VIVA

1. What is a Thyristor?
Thyristor is derived from the properties of a Thyratron tube and a Transistor. It is used as
another name for SCR’S. They are power Semiconductor devices used for power control
applications

2. What are the different methods of turning on an SCR?

 Anode to cathode voltage is greater than break over voltage.
 Gate triggering
 When dv/dt exceeds permissible value.
 Gate cathode junction is exposed to light

3. What are modes of working of an SCR?

Reverse blocking mode, Forward blocking mode and Forward conduction mode are the
modes of working of an SCR.

4. Differentiate between holding and latching currents?

 Holding current is the minimum amount of current below, which SCR does not
conduct. It is associated with the presence of gate terminal and concerns turn off
condition.

 Latching current is the minimum amount of current required for the SCR to conduct.
It is associated with absence of gate terminal and concerns turn on process. It is
greater than holding current.

5. What are different types of firing circuits to trigger SCR?

 R firing circuit.
 RC firing circuit.
 UJT firing circuit.
 Digital firing circuit

6. What are the advantages of SCR?

 Very small amount of gate drive is required since SCR is regenerative device.
 SCR’s with high voltage and current ratings are available.
 On state losses are reduced.

7. What are the disadvantages of SCR’s?

 Gate has no control once the SCR is turned on.
 External circuits are required to turn off the SCR.
 Operating frequencies are very low.
 Snubber (RC circuits) is required for dv/dt protection.
8. What are applications of SCR?
 SCR’s are best suitable for controlled rectifiers.
 AC regulators, lighting and heating applications.
 DC motor drives, large power supplies and electronic circuit breakers.

9. What are MOSFET?

Metal oxide silicon di-oxide field effect transistor is a voltage-controlled device. The parts of
MOSFET are gate, drain and source.

10. What are the merits of MOSFET?

 MOSFET’s are majority carrier devices .
 MOSFET’s have positive temperature coefficient,
 MOSFET’s have very simple drive circuits.
 MOSFET’s have short turn on and turn off times; hence they operate at high
frequencies.
 MOSFET’s do not require commutation techniques.
 Gate has full control over the operation of MOSFET.

11. What are demerits of MOSFET?

 On state losses in MOSFET are high.
 MOSFET’s are used only for low power applications.
 MOSFET’s suffer from static charge.

12. What are the applications of MOSFET?

 High frequency and low power inverters.
 High frequency SMPS.
 High frequency inverters and choppers.
 Low power AC and DC drives.

13. What is IGBT?

Insulated gate bipolar transistor is the latest device in power Electronics .It is obtained by
combining the properties of BJT And MOSFET.

14. In what way IGBT is more advantageous than BJT and MOSFET?
 It has high input impedance of the MOSFET and has low on-state voltage drop.
 The turn off time of an IGBT is greater than that of MOSFET.
 It has low onstage conduction losses and there is no problem of second Breakdown
as in case of BJT.
 It is inherently faster than a BJT

15. What is switching speed?

The time taken to turn on or turn off a power device is called switching speed.
16. What are merits of IGBT?
 The drive is simple.
 Onstage losses are reduced.
 No commutation circuits are required.
 Gate has full control.
 Switching frequencies are higher.

17. What are demerits of IGBT?

 They have static charge problems.
 They are very costly

18. What are the applications of IGBT?

 Ac motor drives. (Inverters)
 Dc to Dc power supplies. (Choppers)
 UPS systems.
 Harmonic compensators.

19. What is the maximum firing angle of R-triggering circuit and why?
The maximum firing angle is 90°. This is because the source voltage reaches maximum value
of 90° point and the gate current has to reach Ig(min) some where between 0-90°. This
limitation means that load voltage waveform can only be varied from α = 0° to α = 90°

20. What are the disadvantages of R triggering?

 Trigger angle α is greatly dependent on the SCR’s Ig(min) and this value varies
between SCR’s and it is also temperature dependent.
 Maximum triggering angle achievable is 90°

21. What is ac voltage controller?

If a Thyristor switch is connected between ac supply and load, the power flow can be
controlled by varying the rms value of ac voltage applied to the load and this type of power
circuit is known as an ac voltage regulator

22. What are the applications of ac voltage controllers?

The most common applications of ac voltage controllers are: industrial heating, on-load
transformer tap changing, light controls, speed control of polyphase induction motors and ac
magnet controls.

23. Give the classification of ac voltage regulators?

 single phase controllers
 three phase controllers

24. What do you mean by sequence control?

The use of two or more stages voltages controllers in parallel for the regulation of output
voltage.
25. What are the two types of control?
 on off control: Here Thyristor switches connect the load to the ac source for a few
cycles of input voltage and then disconnect it for another few cycles.
 *phase angle control: Here Thyristor switches connect the load to the ac source for a
portion of each cycle of input voltage.

26. What is the difference between cycloconverters and ac voltage controllers?

In cycloconverters (ac to variable ac) frequency of output can be varied. In ac voltage
controller’s frequency of output is kept constant, just the output average value is controlled
(on and off times varied).

27. What are the merits and demerits of voltage controllers?

 The merits are that they are simple without commutation circuits, high efficiency
and less maintenance.
 The demerits are that the load current is asymmetric (phase control) and hence
harmonics are present and intermittent supply of power in on-off control.

28. What is a full controlled rectifier?

It is a two-quadrant ac to dc converter. It has 4 thyristors and hence all of them can be
controlled for rectification purpose. In a full converter the polarity of the output voltage can
be either positive or negative but the output current has only one polarity.

29. What is a semi converter?

A semi converter is a one-quadrant converter and it has only one polarity of output voltage
and current.

30. What is a dual converter?

A dual converter can operate in all 4 quadrants and both output voltage and current can be
either positive or negative.

31. What are choppers?

A dc chopper converts directly from dc to dc and is also known as dc-dc converter.

32. What does a chopper consist of?

It can be a power transistor, SCR, GTO, power MOSFET, IGBT or a switching device

33. Explain the principle of operation of a chopper?

A chopper acts as a switch, which connects and disconnects the load, hence producing
variable voltage.

34. Define duty cycle.

The duty cycle of chopper controls its output voltage. The value of duty cycle lies between 0
and 1 and is given by Ton/(Ton+Toff).
35. What are the advantages of DC choppers?
 High ripple frequency, so small filters are required.
 Power factor is better.
 Efficiency is better.
 Small and compact.
 The dynamic response of choppers is fast due to switching nature of the device.

36. What are the disadvantages of choppers?

 They can operate only at low frequencies.
 The commutation time depends on the load current.
 The output voltage is limited to a minimum and maximum value beyond which we
cannot get the output voltage.

37. What are the applications of dc choppers?

 Battery operated vehicles,
 switched mode power supplies,
 traction devices,
 lighting and lamp controls,
 trolley cars,
 marine hoists,
 forklift trucks.
 Mine haulers etc

38. How can the speed of the series motor controlled?

 flux control method
I) field divertors
II)Armature divertor
 variable resistance in series with the motor.

39. Why is it called TRIAC and what are its applications?

The word TRIAC is abbreviated from TRI from Triode and AC. The TRIAC is the best device for
AC phase control. The input and load is AC. The power is to be controlled in positive as well
as negative half cycles. The TRIAC is triggered in every half cycle. Thus, the necessity of anti
parallel SCR’s is eliminated by TRIAC. Thus, it is used mainly in AC power controllers, heater,
fan, triggering device for SCR’s.

40. How many terminals does a TRIAC have?

 main terminal (MT 1),
 main terminal (MT 2),
 gate (G)

41. What are the two modes of operation of a TRIAC?

 Junction gate operation
 Remote gate operation
42. What are merits of TRIAC?
 TRIAC is a bi-directional device that is it conducts in both directions.
 TRIAC turns-off when voltage is reversed.
 Single gate controls conduction in both directions.
 TRIAC’s with high voltages and current ratings are available.

43. What are de-merits of TRIAC?

 TRIAC’s are latching devices like SCR; hence they are not suitable for DC power
applications.
 Gate has no control over the conduction once Triac is turned on.
 TRIAC’s have very small switching frequencies.

44. What are inverters and what are its applications?

 DC to AC converters is known as inverters. The function of an inverter is to change a
DC input voltage into AC output voltage of desired magnitude and frequency.
 Inverters are widely used in industrial applications like variable speed AC motor
drives, induction heating, stand-by power supplies and uninterrupted power
supplies.

45. What is the main classification of inverters?

Inverters can be broadly classified into two types namely, Single-phase inverters and three
phase inverters. Each type can use controlled turn-on and controlled turn-off devices (eg.
BJT’s and MOSFET’s etc) or forced commutation thyristers depending on application.

46. Compare between Voltage source and Current source inverters

Voltage source inverters Current source inverters

 Input is constant voltage.  Input is constant current.
 Short circuit can damage the circuit.  Short circuit cannot damage the
 Peak current of power-device circuit.
depends on load.  Peak current of power-device is
 Current wave forms depend on load. limited.
 Free wheeling diodes are required in  Voltage wave forms depend on load.
case of inducted load.  Free wheeling diodes are not
required.

47. State the function of the cycloconverter.

The function of the cycloconverter is to convert constant voltage, constant frequency into
variable voltage, and variable frequency without any intermediate stage.

48. What you know about a snubber circuit?

The snubber circuit is a series combination of a resistor and a capacitor in parallel with the
SCR. The circuit is mainly used for the dv/dt protection of SCR.
49. What is SMPS function?
A switched-mode power supply (SMPS) can be understood as an electronic circuit converting
power with switching devices that turn on and off at high frequencies. They are also storage
component like inductors or capacitors that supplies power when the switching as at its non-
conduction state.

50. What is SMPS power supply?

SMPS stands for switch-mode power supply. Its job is to convert wall-voltage AC power to
lower voltage DC power.

51. Uses of SMPS power supply?

 The switch mode power supply (SMPS) is used in personal computers.
 It is used in machine tool industries.
 The SMPS is used in security system.
 It is used in railway system.
 It is also used in mobile.
 It is used in battery charger.
 The SMPS is used in vehicles.
 It is also used in lighting.