2.

Turn On and Turn Off methods of SCR

1. State the various turn ON methods of SCR and explain any one
Ans: Various Turn On Methods of SCR (Figure should be drawn for all method)
• Forward voltage turn on
• Temperature turn on
• Light turn on
• dv/dt turn on
• Gate turn on
Forward Voltage Turn ON:

• When anode is made +ve with respect to cathode and gate is left
open, junction J1 and J3 are forward biased and J2 is reverse biased.
• If we go on increasing the applied voltage, at certain voltage the
reverse biased junction J2 breaks down due to avalanche break
down and the device comes into conduction. This voltage is called
forward breakover voltage.
• This method of turn on is called forward voltage turn on.

Temperature Turn ON:

• The width of the depletion layer decreases with increase in junction temperature.
• In SCR when the applied voltage between anode to cathode is brought near to its breakover
voltage, the device can be triggered by increasing the temperature of the reverse biased junction
J2 to a certain value within the specified limits.
• This method of turning on the device by heating is known as thermal triggering or temperature
turn on.

Light Turn ON:

• In this method the device is turned on by light radiation

• When light is focussed at the gate terminal of SCR, generation of electron hole pairs takes place.
• As these electron hole pairs are under the influence of electric field due to the applied voltage
produces gate current which intern will turn on the device.
𝑑𝑣
• For light turn on, the device must have high 𝑑𝑡 rating.
• Ex: LASCR & LASCS

ⅆ𝒗
Turn ON:
ⅆ𝒕
• With the forward voltage across the SCR junctions J1 & J3 are
forward biased and J2 is reverse biased.
• The reverse biased junction J2 has the characteristics of a
capacitor, due to the charge carriers existing across the junction.
• If the forward voltage is suddenly applied a charging current will
flow through the device which will turn ON the SCR
• If the voltage impressed across the device is denoted by V
• charge by Q
• Capacitance by Cj
Then the charging current is given by
ⅆ𝑣
𝐼𝑐 = 𝐶𝑗
ⅆ𝑡
ⅆ𝒗
∴ Ic 𝝰 ⅆ𝒕
If dv/dt is large the SCR comes into conduction

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Course: BPE Class: EJ4IB/C
 2. Turn On and Turn Off methods of SCR
Gate Turn ON: This is the most reliable and efficient method of turning on the SCR
• By applying a +ve signal at the gate terminal SCR can be triggered before the specified breakover
voltage.
• The conduction of SCR can be controlled by varying the gate signal within the specified values of
gate current.
• The types of signals that can be used at the gate terminal are
▪ DC Triggering
▪ AC Triggering
▪ Pulse Triggering

2.State the various types of gate triggering methods.

Various types of gate triggering methods are
a) DC triggering
b) AC triggering
(i)R- triggering (ii) R-C triggering
c) Pulse triggering

3.Explain R-triggering with neat circuit & waveforms

Operation:

• During positive half cycle of ac supply, SCR is forward biased and comes into conduction, when
the gate current exceeds Ig minimum.
• SCR remains in on state until the supply voltage decreases to a point where the anode current
falls below the holding current
• The diode D prevents the gate cathode reverse bias from exceeding the peak reverse gate voltage
during –ve half cycle of the ac input.
• (Diode prevents the negative gate current during –ve half cycle of the ac input)

Advantages:
▪ Simple circuit
▪ Easy to design.
▪ Low cost
Disadvantages:
▪ Firing angle is limited to 90°
▪ No isolation between main power circuit and gate control circuit

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Course: BPE Class: EJ4IB/C
 2. Turn On and Turn Off methods of SCR
4. Draw the circuit and explain the operation of RC-triggering with neat waveforms

Waveforms

• During negative half cycle of the ac input diode D2 is forward biased, and capacitor is charged to a
negative peak voltage as shown, with upper plate –ve & lower plate +ve.
• During +ve half cycle of the ac input the capacitor discharges exponentially and starts charging
through R.
• When the capacitor potential reaches the required gate voltage diode D1 gets forward biased &
SCR comes into conduction.
• The triggering voltage can be decided by the RC time constant of the circuit.
• The diode D1 is used to isolate the gate cathode junction during the –ve half cycle of the ac input.
• The firing angle 𝝰 can be varied from 0 - 180°by varying R
• From the output waveforms it is evident that with this circuit firing angle can be controlled only in
the positive half cycle. Hence the name RC halfwave triggering.
Advantages:

• Easy to design & economical.

• Firing angle can be controlled from 0 to 180°

Disadvantages:

• Firing angle depends on RC time constant

• Firing angle changes with input voltage fluctuations
• No isolation between gate control circuit and main power circuit

5. Draw and explain the operation of UJT triggering with neat waveforms

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Course: BPE Class: EJ4IB/C
 2. Turn On and Turn Off methods of SCR
• The most commonly used circuit for generating triggering pulse is UJT relaxation oscillator
• The circuit for which is as shown above
• The capacitor charges through R towards supply voltage
• The charging rate of capacitor can be controlled by varying the value of resistance R
• When the capacitor potential reaches the peak point voltage of UJT
• (Vp=𝝶VBB +Vd), UJT comes into conduction.
• The capacitor now starts discharging through UJT and R3
• The discharging current can be used as a triggering pulse to turn on the SCR

6. Explain the operation of Synchronized UJT triggering with neat circuit and waveforms

Synchronized UJT triggering circuit is shown in Fig. 1.

• The diode bridge D1−D4 rectifies a.c. to d.c. Resistor Rs lowers E dc to a suitable value
for the zener diode and UJT.
• The zener diode Dz is used to clip the rectified-voltage to a fixed voltage Vz. This
voltage Vz is applied to the charging circuit RC.
• Capacitor C Charges through R until it reaches the UJT trigger voltage Vp. The UJT then
turns "on" and C discharges through the UJT emitter and primary of the pulse-
transformer.
• The windings of the pulse transformer have pulse voltages at their secondary terminals.
Pulses at the two secondary windings feed the same in phase pulse to two SCRs of a full
wave circuit. SCR with positive anode voltage would turn ON.
• Rate of rise of capacitor voltage can be controlled by varying R .
• The firing angle can be controlled up to about 150∘.
7. What is Pulse Transformer how is it used to turn on the SCR

• The transformer which handles voltages and currents in the form of pulse are called Pulse
Transformer.
• It has one primary winding and either one or number of secondaries.
• The turns ratio is 1:1 or 1:1:1

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Course: BPE Class: EJ4IB/C
 2. Turn On and Turn Off methods of SCR
• Pulse Transformer is mostly used in Power Electronic circuits as an Isolating Transformer to isolate
source and load.
• It is also used in television, radar, digital computers etc.
• The main functions of the Pulse Transformer are as below:
▪ For changing the amplitude of voltage pulse
▪ For inverting the polarity of the pulse
▪ For coupling different stages of pulse amplifier
▪ As an Isolation Transformer
8. State the need of protection circuit of SCR. Describe the working of snubber circuit with circuit
diagram.

Need of protection circuit: In most Power electronic circuits, protection is necessary against the effects of
excessive rate of rise of forward voltage ( dv/dt) across the devices, which can otherwise cause
unintended break over, leading to malfunction of the circuit and possible failure of the devices.

Working: When the switch closed, a sudden voltage appears across the SCR which is bypassed to the RC
network. This is because the capacitor acts as a short circuit which reduces the voltage across the SCR to
zero. As the time increases, voltage across the capacitor builds up at slow rate such that dv/dt across the
capacitor is too small to turn ON the SCR. Therefore, the dv/dt across the SCR and the capacitor is less
than the maximum dv/dt rating of the SCR. When Thristor T1 turns on, the snubber capacitor C discharges
in to the SCR. But resistor R limits the discharge current and prevents excessive di/dt at turn on. Thus, the
presence of resistor impairs the forward dv/dt limiting performance of the snubber. This also consist of an
inductance in series with the SCR to prevent a high di/dt

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Course: BPE Class: EJ4IB/C