Power Electronic Devices

Switch
 A switch is a device which is designed to interrupt the
current flow in a circuit.

 In electronics, an electronic switch is a switch controlled by

an active electronic component or device.

 Practical switches differ from ideal switches in a number of

important ways. Real switches have some finite, nonzero
resistance when closed. This resistance causes a voltage
drop which may or may not be significant depending on the
rest of the circuit.

2
Types of switches
1) Depending on controlling of switches
 a) Uncontrolled switch --- Diode
 b) Semi controlled switch --- SCR
 c) fully controlled switch --- MOSFET
 Depending on direction of current through switch during
ON state
 a) Unidirectional switch--- SCR
 b) Bidirectional switch--- DIAC
3) Depending on polarity of voltage blocked by switch during
off state
 a) Unipolar switch------ Diode
 b) Bipolar Switch ------ SCR
3
Semiconductor Devices

❖ Uncontrolled – Power Diode

has only two terminals and can not be controlled by control signal.
The on and off states of the device are determined by the power
circuit.
❖ Semi-controlled – SCR
is turned-on by a control signal and turned-off by the power circuit
❖ Fully controlled – GTO, IGCT, MCT, BJT, MOSFET, IGBT
The on and off states of the device are controlled by control
signals.
o GTO – Gate Turn-Off Thyristor
o IGCT – Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor
o MCT – MOS Controlled Thyristor
o IGBT – Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
4
Diode: Forward Bias vs. Reverse Bias

 Biasing, in general, is defined as an arrangement

made in the diode or an electrical device to allow a
larger flow of current in a certain direction.

 In a forward bias setup, the P-side of the diode is

attached to the positive terminal, and N-side is fixed to
the negative side of the battery.

5
Diode
A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that
conducts current primarily in one direction
A diode is formed by joining two equivalently doped P-
Type and N-Type semiconductor. When they are joined
an interesting phenomenon takes place. The P-Type
semiconductor has excess holes and is of positive
charge. The N-Type semiconductor has excess
electrons. At the point of contact of the P-Type and N-
Type regions, the holes in the P-Type attract electrons in
the N-Type material. Hence the electron diffuses and
occupies the holes in the P-Type material.

6
Uncontrolled device —Power diode

7
Power Diodes
Ideal Diode
Normally in any ideal switch what we would expect is
during ON condition it should have zero voltage drop
and during OFF condition it should have zero leakage
current.
In an ideal diode device, the ON state resistance
equal to zero, ROFF should be infinity which means,
forward voltage drop has to be zero and, similarly
leakage current during the reverse condition to be
zero.

8
Diodes

9
Types of Power Diode

1. Converter or power frequency diodes (high power, lower

frequency) – rectifier

Power frequency is 50 hertz, so we use it for rectification in most

of the cases with the 50 hertz supply and call them as power
frequency diode and that is 20 milliseconds cycle, i.e it has
sufficient time for the recovery.

Power frequency diodes are available at large ratings about 30

megawatt, or 25 megawatt and they act slowly compared to rest
of the devices. These are less costly, very robust, available at high
power ratings; so use them for high-power low-frequency
applications. the major application is normally rectifier

10
Types of Power Diode

2. Fast recovery diode (Freewheeling, Feedback diode)

Fast recovery diode recover from the conducting condition to the
non-conducting condition very quickly. These are used generally
in two types of applications, one is freewheeling, and other one
is feedback diode in chopper and inverter

Freewheeling diode is that diode which will carry the current

which is stored because of the energy stored across the
inductance. It essentially works to de-energize the inductance
by circulating the current through itself and the load. It provide
overcurrent protection and safety.

11
Schottky Diode
3. Schottky diode is a metal-semiconductor junction diode
that has less forward voltage drop in comparison to the PN
junction diode and Schottky diodes are commonly used in
high-speed switching applications.

Schottky diode is named after the name of German physicist

Walter Edge Schottky. It is also known as a Schottky barrier
diode, surface barrier diode, majority carrier device, hot electron
diode or hot carrier diode.

12
Schottky Diode

o Construction of Schottky diode is quite different from

PN Junction diode
o Metals used are platinum, chrome, and tungsten
o Metal side acts as anode and n-type semiconductor
side acts as cathode

13
Advantages of Schottky Diode

o Low forward voltage drop or low turn ON voltage

o Efficiency is very high
o In power supplies
o To detect signals
o Mixers in communicating equipment

14
Silicon Controlled Rectifier
 Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
• It is made of Silicon conducting material, and used for AC to DC
conversion which is rectification; Control – AC to DC

• We can control that how much amount of signal should be

converted from AC to DC, so it is called as a controlled rectifier

• Know as silicon-controlled rectifier due to its material as well as

the ability to control the AC to DC conversion

• It consists of four layers of semiconducting material. It has three

terminals; terminal towards P region is anode. The terminal
towards the end N region is cathode, and one more terminal is
called gate.
• The symbol is similar to the symbol of the diode, but it is having
one extra terminal, which is the gate terminal
16
Working of SCR
Working of SCR can be divided into three modes:

There are three junctions, and all the junctions should be

forward biased so that the SCR conducts.

1. Forward blocking mode

In forward blocking mode, we apply the forward voltage to

the SCR, which means the anode terminal is connected to
positive and the cathode terminal is connected to a negative.

17
Working of SCR

2. Forward conduction mode

In forward conduction mode, anode and cathode will be forward

biased. We will apply one more voltage between gate and
cathode; supplying positive voltage towards gate and negative
voltage towards the cathode.

All the three junctions will be in forward biased so it will satisfy the
condition.

SCR will start conducting and this is known as the forward

conduction mode.

18
Working of SCR
3. Reverse blocking mode

In reverse blocking mode, the anode is connected to negative

terminal of the external voltage source and the cathode will be
connected to positive terminal of an external voltage source. Thus,
this will make the SCR in reverse biased condition.

This will not satisfy the condition of conduction.

19
Transistor Model of Silicon Controlled Rectifier

 SCR consists of three terminals anode, cathode and gate

and four layers forming P, N again P region and the N
region.
 We can observe that it looks like two transistors
connected with each other

20
Transistor Model of Silicon Controlled Rectifier

 SCR consists three terminals anode, cathode and gate and

it consist of four layers P, N again P region and the N
region.

 We can observe that it looks like two transistors connected

with each other

21
Problem
Latching current of the thyristor is 5mA. Determine the
minimum duration for which the gate current should be
maintained.

22
Problem
Latching current for an SCR inserted in between a dc voltage
source of 200V and load is 100mA. Compute the minimum
width of the gate pulse current required to turn ON this SCR
for the following loading conditions:
a) L=0.2H
b) R=20Ω in series with L=0.2H
c) R=20Ω in series with L=2H

23
 TRIAC: Introduction
TRIAC – Triode for alternating current

• It is advanced version of Diode

• Triac is having a controlling third Terminal, and Diode does
not have that controlling third terminal.

• Use of TRIAC – unlike SCR, we can trigger in both the

directions. In SCR, we have facility to trigger SCR in
forward bias only. But TRIAC can trigger in both directions.

• Triac could be considered as two back-to-back SCRs

24
Introduction

4. Equivalent Circuit

25
Applications of TRIAC

• Lamp Control
• Speed Control
• In Chopper
• In AC Phase Control

26