POWER ELECTRONICS

by
T.HIMAJA
Asst.Professor, EEE
ADITYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

08/26/2020

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 Contents:
1.Introduction to Power electronics
2.Applications of Power electronics
3.Types of Power electronic converters
4.SYLLABUS
5.Power semiconductor switches
6.Introduction to Thyristor

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 WHAT IS POWER ELECTRONICS ?
 Power + Electronics
 Power electronics refers to control and conversion of

electrical power to expected voltage, current and /or frequency

by power semiconductor devices.

 To convert electrical energy from one form to another, i.e.

from the source to load with:
◦ highest efficiency,
◦ highest availability
◦ highest reliability
◦ lowest cost,
◦ smallest size
◦ least weight.
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Introduction to Power Electronics
 Power electronics refers to control and conversion of electrical
power by power semiconductor devices.
 where in these devices operate as switches. Advent of silicon-
controlled rectifiers, abbreviated as SCRs, led to the development of
a new field of application called the power electronics.
 Before SCRs, mercury-arc rectifiers were used for controlling
electrical power, but such rectifier circuits were part of industrial
electronics and the scope for applications of mercury-arc rectifiers
was limited.

 The application spread to many fields such as drives, power

supplies, aviation electronics, high frequency inverters and power
electronics.

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Introduction to Power Electronics
The usage of power electronics in day to day
life has increased in recent years.

Itis important to understand the fundamental

principles behind all these converters.

This course covers characteristics of

semiconductor devices, ac/dc, dc/dc, ac/ac and
dc/ac converters.

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 Applications of Power Electronics

 Power electronic converters are used

everywhere in normal daily routines at home,
commercial workplaces or in an industrial
environment.

 Industrial, commercial and residential

purposes

 Electrical vehicles, aerospace and space

technologies
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Applications of Power Electronics
Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS)
Steady and regulated output voltage / current
Applications of SMPS
•Low voltage high current DC power supplies
•Battery chargers
•Welding machines with over 100A
•Aerospace power systems
•Several KV power supplies for radar systems,
•cathode ray

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 Applications of Power Electronics
 Inverters
 Waveform Shaping
 Power factor correction rectifiers
 Active filters
 Uninterruptible Power Supplies
 Motor Drives-Variable speed
drives (VSD) for induction motors
 Converters for brushless DC
motors
 Converters for switched
reluctance motors

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Syllabus
1.Power Semi-Conductor Devices


 2.AC-DC Single-Phase Converters

 3.AC-DC 3-Phase Converters
 4.DC–DC Converters
 5.DC–AC Converters
 6.AC–AC Regulators.
 Text Books:
 1. Power Electronics: Circuits, Devices and Applications – by M. H.
Rashid, Prentice Hall of India, 2nd edition, 1998.
 2. Power Electronics: Essentials & Applications by L.Umanand, Wiley,
Pvt. Limited,India, 2009

 Reference Books:
 Power Electronics – by P.S.Bhimbra, Khanna Publishers.

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 Text Books:

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 Power electronic converters
 Power electronic converters perform various basic
power conversion functions.

 The main aim of the converter is to produce

conditioning power with respect to a certain
application to control and convert the electric power.

 A power electronic converter uses power electronic

components such as SCRs, TRIACs, IGBTs, etc.

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Types of Power Electronic Converters
 Depending on the type of function performed,
power electronic converters are categorized into
following types.

 - AC to DC Converter (Controlled Rectifier)

 –DC to DC Converter (DC Chopper)
 - AC to AC Converter (AC voltage regulator)
 - DC to AC Converter (Inverter)

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 Unit-I
Power semiconductor devices

 Power semiconductor switches are the work-horses of power

electronics (PE). There are several power semiconductors
devices currently involved in several industrial applications.

 TYPES OF POWER SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCHES

The main types of power semiconductor switches in
common use are
 1. Power Diodes
 2. Thyristor devices
 3. Power transistors

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 2. Thyristor devices

 a. Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)

 b. Static induction thyristor (SITH)
 c. Triac (Triode ac switch)
 d. Gate turn-off thyristor (GTO)
 e. Mos- controlled thyristor (MCT)
 f. integrated gated-commutated thyristor

(IGCTs)

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 3. Power transistors

 a. Bipolar junction transistor (BJT)

 b. Metal oxide semiconductor field effect

transistor (MOSFET)
 c. Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
 d. Static induction transistor (SIT)

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 Power Diodes:
 Diodes are the simplest semiconductor device having only two layers, two
terminals and one
junction.
 The ordinary signal diodes have a junction formed by p type
semiconductor and n type semiconductor, the lead joining p type is called
anode and the other side lead joining the n type is called cathode. The
figure below depicts the structure of an ordinary diode and its symbol.
 It is not controllable
 When diode is forward biased, it conducts current, i.e a forward positive
voltage Vo will turn it on. When it reversed biased (a reverse negative
current from Cathode to Anode) will turn it off

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 Power Diodes:
The figure below depicts the structure of an ordinary
diode and its symbol.

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 Power Diodes:
 Diodes are the simplest semiconductor device having
only two layers, two terminals and one junction.

 The ordinary signal diodes have a junction formed by

p type semiconductor and n type semiconductor, the
lead joining p type is called anode and the other side
lead joining the n type is called cathode.

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 SCR
 :
The term SCR stands for silicon controlled rectifier which is one
of the most important members of the thyristor family. 
 It is more popular than the other Thyristors like TRIAC, SCS, 
DIAC, etc.

 SCRs are constructed from silicon and are most commonly used
for converting AC current to DC current (rectification), hence
the name Silicon controlled rectifier.

 They are also used in other applications such as regulation of

power, inversion, etc. The SCRs have an ability to handle high
value of current and Voltage hence they are used in most of the
industrial applications.

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 SCR Symbol

 The Symbol of the SCR will be similar to that

of the diode, additionally; it has a gate
terminal as shown below.
The SCR is a unidirectional device
that allows the current to flow in
one direction and opposes it in
another direction.

SCR has three terminals namely

Anode (A), Cathode (K) and gate
(G), it can be turned ON or OFF by
controlling the biasing conditions
or the gate input.

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 Construction of SCR
 The SCR is a four-layered semiconductor device of alternating P-
 and N-type materials that forms NPNP or PNPN structure, which
eventually forms three junctions J1, J2, and J3.

 The anode terminal of an SCR is connected to the p-type material of

a PNPN structure, and the cathode terminal is connected to the n-
type layer, while the gate of the SCR is connected to the p-type
material nearest to the cathode, the Gate acts as a control terminal
of the SCR.

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How SCR works ?

 There are three modes of operation for an

SCR depending upon the biasing given to it:

 1. Forward blocking mode (off state)

 2. Forward conduction mode (on state)
 3. Reverse blocking mode (off state)

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Forward Blocking Mode:
 In this mode of operation, the positive voltage is applied to the
anode and the negative voltage applied to the cathode, there will not
be any pulse applied to the gate, it will be kept in the open state.

 In this mode of operation, the SCR is forward biased, but, there will not be
any current flow.

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Reverse Blocking Mode 
 In the reverse blocking mode, the positive voltage is applied to the
Cathode (-) and the Negative voltage is given to the Anode (+), There will
not be any pulse given to the gate, it will be kept as an open circuit.

 Since the junctions J1 and J3 are reverse biased there will not be any
current flowing through the SCR. Although there will be a small leakage
current flowing due to the drift charge carriers in the forward-biased
Junction J2, it is not enough to turn on the SCR.

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 Forward Conduction Mode 
 The Forward Conduction Mode is the only mode at which the SCR will be
in the ON state and will be conducting. We can make the SCR conduct in
two different ways, one we can increase the applied forward bias voltage
beyond the breakdown voltage or else we can apply a positive voltage to
the gate terminal.

 If you want to use the SCR for low voltage applications you can apply a
positive voltage to the gate of the SCR. The applied positive voltage will
help the SCR to move to the conduction state.

 During this mode of operation, the SCR will be operating in forward bias
and current will be flowing through it.

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 VI Characteristics of SCR

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 EFFECT OF GATE CURRENT ON VBO

•If gate signal is applied, the

thyristor turn on before Vbo is
reached.
•So, forward voltage depends
upon magnitude of gate current.
•Higher the gate current lower
the forward breakover voltage.
•The typical gate current
magnitudes are of order
of 20 to 200mA.

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 Latching current & Holding current

 Holding current
 It is defined as the minimum anode current
beyond SCR turns off. 
 The holding current is associated with turned off
 process. 
 The holding current is always less than the latching
current. 
 It is given mili – ampere.
 The SCR is turned off if the anode current reduces
below 5 milli ampere for the specific rating of holding
current milli ampere in the data sheet.

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  Latching current
 It is defined as the minimum anode current
requires keeping turned on SCR after removing
gate signal. 
 The latching current is associated with turned

on process. 
 The value of latching current is approximately 2

to 3 times to that of holding current. 

 The value of holding current and latching

current is constant and it does not depend on

gate current magnitude.

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 Turn on methods (or) Triggering methods of
SCR
 What is triggering?
 The turning on Process of the SCR is known as

Triggering.
 In other words, bringing the SCR from Forward

Blocking state to Forward-Conduction state is

known as Triggering.

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 SCR triggering methods
  Forward Voltage Triggering
  Thermal or Temperature Triggering
  Radiation or Light triggering
  dv/dt Triggering
  Gate Triggering

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 Forward voltage triggering
 In this mode, an additional forward voltage is applied between
anode and cathode.

 When the anode terminal is positive with respect to cathode(VAK) ,

Junction J1 and J3 is forward biased and junction J2 is reverse
biased.  No current flows due to depletion region in J2 is reverse
biased (except leakage current).

 As VAK is further increased, at a voltage VBO (Forward Break

Over Voltage) the junction J2 undergoes avalanche breakdown and
so a current flows and the device tends to turn ON(even when gate
is open)

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Thermal or temperature triggering
 The width of depletion layer of SCR decreases with
increase in junction temperature.

 Therefore in SCR when VA is very near its breakdown

voltage, the device is triggered by increasing the junction
temperature.

 By increasing the junction temperature the reverse biased

junction collapses thus the device starts to conduct.

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 Radiation or light triggering
 For light triggered SCRs a special terminal niche
is made inside the inner P layer instead of gate
terminal.
 When light is allowed to strike this terminal,

free charge carriers are generated.

 When intensity of light becomes more than a

normal value, the thyristor starts conducting.

 This type of SCRs are called as LASCR.

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 LASCR:

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 dv/dt Triggering:-
 When the device is forward biased, J1 and J3 are forward biased, J2 is
reverse biased.

 Junction J2 behaves as a capacitor, due to the charges existing across the

junction.

If voltage across the device is V, the charge by Q and capacitance

by C then,
 ic= dQ/dt
 Q = CV

 = C. dV/dt
 ic= C.dV/dt

 Therefore when the rate of change of voltage across the device becomes
large, the device may turn ON, even if the voltage across the device is small.

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Gate triggering

 This is most widely used SCR triggering method.

 Applying a positive voltage between gate and

cathode can Turn ON a forward biased thyristor.

 When a positive voltage is applied at the gate

terminal, charge carriers are injected in the inner

P-layer,there by reducing the depletion layer
thickness.
 As the applied voltage increases, the carrier

injection increases, therefore the voltage at

which forward break-over occurs decreases.

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 VARIATION OF GATE CURRENT Vs FORWARD
BREAKOVER VOLTAGE

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Gate Triggering circuits

 Three types of signals are used for gate

triggering.

 1. DC gate triggering
 2. AC Gate Triggering
 3. Pulse Gate Triggering

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 1. DC gate triggering:-

 A DC voltage of proper polarity is applied between gate and cathode ( Gate

terminal is positive with respect to Cathode).
 When applied voltage is sufficient to produce the required gate Current, the
device starts conducting.

 One drawback of this scheme is that both power and control circuits are DC
and there is no isolation between the two.

 Another disadvantages is that a continuous DC signal has to be applied. So

gate power loss is high.

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 3. Pulse Gate Triggering:-
 In this method the gate drive consists of a single pulse appearing
periodically (or) a sequence of high frequency pulses.

 This is known as carrier frequency gating.

 A pulse transformer is used for isolation. 

 The main advantage is that there is no need of applying continuous signals,

so the gate losses are reduced.

 Advantages of pulse train triggering:

 Low gate dissipation at higher gate current.
 Small gate isolating pulse transformer
 Low dissipation in reverse biased condition is possible. So simple trigger
circuits are possible in some cases
 When the first trigger pulse fails to trigger the SCR, the following pulses
can succeed in latching SCR.

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 2. AC Gate Triggering:-
 Here AC source is used for gate signals.

 This scheme provides proper isolation between power and control

circuit.

 Drawback of this scheme is that a separate transformer is required

to step down ac supply.

 There are two methods of AC voltage triggering namely (i) R

Triggering (ii) RC triggering

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 R Triggering
o R is used to control the gate current.
o Depending on R, when the gate current reaches the IL (latching) the SCR starts
to conduct.
o The diode D is called as blocking diode. It prevents the gate cathode junction
from getting damaged in the negative half cycle. 
o By considering that the gate circuit is purely resistive, the gate current is in
phase with the applied voltage.
o By using this method we can achieve maximum firing angle up to 90

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 RC Triggering
 Using this we can achieve firing
angle more than 90°.
 The variable resistor R controls the

charging time of the capacitor.

 Depends on Vc, when sufficient

amount of gate current will flow in

the circuit, the SCR starts to conduct.
 In the negative half cycle, the

capacitor C is charged up to the

negative peak value through the
diode D2
 In the positive half cycle, the

capacitor is charged through the

variable resistance R up to the
peak value of the applied voltage.

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Two Transistor Analogy of Thyristor

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Dynamic characteristics (Turn on)of SCR
1. Turn ON Time of SCR:-
 A forward biased thyristor can be turned on by applying a
positive voltage between gate and cathode terminal.
 But it takes some transition time to go from forward blocking
mode to forward conduction mode.
 This transition time is called turn on time of SCR and it can
be subdivided into three small intervals as delay time (td) rise
time(tr), spread time(ts).
2. Delay Time of SCR:-
 After application of gate current, the thyristor will start
conducting over a very tiny region.
 Delay time of SCR can be defined as the time taken by the
gate current to increase from 90% to 100% of its final value Ig.
 From another point of view, delay time is the interval in which
anode current rises from forward leakage current to 10% of its
final value and at the same time anode voltage will fall from
100% to 90% of its initial value Va.
3. Rise Time of SCR:-
 Rise time of SCR in the time taken by the anode current to
rise from 10% to 90% of its final value.
 At the same time anode voltage will fall from 90% to 10% of
its initial value Va.
 The phenomenon of decreasing anode voltage and increasing
anode current is entirely dependent upon the type of the load.
 For example if we connect a inductive load, voltage will fall
in a faster rate than the current increasing.
 This is happened because induction does not allow initially
high voltage change through it.
 On the other hand if we connect a capacitive load it does not
allow initial high voltage change through it, hence current
increasing rate will be faster than the voltage falling rate.
  High increasing rate of dia/dt can create local hot spot in the
device which is not suitable for proper operation. So, it is
advisable to use a inductor in series with the device to tackle
high dia/dt. Usually value of maximum allowable di/dt is in
the range of 20 to 200 A per microsecond.
4. Spread Time of SCR:-
 It is the time taken by the anode current to rise from 90% to
100% of its final value.
 At the same time the anode voltage decreases from 10% of its
initial value to smallest possible value
 In this interval of time conduction spreads all over the area of
cathode and the SCR will go to fully ON State.
 Spread time of SCR depends upon the cross-sectional area of
cathode.
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