Lecturer Notes

POWER ELECTRONICS
(Third Year EEE)

G.K.Jabash Samuel
Asst Professor /EEE/RCET
 UNIT I

POWERSEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICES

➢ Study of switching devices

➢ Diode
➢ SCR
➢ TRIAC
➢ GTO
➢ BJT
➢ MOSFET
➢ IGBT
➢ Static and Dynamic characteristics
➢ Triggering and commutation circuit for SCR
➢ Design of Driver and snubber circuit
 UNIT I

POWERSEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICES
POWER ELECTRONICS

The control of electric motor drives requires control of electric power. Power
electronics have eased the concept of power control. Power electronics signifies the
word power electronics and control or we can say the electronic that deal with
power equipment for power control.

Power electronics based on the switching of power semiconductor devices.

With the development of power semiconductor technology, the power handling
capabilities and switching speed of power devices have been improved
tremendously.

Power Semiconductor Devices

The first SCR was developed in late 1957. Power semiconductor devices are broadly
categorized into 3 types:

1. Power diodes (600V,4500A)

2. Transistors
3. Thyristors (10KV,300A,30MW)

Thyristor is a four layer three junction pnpn semiconductor switching device.

It has 3 terminals these are anode, cathode and gate. SCRs are solid state device, so
they are compact, possess high reliability and have low loss.
 SCR is made up of silicon, it act as a rectifier; it has very low resistance in the
forward direction and high resistance in the reverse direction. It is a unidirectional
device.

Static V-I characteristics of a Thyristor

The circuit diagram for obtaining static V-I characteristics is as shown

 Anode and cathode are connected to main source voltage through the load.
The gate and cathode are fed from source ES.
A typical SCR V-I characteristic is as shown below:

VBO=Anode voltage across the thyristor terminal A,K.

VBR= Anode current It can be inferred from the static V-I characteristic of SCR.
Ig =Gate current
Va =Anode voltage across the thyristor terminal A,K.
Ia =Anode current
SCR have 3 modes of operation:
1. Reverse blocking mode
2. Forward blocking mode ( off state)
3. Forward conduction mode (on state)

Reverse Blocking Mode

When cathode of the thyristor is made positive with respect to anode with switch
open thyristor is reverse biased.junctions J1 and J2 are reverse biased where
junction j2 is forward biased. The device behaves as if two diodes are connected in
series with reverse voltage applied across them.
• A small leakage current of the order of few mA only flows. As the thyristor is
reverse biased and in blocking mode. It is called as acting in reverse blocking
mode of operation.
• Now if the reverse voltage is increased, at a critical breakdown level
called reverse breakdown voltage VBR ,an avalanche occurs at J1 and J3.and the
reverse current increases rapidly. As a large current associated with VBR and
hence more losses to the SCR.
This results in Thyristor damage as junction temperature may exceed its maximum
temperature rise.

2. Forward Blocking Mode

When anode is positive with respect to cathode, with gate circuit open,
thyristor is said to be forward biased.Thus junction J1 and J3 are forward biased and
J2 is reverse biased. As the forward voltage is increases junction J2 will have an
avalanche breakdown at a voltage called forward breakover voltage VBO . When
forward voltage is less then VBO thyristor offers high impedance. Thus a thyristor acts
as an open switch in forward blocking mode.

3. Forward Conduction Mode

Here thyristor conducts current from anode to cathode with a very small
voltage drop across it. So a thyristor can be brought from forward blocking mode to
forward conducting mode:

1. By exceeding the forward breakover voltage.

2. By applying a gate pulse between gate and cathode.

During forward conduction mode of operation thyristor is in on state and

behave like a close switch. Voltage drop is of the order of 1 to 2mV. This small
voltage drop is due to ohmic drop across the four layers of the device.

Different turn ON methods for SCR

1. Forward voltage triggering

2. Gate triggering
3.dv/dt triggering
4. Light triggering
5. Temperature triggering
1. Forward voltage triggering

A forward voltage is applied between anode and cathode with gate circuit open.

• Junction J1 and J3 is forward biased.

• Juntion J2 is reverse biased.
• As the anode to cathode voltage is increased breakdown of the reverse biased
junction J2 occurs. This is known as avalanche breakdown and the voltage at
which this phenomena occurs is called forward breakover voltage.
• The conduction of current continues even if the anode cathode voltage
reduces belowVBOtill Ia will not go belowIℎ. Where Iℎ is the holding current
for the thyristor.

2. Gate triggering

This is the simplest, reliable and efficient method of firing the forward biased
SCRs. First SCR is forward biased. Then a positive gate voltage is applied between
gate and cathode. In practice the transition from OFF state to ON state by exceeding
VBO is never employed as it may destroy the device. The magnitude of VBO , soforward
breakover voltage is taken as final voltage rating of the device during the design of
SCR application. First step is to choose a thyristor with forward breakover voltage

(say 800V) higher than the normal working voltage. The benefit is that the thyristor
will be in blocking state with normal working voltage applied across the anode and
cathode with gate open. When we require the turning ON of a SCR a positive gate
voltage between gate and cathode is applied. The point to be noted that cathode n-
layer is heavily doped as compared to gate p-layer. So when gate supply is given
between gate and cathode gate p-layer is flooded with electron from cathode n-
layer. Now the thyristor is forward biased, so some of these electron reach junction
J2. As a result, width of J2 breaks down or conduction at J2 occur at a voltage less
than VBO. As Ig increases VBO reduces which decreases then turn ON time. Another
important point is duration for which the gate current is applied should be more
then turn ON time. This means that if the gate current is reduced to zero before the
anode current reaches a minimum value known as holding current, SCR can’t turn
ON.In this process power loss is less and also low applied voltage is required for
triggering.
3. dv/dt triggering

This is a turning ON method but it may lead to destruction of SCR and so it

must be avoided.When SCR is forward biased, junction J1 and J3 are forward
biased and junction J2 is reversed biased so it behaves as if an insulator is place
between two conducting plate. Here J1 and J3 acts as a conducting plate and J2
acts as an insulator. J2 is known as junction capacitor. So if we increase the rate of
change of forward voltage instead of increasing the magnitude of voltage.
Junction J2 breaks and starts conducting. A high value of changing current may
damage the SCR. So SCR may be protected from highdv/dt.

4. Temperature triggering

During forward biased, J2 is reverse biased so a leakage forward current

always associated with SCR. Now as we know the leakage current is temperature
dependant, so if we increase the temperature the leakage current will also increase
and heat dissipitation of junction J2occurs. When this heat reaches a sufficient value
J2 will break and conduction starts.Disadvantages This type of triggering causes local
hot spot and may cause thermal run away of the device. This triggering cannot be
controlled easily. It is very costly as protection is costly.
5. Light triggering

First a new recess niche is made in the inner p-layer. When this recess is
irradiated, then free charge carriers (electron and hole) are generated. Now if the
intensity is increased above a certain value then it leads to turn ON of SCR. Such SCR
are known as Light activated SCR (LASCR).
Some definitions:

Latching current

The latching current may be defined as the minimum value of anode current
which at must attain during turn ON process to maintain conduction even if gate
signal is removed.

Holding current

It is the minimum value of anode current below which if it falls, the SCR will
turn OFF.

Switching characteristics of thyristors

The time variation of voltage across the thyristor and current through it during
turn on and turn off process gives the dynamic or switching characteristic of SCR.
Switching characteristic during turn on

Turn on time
It is the time during which it changes from forward blocking state to ON state.
Total turn on time is divided into 3 intervals:

1. Delay time

2. Rise time

3. Spread time
Delay time
If Ig and Ia represent the final value of gate current and anode current. Then
the delay time can be explained as time during which the gate current attains 0.9 Ig
to the instant anode current reaches 0.1 Ig or the anode current rises from forward
leakage current to 0.1 Ia.
1. Gate current 0.9 Ig to 1 Ia.
2. Anode voltage falls from Va to 0.9Va.
3. Anode current rises from forward leakage current to 0.1

Va Rise time (t r)

Time during which

1. Anode current rises from 0.1 Ia to 0.9 Ia
2. Forward blocking voltage falls from 0.9Va to 0.1Va.
3. Ia is the initial forward blocking voltage.

Spread time (tp)

1. Time taken by the anode current to rise from 0.9Ia toIa.

2. Time for the forward voltage to fall from 0.1V0 to on state voltage drop of 1 to
1.5V. During turn on, SCR is considered to be a charge controlled device. A certain
amount of charge is injected in the gate region to begin conduction. So higher the
magnitude of gate current it requires less time to inject the charges. Thus turn on
time is reduced by using large magnitude of gate current.

How the distribution of charge occurs?

As the gate current begins to flow from gate to cathode with the application
of gate signal. Gate current has a non uniform distribution of current density over
the cathode surface. Distribution of current density is much higher near the gate.
The density decrease as the distance from the gate increases. So anode current
flows in a narrow region near gate where gate current densities are highest. From
the beginning of rise time the anode current starts spreading itself. The anode
current spread at a rate of 0.1mm/sec.
 The spreading anode current requires some time if the rise time is not
sufficient then the anode current cannot spread over the entire region of cathode.
Now a large anode current is applied and also a large anode current flowing through
the SCR. As a result turn on losses is high. As these losses occur over a small
conducting region so local hot spots may form and it may damage the device.

Switching Characteristics During Turn Off

Thyristor turn off means it changed from ON to OFF state. Once thyristor is
oON there is no role of gate. As we know thyristor can be made turn OFF by
reducing the anode current below the latching current. Here we assume the latching
current to be zero ampere. If a forward voltage is applied across the SCR at the
moment it reaches zero then SCR will not be able to block this forward voltage.
Because the charges trapped in the 4-layer are still favourable for conduction and it
may turn on the device. So to avoid such a case, SCR is reverse biased for some time
even if the anode current has reached to zero. So now the turn off time can be
different as the instant anode current becomes zero to the instant when SCR regains
its forward blocking capability.

Where, tq is the turn off time,trr is the reverse recovery time, tqr is the gate

recovery time At t 1 anode current is zero. Now anode current builds up in reverse
direction with same slope. This is due to the presence of charge carriers in the four
layers. The reverse recovery current removes the excess carriers from J1 and J3
between the instants J1 andJ3. At instant J3 the end junction J1 and J3 is recovered.
But J2 still has trapped charges which decay due to recombination only so the
reverse voltage has to be maintained for some more time. The time taken for the
recombination of charges between J3 and J4 is called gate recovery time VBO.
Junction J2 recovered and now a forward voltage can be applied across SCR.
The turn off time is affected by:
1. Junction temperatureMagnitude of forward current dv/dt during
commutation.

Turn off time decreases with the increase of magnitude of reverse applied voltage.

GTO(Gate turn off thyristor)

A gate turn off thyristor is a pnpn device. In which it can be turned ON like an
ordinary SCR by a positive gate current. However it can be easily turned off by a
negative gate pulse of appropriate magnitude.
Conventional SCR are turned on by a positive gate signal but once the SCR is turned
on gate loses control over it. So to turn it off we require external commutation
circuit. These commutation circuits are bulky and costly. So due to these drawbacks
GTO comes into existence.
The salient features of GTO are:
1. GTO turned on like conventional SCR and is turned off by a negative gate signal
of sufficient magnitude.

2. It is a non latching device.

3. GTO reduces acoustic and electromagnetic noise.

It has high switching frequency and efficiency.

A gate turn off thyristor can turn on like an ordinary thyristor but it is turn off
by negative gate pulse of appropriate magnitude.

Disadvantage
The negative gate current required to turn off a GTO is quite large that is 20% to 30
% of anode current
Advantage
It is compact and cost less
Switching performance

1. For turning ON a GTO first TR1is turned on.

2. This in turn switches on TR2 so that a positive gate current pulse is applied
to turn on the GTO.
3. Thyristor T1 is used to apply a high peak negative gate current pulse.

Gate turn-on characteristics

1. The gate turn on characteristics is similar to a thyristor. Total turn on
time consists of delay time, rise time, spread time.
2. The turn on time can be reduced by increasing its forward gate current.

GATE TURN OFF

Turn off time is different for SCR.Turn off characteristics is divied into 3 pd
1. Storage time
2. Fall time
3. Tail time
Tq=ts+tf+tt
At normal operating condition gto carries a steady state current.The turn off process
starts as soon as negative current is applied after t=0.

STORAGE TIME

During the storagepd the anode voltage and current remains constant.The
gate current rises depending upon the gate circuit impedance and gate applied
voltage.The beginning of pd is as soon as negative gate current is applied.The end of
storage pd is marked by fall in anode current and rise in voltage,what we have to do
is remove the excess carriers.the excess carriers are removed by negative carriers.

FALL TIME
After ts, anode current begins to fall rapidly and anode voltage starts rising.After
falling to a certain value,then anode current changes its rate to fall.this time is called

fall time.
SPIKE IN VOLTAGE
During the time of storage and fall timethere is achange in voltage due to abrupt
current change.

TAIL TIME
During this time ,the anode current and voltage continues towards the turn off
values.The transient overshoot is due to the snubber parameter and voltage
stabilizes to steady state value.

THE TRIAC
As SCR is a unidirectional device,the conduction is from anode to cathode and
not from cathode to anode. It conducts in both direction.It is a bidirectional SCR
with three terminal.
 TRIAC=TRIODE+AC
Here it is considered to be two SCRS connected in anti parallel.As it conducts
in both direction so it is named as MT1,MT2 and gate G.

SALIENT FEATURES
1.Bi directional triode thyristor 2.TRIAC
means triode that works on ac 3.It
conduct in both direction
4. It is a controlled device
5. Its operation is similar to two devices connected in anti parallel with common gate
connection.
6. It has 3 terminals MT1,MT2 and gate G Its use is control of power in ac.
POWER BJT
Power BJT means a large voltage blocking in the OFF state and high current carrying
capability in the ON state. In most power application, base is the input terminal.
Emitter is the common terminal. Collector is the output terminal.
SIGNAL LEVEL OF BJT
n+ doped emitter layer ,doping of base is more than collector.Depletion layer exists
more towards the collector than emitter

POWER BJT CONSTRUCTION

The maxium collector emitter voltage that can be sustained across the junction,
when it is carrying substantial collector current.
Vceo=maxium collectorand emitter voltage that can be sustain by the device.
Vcbo=collector base breakdown voltage with emitter open
PRIMARY BREAKDOWN
It is due to convention avalanche breakdown of the C-B junction and its
associated large flow of current.The thickness of the depletion region determines
the breakdown voltage of the transistor.The base thickness is made as small as
possible,in order to have good amplification capability. If the thickness is too small,
the breakdown voltage is compromised.So a compromise has to be made between
the two.
THE DOPING LEVELS-

1.The doping of the emitter layer is quite large.

2.The base doping is moderate.
3.n- region is lightly doped.
4.n+ region doping level is similar to emitter.
1.THICKNESS OF DRIFT REGION
It determines the breakdown length of the
transistor.

2.THE BASE THICKNES

Small base thickness- good amplification capability Too small base thickness-
the breakdown voltage of the transistor has ti be compromised. For a relatively thick
base,the current gain will be relatively small.so it is increase the
gain.Monolithicesigns for darlington connected BJT pair have been deveploed.

SECONDARY BREAKDOWN

Secondary breakdown is due to large power disspation at localized site within

the semi conductor.

PHYSICS OF BJT OPERATION

The transistor is assumed to operate in active region. There is no doped
collector drift region. It has importance only in switching operation, in active region
of operation.
B-E junction is forward biased and C-B junction is reverse biased. Electrons are
injected into base from the emitter. Holes are injected from base into the emitter.

QUASI SATURATION

Intially we assume that, the transistor is in active region. Base current is

allowed to increase then lets see what happens.first collector rises in response to
base current.So there is a increase voltage drop across the collector load.So C-E
voltage drops.Because of increase in collector current, there is a increase in voltage
in drift region. This eventually reduces the reverse biased across the C-B junction.
So now injection of holes from base into collector drift region occurs. Charge
neutrality requires the electron to be injected in the drift region of the holes. From
where these electron came. Since a large no of electron is supplied to the C-B
junction via injection from emitter and subsequent diffusion across the base. As
excess carrier build up in the drift region begins to occur quasi saturation region is
entered. As the injected carrires increase in the drift region is gradually shotred out
and the voltage across the drift region drops. In quasi saturation the drift region is
not completely shorted out by high level injection.Hard saturation obtained when
excess carrier density reaches the n+ side.During quasi saturation, the rate of the
collector fall.Hard saturation occurs when excess carriers have completely swept
across the drift region .

THYRISTOR PROTECTION

OVER VOLTAGE PROTECTION

Over voltage occurring during the switching operation causes the failure of SCR.

INTERNAL OVERVOLTAGE

It is due to the operating condition of SCR. During the commutation of SCR

when the anode current decays to zero anode current reverses due to stored
changes. First the reverse current rises to peak value, then reverse current reduces
abruptly with large di/dt. During series inductance of SCR large transient large
voltage i.e di/dt. is generated.

EXTERNAL OVER VOLTAGE

This is due to external supply and load condition. This is because of
1. The interruption of current flow in an inductive circuit.

2. Lightening strokes on the lines feeding the thyristor systems.

Suppose a SCR converter is fed from a transformer, voltage transient occurs when
transformer primary will energise or de-energised.
This over voltages cause random turn ON of a SCR.
The effect of overvoltage is minimized using
1. RC circuits

2. Non linear resistor called voltage clamping device.

Voltage clamping device is a nonlinear resistor. It is connected between

cathode and anode of SCR. The resistance of voltage clamping device decreases with
increasing voltages. During normal working condition Voltage clamping (V.C) device
has high resistance, drawing only leakage current. When voltage surge appears
voltage clamping device offers a low resistance and it create a virtual short circuit
across the SCR. Hence voltage across SCR is clamped to a safe value.
When surge condition over voltage clamping device returns to high resistance state.
e.g. of voltage clamping device
1.Seleniumthy rector diodes
2.Metal Oxide varistors
3.Avalanche diode supressors
OVER CURRENT PROTECTION
Long duration operation of SCR, during over current causes the
1. junction temp. of SCR to rise above the rated value, causing permanent damage to
device.
SCR is protected from overcurrent by using
1.Circuit breakers
2. Fast acting fuses
Proper co-ordination is essential because
1..fault current has to be interrupted before SCR gets
damaged. 2.only faulty branches of the network has to be
replaced.
In stiff supply network, source has negligible impedance. So in such system the
magnitude and rate of rise of current is not limited. Fault current hence junction
temp rises in a few miliseconds.
POINTS TO BE NOTED
1. Proper coordination between fast acting fuse and thyristor is essential.

2. The fuse is always rated to carry marginal overload current over definite period.

3. The peak let through current through SCR must be less than sub cycle rating of
the SCR.

4. The voltage across the fuse during arcing time is called arcing or recovery voltage
and is equal to sum of the source voltage and emf induced in the circuit inductance
during arcing time.

5. On abrupt interruption of fuse current, induce emf would be high, which results
in high arcing voltage.

Circuit Breaker (C.B)

C.B. has long tripping time. So it is used for protecting the device against continuous
overload current or against the surge current for long duration. In order that fuse
protects the thyristor realiably the I2 rating of fuse current must be less than that of
SCR.
ELECTRONIC CROWBAR PROTECTION

For overcurrent protection of power converter using SCR, electronic

crowbar are used. It provide rapid isolation of power converter before any
damage occurs.

HEAT PROTECTION-
To protect the SCR
1. From the local spots
2. Temp rise

SCRs are mounted over heat sinks.

GATE PROTECTION
PROTECTION

Gate circuit should also be protected from

1. Overvoltages
2.Overcurrents

Overvoltage across the gate circuit causes the false triggering of SCR Overcurrent
raise the junction temperature. Overvoltage protection is by zener diode across the
gate circuit.

INSULATED GATE BIPOLAR TRANSISTOR(IGBT)

BASIC CONSTRUCTION

The n+ layer substrate at the drain in the power MOSFET is substituted by p+

layer substrate and called as collector. When gate to emitter voltage is positive,n-
channel is formed in the p- region.This n- channel short circuit the n- and n+ layer
and an electron movement in n channel cause hole injection from p+subtrate layer
to n- layer.
POWER MOSFET
 A power MOSFET has three terminal device. Arrow indicates the direction of
current flow. MOSFET is a voltage controlled device. The operation of MOSFET
depends on flow of majority carriers only.

(Circuit diagram) (circuit symbol)

Switching Characteristics:-

The switching characteristic is influenced by

1. Internal capacitance of the device.
2. Internal impedance of the gate drive circuit.

Total turn on time is divided into

1.Turn on delay time
2.Rise time

Turn on time is affected by impedance of gate drive source. During turn on

delaytime ate to source voltage attends its threshold value Vgst . After t dn and
during rise time gate to source voltage rise toVgsp, a voltage which is sufficient to
drive the MOSFET to ON state. The turn off process is initiated by removing the gate
to source voltage. Turn off time is composed of turn off delay time to fall time. Turn
off delay time to fall time.
Turn off delay time

To turn off the MOSFET the input capacitance has to be discharged . During tdf
the input capacitance discharge from v1to Vgsp. During tf , fall time ,the input
capacitance discharges from Vgsp to Vgst. During tf drain current falls from id to
zero.

So when Vgs ≤ Vgst , MOFSET turn off is complete.

Fig. Switching waveform of power MOSFET

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
IGBT has high input impedance like MOFFSET and low on state power lose as in
BJT.

IGBT Characteristics

Here the controlling parameter is gate emitter voltage As IGBT is a voltage controlled
device. When Vge is less than Vget that is gate emitter threshold voltage IGBT is in
off state.

Fig. A Fig. b. Fig. c

Fig. a (Circuit diagram for obtaining V-I characteristics) Fig.

b (Static V-I characteristics)
Fig. c (Transfer characteristic)

Switching characteristics:

Figure below shows the turn ON and turn OFF characteristics of IGBT
Turn on time

Time between the instants forward blocking state to forward on -state

. Turn on time = Delay time + Rise time
Delay time = Time for collector emitter voltage fall from V CE to 0.9VCE
VCE=Initial collector emitter voltage
tdn=collector current to rise from initial leakage current to
0.1Ic Ic= Final value of collector current
Rise time
Collector emitter voltage to fall from 0.9VCE to 0.1VCE. 0.1Ic to Ic
After tON the device is on state the device carries a steady current of Ic and the
collector emitter voltage falls to a small value called conduction drop V CES.
Turn off time
1) Delay time tdf
2) Initial fall time tf1
3) Final fall time tf2
toff =tdf+tf1+ tf2

tdf= Time during which the gate emitter voltage falls to the threshold value V GET.
Collector current falls from Ic to 0.9Ic at the end of the t df collector emitter voltage
begins to rise.

Turn off time = Collector current falls from 90% to 20% of its initial value Ic OR The
time during which collector emitter voltage rise from VCE to 0.1VCE.
tf2=collector current falls from20% to 10% of Ic.

During this collector emitter voltage rise 0.1VCE to final value of VCE.
Series and parallel operation of SCR

SCR are connected in series for h.v demand and in parallel for fulfilling high current
demand. Sting efficiency can be defined as measure of the degree of utilization on
SCRs in a string.
String efficiency < 1.
Derating factor (DRF)
1 – string efficiency.
If DRF more then no. of SCRs will more, so string is more reliable. Let the rated
blocking voltage of the string of a series connected SCR is 2V1 as shown in the figure
below, But in the string two SCRs are supplied a maximum voltage of V1+V2.

Significance of string efficiency .

Two SCRs are have same forward blocking voltage ,When system voltage is
more then the voltage rating of a single SCR. SCRs are connected in series in a string.
There is a inherent variation in characteristics. So voltage shared by each SCR may
not be equal. Suppose, SCR1 leakage resistance > SCR2 leakage resistance. For same
leakage current I0 in the series connected SCRs. For same leakage current SCR1
supports a voltage I1 , SCR2 supports a voltage I2,

The above operation is when SCRs are not turned ON. But in steady state of
operation , A uniform voltage distribution in the state can be achieved by connect a
suitable resistance across each SCRs , so that parallel combination have same
resistance. But this is a cumbersome work. During steady state operation we
connect same value of shunt resistance across each SCRs. This shunt resistance is
called state equalizing circuit.
SCRs having unequal dynamic characteristics:

It may occur that SCRS may have unequal dynamic characteristics so the
voltage distribution across the SCR may be unequal during the transient condition.
* Series connected SCR develop different voltages during turn ON and turn OFF
process. Till now we connect a simple resistor across the diode for static voltage
equalizing circuit .

* During turn ON and turn OFF capacitance of reverse biased junction determine the
voltage distribution across SCRs in a series connected string . As reverse biased
junction have different capacitance called self capacitance , the voltage distribution
during turn ON and turn Off process would be different.

* Under transient condition equal voltage distribution can be achieved by employing

shunt capacitance as this shunt capacitance has the effect of that the resultant of
shunt and self capacitance tend to be equal. The capacitor is used to limits the dv/dt
across the SCR during forward blocking state. When this SCR turned ON capacitor
discharges heavy current through the SCR . The discharge current spike is limited by
damping resistor RC . RC also damps out high frequency oscilation that may arise due
to series combination of RC ,C and series inductor . RC & C are called dynamic
equalizing circuit
 Diode D is used during forward biased condition for more effective charging of
the capacitor. During capacitor discharge comes into action for limiting current spike
and rate of change of current di/dt .

The R, RC & C component also provide path to flow reverse recovery current.
When one SCR regain its voltage blocking capability. The flow of reverse recovery
current is necessary as it facilitates the turning OFF process of series connected SCR
string. So C is necessary for both during turn ON and turn OFF process. But the
voltage unbalance during turn OFF time is more predominant then turn ON time. So
choice of C is based on reverse recovery characteristic of SCR .

SCR 1 has short recovery time as compared to SCR 2. Δ Q is the difference in

reverse recovery charges of two SCR 1 and SCR 2. Now we assume the SCR 1 recovers
fast . i.e it goes into blocking state so charge ΔQ can pass through C . The voltage
induced by C1 is ΔQ /C , where is no voltage induced across C2 .
 The difference in voltage to which the two shunt capacitor are charged is Δ Q/C .
Now thyristor with least recovery time will share the highest transient ,

Let us assume that if top SCR has similar to characteristic SCR 1. Then SCR 1
would support a voltage Vbm.If the remaining (n-1) SCR has characteristic that of
SCR 2 .
Then SCR 1 would recover first and support a voltage Vbm . The charge (n-1)
from the remaining (n -1) SCR would pass through C.
Parallel operation:
When current required by the load is more than the rated current of single thyristor ,
SCRs are connected in parallel in a string .
 For equal sharing of current, SCRs must have same V−Icharacteristics during
forward conduction. VT across them must be same. For same VT , SCR 1 share I1and
SCR 2 share I2 . If I1 is the rated current

Middle conductor will have more inductance as compared to other two nearby
conductor. As a result less current flow through the middle conductor. Another
method is by magnetic coupling.

Thyristor gate characteristics:-

Vg = +ve gate to cathode voltage.

Ig= +ve gate to cathode current.
 As the gate cathode characteristic of a thyrister is a p-n junction, gate
characteristic of the device is similar to diode. Curve 1 the lowest voltage values
that must be applied to turn on the SCR.
Curve 2 highest possible voltage values that can be safely applied to get
circuit. Vgm= Maximum limit for gate voltage .
Igm= Maximum imilt for gate current.
Vgav = Rated gate power dissipation for each SCR.
These limits should not be crossed in order to avoid the permanent damage of
the device junction J3.
OY = Minimum limit of gate voltage to turn ON .
OX = minimum limit of gate current to turn ON.
If Vgm, Igm,Vgav are exceeded the thyristor will damage so the preferred gate drive
area of SCR is bcdefghb.
oa = The non triggering gate voltage , If firing circuit generates +ve gate signal prior
to the desired instant of triggering the SCR.It should be ensured that this un wanted
signal should be less than the non –triggering voltage oa.
R1 is connected across the gate cathode terminal, which provides an easy path to
the flow of leakage current between SCR terminal. If Vgmn , Igmn are the minimum
gate current and gate voltage to turn ON the SCR.