjust ‘ment b) If you then built the circuit and discovered that you could not adjust the firing delay angle to less than 40°, what resistor would you experimentally change 10 allow adjustment below 40°? Solution, a) The time constant (R; + R;)C; should fall in the range of about 1 x 10" to 30 X 10°. To provide a wide range of adjustment, the time constant should be adjustable over a large part of that range. As an estimate, we might try for an adjust ment range of 2X 10" to 25 10 The minimum time constant occurs when Re is dialed out, so (Ry + 0}0.068 x 10%) The nearest standard size is 27k. ‘The maximum time constant (and maximum firing delay) occurs when Ris com pletely digled in, so +27 10°)(0.068 x 1078) = 25 x 1078 Ry = 340K0 ‘The nearest standard pot size is 250k. Experience has shown that the second time constant, RsCz, should fall somewhere toward the lower end of the suggested range, Let us assume 5 ms. Therefore (R3)(0.033 x 10-6) = 5 x 1079 Ry = about 150k 'b) Either Rj or R; should be made smaller to allow lower fring delay angles, because the capacitors will charge faster with smaller resistors (smaller time constants). You would probably try Rs fi a 4-5-2 Using a Breakover Device in the Gate Lead ‘The circuits of Figs. 4-6, 4-8, and 4-9 all share two disadvantages: ‘Temperature dependence Inconsistent firing behavior between SCRs of the same type Regarding disadvantage 1, an SCR tends to fire at a lower gate current when its temperature is higher (fer is lowered). Therefore, with any of the triggering circuits dis- ‘cussed s0 far, a change in temperature causes a change in firing angle and a consequent ‘change in load current. In many industrial situations, this is unacceptable ‘The second problem is that SCRS, like transistors, exhibit a wide spread in eletri- cal characteristics within a batch. That is, two SCRs of a given type may show great dif- ferences in characteristics. The variation in Igr is the most serious of these differences, Fig. 4-10 shows how these difficulties can be eliminated. The four-layer diade in Fig. 4-10 has a certain breakover voltage, Ifthe voltage across the capacitor is below that FIGURE 4-10 SCR gate contral circuit us- ing a fourlayer diode (or ary breakover device). The four layer diode provides consis- tency of triggering behavior and reduces the temperature depends fin cet.) breakover point, the four-layer diode acts like an open switch. When the capacitor vo age rises to the breakover point, the four-layer diode fires and acts like a closed switch ‘This causes a burst of current into the gate, which provides sure triggering of the SCR “The advantages of the four-layer diode are that itis relatively independent of tem perature and that the breakover voltage can be held consistent from one unit to another Therefore the imperfections of the SCR are of no importance, since itis the four-lay. diode which determines the trigger point. ‘There are other devices which can be inserted in the gate lead to accomplish the same effect. They all have operating characteristics similarto those of the four-layer diod and they are all temperature independent and have small spreads in breakover voltage. ‘Some of the common triggering devices are the SUS (silicon unilateral switch), the SBS (Gilicon bilateral switch), the diac, and the UJT (unijunction transistor). All of these de vices will be discussed in detail in Chapters 5 and 6. 4-6 Ml ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF CONNECTING SCRS TO LOADS 4-6-1 Unidirectional Full-Wave Control Figure 4-11(a) shows how two SCRs can be combined with a center-tapped transforma to accomplish full-wave power control. This circuit behaves much like a full-wave rect fier for a de power supply. When the secondary winding is in its positive half cycle, pos itive on top and negative on bottom, SCR can fire, This connects the load across the top half of the transformer secondary. When the secondary winding is in its negative half cle, SCR; can fire, connecting the load across the bottom half of the secondary windin ‘The current through the load always flows in the same direction, just asin a full-wave de power supply. Figure 4~11(b) shows waveforms of load voltage and ac line voltage for a firing delay angle of about 45°. Figure 4-11(a) indicates two separate trigger circuits for the two SCRs. Often these ‘wo circuits can be combined into a single circuit designed around one of the triggering devices mentioned in Sec. 4-5. Such a design ensures that the firing delay angle is iden: tical for both half eycles. 4-6-2 Bidirectional Full-Wave Control Another common SCR configuration is shown in Fig. 4~12(a), In this cirouit, SCR, ca fire during the positive half cycle and SCR; during the negative half eycle. The curre FIGURE (@) Ful-wg Power co SCRs. (6) drawn ang voltage wg half eyces deliver po FIGURE 4-11 (2) Fullave rectified power control, using two SCRs and 8 centersapped winding. 6) Supply voltage and load vot- age waveforms. Both ac half cycles are being used ta de- lives power, but the load voltage has only one polarity (ics rece, IGURE 4-12 Fallwave unrectified wer contro, using two Rs. (b) The same circuit Tigger is unreceied (Scr, Tag Circuit, sa] ae through the load is not unidirectional. Figure 4~12(c) shows @ waveform of load vol for a firing delay angle of about 120°. Figure 4~12(b) shows the same circuit redravin in ‘a mote popular manner. 4-6-3 Bridge Circuits Containing an SCR ‘A single SCR can control both alternations of an ac supply when connected as shown in Fig. 4-13(a). When the ac line is in its positive half cycle, diodes A and C are forward biased. When the SCR fires, the line voltage is applied to the load. When the ac line isin its negative half cycle, diodes B and D are forward biased. Again the ac line voltage is applied to the load when the SCR fires, The load waveform would Jook like the wave form shown in Fig. 4-12(). FIGURE 4-13 Fullwave bridge combined i . ‘with an SCR to control both halves of the 2 line a) ‘With the load inserted in sce ¥—— fone of the a¢ lines leading | to the bridge the load volt- 2 re z age is unrectied, asin Fig a! ‘4-12(0). (0) With che load inserted in series with the SCR itself the lond voltage is rectified ¢ in Fig. 4-11(0) w Figure 4—13(6) shows a bridge rectifier controlled by a single SCR, this-time with the load wired in series with the SCR itself, The load current is unidirectional, with a ‘waveform like tha illustrated in Fig, 4-11(b). 4-7 @ SCRS IN DC CIRCUITS ‘When an SCR is used in a de circuit, the automatic turn-OFF does not occur, because, of ‘course, the supply voltage does not pass through zero. In ths situation, some other means must be used to stop the SCR main terminal current (reduce it below [iyo). One obvious ‘method is to simply disconnect the de supply. In most eases this is impractical 161 Often, main terminal current is stopped by connecting a temporary shor circuit from the anode to the cathode. This is illustrated in Fig. 4~14(a), in which a transistor switch is connected across the SCR. When the SCR is to be turned OFF, the trigger circuit pulses the transistor, driving it into saturation. The load current is temporarily shunted int transistor, causing the SCR main terminal current to drop below Jo. The transistor is held ON just Jong enough to turn OFF the SCR. This normally takes a few microseconds for ‘a medium-sized SCR. The trigger circuit then removes the base current, shutting the tran sistor OFF before it can be destroyed by the large load current. aly | iizeer | A Suto “chev | ie eaves FIGURE 4-14 SCR commutation creuts.() The tassorsvch shorts out the SCR, thereby ung OFF (b) The wansitor switch puts a charged capactor in paral with the SCR for reverse Bs ern: (OFF Ofen another SCR fr ued In place ofthe vans In this arrangement the trigger circuit is responsible for both turning ON and turn ing OFF the SCR. Such trigger circuits are naturally more complex than those discussed in See. 4-5, which were responsible only for turn-ON. More reliable tum-OFF can be accomplished by actually reverse-biasing the SCR. This is shown in Fig. 4~14(b), In this circuit the capacitor charges with the polarity in dicated when the SCR is turned ON. To tum OFF, the trigger circuit again saturates the transistor, which elfectively places the capacitor in parallel with the SCR. Since the ca Pacitor voltage cannot change instantly, it applies a temporary reverse voltage across the SCR, shutting it OFF, In Fig. 4~14(), imagine thatthe de supply is 48 V and the tigger circuit behaves as follows: |. Itdelivers a turn-ON pulse to the gate of the SCR, 2, 6.0 ms later it delivers a pulse to the base of the transistor. It repeats this cycle at a frequency of 125 Hz. (a) Describe the load waveform, Neglect Vi (b) Ifthe load resistance is 12, how much average power is delivered to the load’ Solution. 2) For a cycle frequency of 125 Hz, the period is cH.4 so the load waveform would be a rectangular wave, 48 volts tall, spending 6 ms up (a 48 V) and 2 ms down (at 0 V). Vip. b) Pon sate =p 5 = =12W Pag = (0.75) Pow si) Beease the SCR is ON for 75% ofthe total cycle ime, Therefore (0.75)(192 W) = 144 W MAGLEV VEHICLES ‘agnetic levitation, MagLev, will become the premier technology for medium- 10 long-distance overland transportation at some point in the next century, as the earth’s petro- Teum reserves become exhausted. The photo shows a MagLey railway vehicle, which has a cruising speed of 420 kmh (about 260 mfr) ‘This vehicle contains extremely strong de electro- ‘magnets that require no electric driving source what- soever. The electromagnets, once energized, are able to achieve their extremely strong magnetic flux densi- ties even in the absence of a power source because their winding coils are made of zero-resistance supe: conducting material. With R = 0.0, Ohm's law calls for zero voltage to produce large current through the ‘winding coil, which does not overheat because its ?R ‘Mogley vehicle and tack, showing sidewal propusion cols Ghd onshe ground levitation cols. CCouren of Reibey Technical Research Instn of Japon power dissipation is also zero. The difficulty is thatthe electromagnet coils must be held at a very cold tent perature, below =269°C (452° F), to maintain their superconducting ability. This is accomplished by hhousing them’in specially insulated enclosures con- stantly supplied with high-pressure helium, ‘Compressed liquid helium is carried inthe vehicle and ‘must be continually refrigerated. The refrigeration ‘compressor accounts for the only on-board energy consumption. Magnets made of newly discovered superconduc- tive materials are now under development. They will ‘operate in the ~120°C (185°F) temperature range. These new magnets will be even cheaper and easier to refrigerate on-board, using liguid nitrogen rather than helium, ‘The vehicle’s de supermagnets route flux both ver~ tically and horizontally, through the vehicle's floor and through its sides. The horizontal sideways flux provides the forward propulsion, as explained in Figs. 4-15. The vertical floor flux provides the levita- tion, PROPULSION Figures 4-15 and 4-16 are views from sbove. They show the rilay’s sidewall electromagnets that have to do with forward propulsion. These two figuesig- nore the railways on-the-ground magnets that have to do with levitation There are thousands and thousands of railway magnets, spaced close together, as you can tell by a close look at the photograph. Each sidewall magnet has a pir of electric leads that are controled by the rilway's electronic power cir- cvitry, The cireitry switches each magnets enmrent off and on, and it controls the curren’ direction. It therefore is able to switch an individual magner’s polarity, changing it between North and South. Each magnet is electrically in parallel with the one directly acros from it onthe other sidewall, so these two are always alike in polarity (if they ae tured ON) Figure 4-15 shows the sitation at me instant Figure 4-16 shows the situation a short time later at instant ip. We have identified four sidewall magnet postions, labeled a b, and d. At time instant the magnets at position are tured OFF by the power- control circuitry, The magnets at position e are tamed ON, polarized South. The magnets at position b are tumed ON, polarized North. Those at postion are 163 Concrete Siewal, The Magnets onthe Railway Sidewals ae Switchable SA The Veil’ Mag ae de, Consent Poi. und Always ON. “The Vehick’s Magnets xe de, Constant Paley, ‘and Always ON. { NS FIGURE 4-15 (Top) Propulsion events at the t instant. FIGURE 4-16 (Bottom) Propulsion events at the ¢ instant. ‘ON, polarized South. Inside the vehicle, the de super- ‘magnet postions are labeled A and B. AC this instant the Nort supermagnets at A are attracted to the South sidewall magnets at ¢, This attractive force tends to pull the vehicle forward and to the right. Also, the A supermagnets are repelled by the like-polarity (North) sidewall magnets at b. This repulsion tends to push the vehicle forward. ‘Meanwhile, the South supermagnets at B are attracted to the unlike-polarity (North) sidewall mag- nets at b, producing more forward propulsion, and the 164 South supermagnets at B are repelled away from the like-polarity South sidewall magnets at position a. AAs the vehicle moves forward, its A supermagnets pass by sidewall position e. At that moment, the elec- tronic power-control circuitry reverses the current direction through sidewall magnets b and e. Position ¢ becomes North and position bb becomes South. Fig- lure 416 shows this reversal. At the same moment the ower control circuitry switches ON the sidewall ‘magnets at d, with a South polarity, and it switches (OFF the sidewall magnets ata since the vehicle is now past that position. All of these conditions are indicat- ed in Fig. 4-16, which shows the position of the vehicle at time f,,a short time after the switching moment. By checking the magnetic polarities in Fig. 4~16, you can y yourself that all forces are still propelling the vehicle forward to the right. For simplicity of explanation, these figures show the vehicle with just two magnetic poles (one N and ‘one S) per side, Actually, the 22-m-long vehicle has ‘magnetic poles per side (three N and three $). LEVITATION When the MagLev vehicle starts from a standstill, it has its wheels lowered onto the railbed. Once it reach es a speed of about 100 kmihr, it begins to levitate. ‘Then it retracts its wheels, like an airplane. Figure 4-17 shows how levitation occurs. Some of the flux from the supermagnets passes through the floor of the vehicle, as mentioned before |As this vertical flux passes at high speed ov of the on-the-ground magnets, the rapid rate of change of flux induces voltage in the ground mag- net's coil, in accordance with Faraday's law and Lenz's law. The induced voltage is maximum at a ‘moment when the leading or trailing edge of a super- ‘magnet is just above it; the voltage is minimum (zeto) at a moment when a supermagnet is centered directly above tho ground coil. The inductive rea of the coil causes the coil’s current to be phase d by one-quarter cycle. Therefore the ground wurrent is maximum at 2 moment when it is centered beneath a supermagnet, as shown in Figure 4-17. This maximum current produces the magnetic, flux that opposes (points in the opposite direction to) the supermagnet flux. Therefore the ground coil Testing the Maglev mechanical suspension system; these wheels are retracted when the vehicle is moving fost enough to levitate Courter of Railway Tehnicl Research Intute of Japan ‘obi Soh, / oo Tn this ground cot when is nde vo FIGURE 4-17 Levitation. repels the supermagnet, providing the lifting force on the vehic! Figure 4-17 shows only a single ground coil beneath each on-board supermagnet. Actually the ground coils are physically much smaller than the vehicle’s supermagnets, as you can see in the photo- raph. Thus there are really several ground coils inter- acting with a single supermagnet, As the vehicle rises, the distance between the two flux surfaces increases. This weakens the magnetic repulsion-lifting force. When the vehicle reaches a height where the lifting force is exactly equal to its ‘weight, it will maintain that levitation, This vehicle is

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