University of Misan

Engineering College

Electrical Engineering Department

Subject : Report Power Electronics Laboratory

Exp (1): Characteristics of Thyristor

Name student : Zahraa Abd AL-karim Jafar

Supervised by: Mrs. Ghofran

 Experiment aim

To study the characteristics of the thyristor and how its work method.

A Silicon-Controlled Rectifier (SCR) is a four-layer (p-n-p-n) semiconductor device

that doesn't allow current to flow until it is triggered and, once triggered, will only
allow the flow of current in one direction. It has three terminals: 1) anode, cathode
and a gate. Figure (1) shows the thyristor symbol and a sectional view of the three-pn
junctions.

When the anode voltage made positive with respect to the cathode, junctions J1and
J3 are forward biased and junction J2 is reverse biased. The thyristor said to be in the
forward blocking or off-state condition. A small leakage current flows from anode to
cathode and is called the

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 off state current. If the anode voltage VAK is increased to a sufficiently large value,
the reverse biased junction J2 would
breakdown. This is known as avalanche breakdown and the corresponding voltage is
called the forward breakdown voltage VBO. Since the other two junctions J1 and J3
are already forward biased, there will be free movement of carriers across all three
junctions. This results in a large forward current. The device now said to be in a
conducting or on state. The voltage drop across the device in the on -state is due to the
ohmic drop in the four layers and is very small (in the regi on of 1 V). In the on state
the anode current is limited by an external impedance or resistance.

contents of the expermint:

1.Two Dc source

2.Resistance 100Ω

3.Resistance 20Ω

4.Two Current meter

5.Two Voltage meter

6.Thyristor

7.Four Oscilliscope

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 Work steps:

1.Join the +ve of the source 100v with Current meter.

2.Join current meter with the Anode.

3.Put the volt meter in parallel with thyristor.

4.Join the cathode with the resistance 100Ω and it with -ve of the source

100 v.

5.join the +ve vareble source with the resistance 200Ω.

6.put the volt meter in parallel with the variable source.

7.join the current meter in series with the resistance and the ground .

8.join the oscilliscops whith the meters

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 Results:

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 Vs(v)
0 5 10 20 30

Ig(A)
0 0.25 0.5 1 1.5

Ia(A)
0 0 0 1 1

VAk(v)
100 100 100 0.8 0.8

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 :Discussion

1-What are the conditions for operating a thyristor in the normal operation?
Forward blocking mode
Junctions j1 and j3 are in forward working state while j2 is in reverse biased state and
does not allow the current to flow.
Forward conduction mode
Here a positive voltage is applied to the gate terminal, causing the j2 depletion region
to break down. Due to this, current starts flowing in the circuit and results in switch
ON mode.
Forward conduction mode

Here a positive voltage is applied to the gate terminal, causing the j2 depletion region
to break down. Due to this, current starts flowing in the circuit and results in switch
ON mode.

Reverse blocking mode

Here we give negative voltage to anode and positive voltage to cathode while the gate
is kept in an open circuit, causing j1 and j3 to be in reverse bias and j2 in forward bias.
As j1 and j2 are reverse biased, the flow of current is not possible.

Anode current must be greater than holding current to maintain conduction.

Blocks current flow when reverse biased, no matter if Gate current is applied.
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 3- What is the different between the diode and a thyristor

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 4-What are the difference between an (ordinary switch) and a semiconductor
switch such as (thyristor and transistor)?

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