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DET40073 - Topic 1
DET40073 - Topic 1
OVERVIEW OF POWER
ELECTRONIC DEVICES
DET40073- Power Electronics
June 2021
Function Of Power Electronics
• Power electronics deals with conversion and control of large amounts
of electrical power.
• The power semiconductor devices are used as on/off switches in power
control circuit.
• The word power means high amplitudes of current and voltage.
•Inverter Stage
• The inverter stage converts DC, whether directly from the input or from the rectifier stage
•Output Transformer
• If the output is required to be isolated from the input, as is usually the case in mains power
supplies, the inverted AC is used to drive the primary winding of a high-frequency transformer
and this converts the voltage up or down to the required output level on its secondary winding.
• Output Rectifier And Filter
• If a DC output is required, the AC output from the transformer is rectified.
• Chopper Controller
• Feedback circuit monitors the output voltage and compares it with a reference voltage.
Power Electronics In HVDC
High Voltage Direct Current Transmission | HVDC Transmission
■ The massive transmission of electricity in the form of DC over long
distances by means of submarine cables or overhead transmission
line is the high voltage direct current transmission. This type of
transmission is preferred over HVAC transmission for very long
distance when considering the cost, losses and many other factors.
The names Electrical superhighway or Power superhighway are
often used for HVDC.
Figure 4 : HVDC Substation Layout
HVDC Transmission System
■ AC power is generated in the generating station. This should first be
converted into DC. The conversion is done with the help of rectifier. The
DC power will flow through the overhead lines. At the user end, this DC
has to be converted into AC. For that purpose, an inverter is placed at the
receiving end.
■ Thus, there will be a rectifier terminal in one end of HVDC substation
and an inverter terminal in the other end. The power of the sending end
and user end will be always equal (Input Power = Output Power)
Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCR)
• Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) is a four layer PNPN silicon-
switching device.
• The SCR has three terminals the anode (A), cathode (K) and gate (G).
There are correspondingly three junctions J1, J2 and J3 respectively.
• The symbol and structure of SCR are shown below:
• SCR is a unidirectional device conducting only from anode to cathode
(forward bias).
• It blocks the current flow from anode to cathode until it is triggered in to
conduction by the application of suitable gate signal between gate and
cathode.
• SCR is so called because Silicon is used for its construction and its
operation as a Rectifier can be controlled.
• Once the SCR start conducting, it behaves like a conducting diode and
there is no control over the device although the gate voltage has
stopped.
Turn-on characteristics of SCR
Two condition must be met to turn-on an SCR :
1. Anode voltage should be positive with respect to the cathode.
2. Gate voltage should be positive with respect to the cathode.
Turn-off characteristics of SCR
The gate has no control over the SCR once it goes into conduction.
Turn-off must be achieved in the anode-to-cathode circuit such as :
1. Reversing anode-to-cathode terminal
2. Forcing current in the anode circuit in the reverse direction.
3. Decrease forward current (IF) lower than holding current (IH) (Gate-
controlled effect)
• Forward bias with no gate current – no current flow means will act as
open circuit.
• Forward bias with gate current – conduct and act as closed circuit.
• VBO – Forward Breakover Voltage is the value forward biased voltage that
turns SCR from blocking state to conduction state without positive voltage at
gate.
Figure above is V-I characteristic of SCR where the forward current, IF is plotted with respect
forward voltage, VF.
‘VBO’ = forward breakover voltage
‘VBR’ = reverse breakover voltage.
Gate-controlled effect for Forward Breakover Voltage
(VBO)
• When SCR is in ‘ON’ condition, the rate of current flow should not
lower than the rate of holding current of the SCR.
Concept and Principle of SCR as a switch
Structure diagram
• A gate-turn-off (GTO) is a member of the thyristor family. It has
three terminals : anode (A), cathode (C) and gate (G).
• The basic structure of a GTO is similar to a thyristor (a four-layer
pnpn SCR).
• A GTO is turned on by forward biasing the gate- cathode junction and
turned off by reverse biasing the same junction (contrary to SCR).
• Observe that there is double arrow on the gate. This indicates that
bidirectional current flows through the gate. The rest of the symbol is
similar to SCR.
Basic operation of GTO
Structure diagram
• Triac is also called bi-directional device. It conducts in both the direction.
• It contains 3 terminals : Main Terminal 1 (MT1), Main Terminal 2
(MT2) and Gate (G).
• The control terminal, gate is near to terminal MT1. This device is turned-
on by
+ve gate current that the gate signal
being applied between the gate and MT1 terminals.
Turn-on characteristic of TRIAC
• This device is turned-on by +ve gate current that the gate signal being
applied between the gate and MT1 terminals.
• Gate has no control over the conduction once triac is turned on.
• The supply voltage at which the Triac is turned ON depends upon the
gate current.
• The Triac operates in quadrant 1, where the terminal MT2 is positive
with respect to terminal MT1. Now the Triac is positively biased.
• The Triac operates in quadrant 3 where the terminals MT2 is negative
with respect to terminal MT1. Now the Triac is negatively biased.
• The static switching characteristic in quadrant 1 is identical to that of
the SCR and the characteristic in quadrant 3 is symmetrical to that in
quadrant 1. Thus the Triac is effectively equivalent to an inverse-
parallel arrangement of two SCRs.
• Other characteristic that same as SCR curve is that the higher rate of
gate current (IG), the lower VBRF needed for Triac to conduct.
Equivalent Circuit Using SCR
Concept and Principle of TRIAC as a switch
i. Triacs are latching devices like SCR. Hence, they are not suitable for
DC power applications.
ii. Gate has no control over the conduction once triac is turned on.
iii. Triacs have very small switching frequencies.
IGBT(Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)
• The Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) is the latest device in
power electronics.
• IGBT has three terminals : Gate (G), collector (C) and emitter
(E).
• Sometime the collector is also called drain and emitter is also
called source.
Structure of IGBT
• The IGBT structure is very close to the n-channel MOSFET. The major
difference between the structure of the n-channel IGBT and MOSFET
is that a highly doped P+ type substrate is provided with IGBT.
• From the basic structure, n+ P body region, n- forms the power
MOSFET.
• The n- drift region forms the drain.
• The next part will constitute the three layers p+ n- p, that forms a bipolar
junction transistor between the drain and source terminals p n- p+ regions
will behave as collector, base and emitter (E) of pnp transistor
respectively.
I-V characteristic of IGBT
• The figure shows the V-I characteristics of n- channel IGBT.
• Sometime the collector is also called drain and emitter is also called
source.
• The characteristics are plotted for drain (collector) current iD with
respect to drain source (collector emitter) voltage VDS.
• The characteristics are plotted for different values of gate to source
(VGS) voltages.
• When the gate to source voltage is greater than the threshold voltage
VGS(th), then IGBT turns-on.
• The IGBT is off when VGS is less than vGS(th).
• The figure shows the ‘on’ and ‘off’ regions of IGBT.
• The BVDSS is the breakdown drain to source voltage when gate is open
circuited.
• IGBT have turn-on and turn-off times of order of 1µsec and are
available in large ratings as large as 1700V and 1200A. Voltage
ratings up to 2.3 kV are projected.
• The switching frequency of IGBT is in the range of 50kHz.
• It can be used for the speed control of AC and DC motor drives.
Concept and Principle of IGBT as a switch
Merits of IGBT
i. Voltage controlled device. Hence drive circuit is very
simple.
ii. On-state losses are reduced.
iii. Switching frequencies are higher than thyristor.
iv. No commutation circuits are required.
v. Gate have full control over the operation of IGBT.
vi. IGBTs have approximately flat temperature coefficient.
Demerits of IGBT
i. IGBTs have static charge problems.
ii. IGBTs are costlier than BJTs and MOSFETs.