Thyristor or Silicon Controlled Rectifier

(SCR)

Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) is a unidirectional

semiconductor device made of silicon. This device is the solid state
equivalent of thyratron and hence it is also referred to as thyristor
or thyroid transistor. In fact, SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier) is
a trade name given to the thyristor by General Electric Company.
Basically, SCR is a three-terminal, four-layer semiconductor device
consisting of alternate layers of p-type and n-type material.
Hence it has three pn junctions J1, J2 and J3. The figure below shows
an SCR with the layers p-n-p-n. The device has terminals Anode(A),
Cathode(K) and the Gate(G). The Gate terminal(G) is attached to
the p-layer nearer to the Cathode(K) terminal
 The symbol of SCR or Thyristor is shown in the figure below.

An SCR can be considered as two inter-connected transistors as

shown below

An SCR can be considered as two inter-connected transistors as

shown below

It is seen that a single SCR is the combination of one pnp transistor

(Q1) and one npn transistor (Q2). Here, the emitter of Q1 acts as the
anode terminal of the SCR while the emitter of Q2 is its cathode.
Further, the base of Q1 is connected to the collector of Q2 and the
collector of Q1 is connected to the base of Q2. The gate terminal of
the SCR is connected to the base of Q2,
The working of SCR can be understood by analyzing its behavior in
the following modes:
Reverse Blocking Mode of SCR
In this mode, the SCR is reverse biased by connecting its anode
terminal (A) to negative end and the cathode terminal (K) to the
positive end of the battery. This leads to the reverse biasing of the
junctions J1 and J3, which in turn prohibits the flow of current
through the device, in spite of the fact that the junction J2 remains
in forward biased condition.

In this state, the SCR behaves as a typical diode. In this reverse

biased condition, only reverse saturation current flows through the
device as in the case of the reverse biased diode which is shown in
the characteristic curve by blue line. The device also exhibits the
reverse breakdown phenomenon beyond a reverse safe voltage
limit just like a diode.

Forward Blocking Mode of SCR

Here a positive bias is applied to the SCR by connecting anode

terminal (A) to the positive and cathode terminal (K) to the negative
terminal of the battery, as shown in the figure below. Under this
condition, the junction J1 and J3 get forward biased while junction J2
gets reverse biased
Here also current cannot pass through the thyristor except the tiny
current flowing as saturation current as shown by the blue curve in
the characteristics curve below.
Forward Conduction Mode of SCR

Forward Conduction Mode of SCR

The SCR can be made to conduct either

(i) By increasing the positive voltage applied at anode terminal (A)
beyond the Break Over Voltage, VB or
(ii) By applying positive voltage at the gate terminal (G) as shown in
the figure below.

In the first case, the increase in the applied bias causes the initially
reverse biased junction J2 to break down at the point corresponding
to forward Break Over Voltage, VB. This results in the sudden
increase in the current flowing through the SCR as shown by the
pink curve in the characteristic curve, although the gate terminal of
the SCR remains unbiased

However, SCR can also be turned on at a much smaller voltage

level by proving small positive voltage at the gate terminal. The
reason behind this can be better understood by considering the
transistor equivalent circuit of the SCR shown in the figure below
Here it is seen that on applying a positive voltage at the gate
terminal, transistor Q2 switches ON and its collector current flows
into the base of transistor Q1. This causes Q1 to turn ON which in
turn results in the flow of its collector current into the base of Q2.
This causes either transistor to get saturated at a very rapid rate
and the action cannot be stopped even by removing the bias
applied at the gate terminal, provided the current through the SCR
is greater than that of the Latching current. Here the latching
current is defined as the minimum current required to maintain the
SCR in conducting state even after the gate pulse is removed.
In such state, the SCR is said to be latched and there will be no
means to limit the current through the device, unless by using an
external impedance in the circuit. This necessitates one to resort
for different techniques like Natural Commutation, Forced
Commutation or Reverse Bias Turn Off and Gate Turn-Off to switch
OFF a conducting SCR.

Basically, all of these techniques aim at reducing the anode current

below the Holding Current. Holding current is defined as the
minimum current to maintain the SCR in its conducting mode.
Similar to the turn off techniques, there are also different turn-on
techniques for the SCR like Triggering by DC Gate Signal,
Triggering by AC Gate Signal and Triggering by Pulsed Gate
Signal, Forward-Voltage Triggering, Gate Triggering, dv/dt
Triggering, Temperature Triggering and Light Triggering.

There are many variations of SCR devices viz., Reverse Conducting

Thyristor (RCT), Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO), Gate Assisted Turn-
Off Thyristor (GATT), Asymmetric Thyristor, Static Induction
Thyristors (SITH), MOS Controlled Thyristors (MCT), Light
Activated Thyristors (LASCR) etc. Normally SCRs have high
switching speed and can handle heavy current flow. This makes the
thyristor (SCR) ideal for many applications like

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).
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.
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,
the value of the maximum allowable di/dt is in the range of 20 to
200 A per microsecond. Note that you can learn more by studying
some of the basic electronics questions we have here at
Electrical4U.
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.
Turn OFF Time of SCR

Once the thyristor is switched on or in other point of view, the anode current is above latching
current, the gate losses control over it. That means gate circuit cannot turn off the device. For
turning off the SCR anode current must fall below the holding current. After anode current fall to
zero we cannot apply forward voltage across the device due to presence of carrier charges into
the four layers. So we must sweep out or recombine these charges to proper turn off of SCR. So
turn off time of SCR can be defined as the interval between anode current falls to zero and
device regains its forward blocking mode. On the basis of removing carrier charges from the four
layers, turn off time of SCR can be divided into two time regions,
1. Reverse Recovery Time.
2. Gate Recovery Time
Reverse Recovery Time
It is the interval in which change carriers remove from J1, and J3 junction. At time t1, anode
current falls to zero and it will continue to increase in reverse direction with same slope (di/dt) of
the forward decreasing current. This negative current will help to sweep out the carrier charges
from junction J1 and J3. At the time t2 carrier charge density is not sufficient to maintain the
reverse current hence after t2 this negative current will start to decrease. The value of current at t2
is called reverse recovery current. Due to rapid decreasing of anode current, a reverse spike of
voltage may appear across the SCR. Total recovery time t3 – t1 is called reverse recovery time.
After that, device will start to follow the applied reverse voltage and it gains the property to
block the forward voltage.
Gate Recovery Time
After sweeping out the carrier charges from junction J1 and J3 during reverse recovery time,
there still remain trapped charges in J2 junction which prevent the SCR from blocking the
forward voltage. This trapped charge can be removed by recombination only and the interval in
which this recombination is done, called gate recovery time.

Characteristics OF SCR According to slide share point of view

Ramp and Pedestal Triggering of SCR –
Circuit & Operation
Ramp and pedestal triggering is a modified version of ramp triggering. In this
firing circuit, two thyristors T1 and T2 are connected in an anti-parallel manner for
controlling the firing angle and thereby controlling the output power. The below
shows the circuit configuration for ramp and pedestal triggering

In the circuit shown above,

 D1, D2, D3 and D4 = Diodes form full-wave bridge

 Vps = Pedestal voltage
 Vs = Source voltage
 VC = Capacitor voltage
 Vz = Voltage across zener diode.
 T1, T1 = Thyristors.
In this firing circuit, variable resistor R2 is used to control the pedestal voltage Vps,
R2 acts as the potential divider. By adjusting the potentiometer R2, such that Vps is
less than the threshold value of UJT (i.e., ηVz), the capacitor then starts charging
through RV. When the capacitor voltage VC equals threshold voltage UJT is turned
ON and pulse voltage is given to thyristors T1 and T2.

 SCR T1, which is in the forward-biased state is turned-ON in the interval

0 to π. After SCR T1 is turned-ON, VC reduces to Vps and then to zero at
ωt = π.
 SCR T2 is forward biased and is turned-ON at ωt = π. So, T1 is turned-
ON from ωt = 0 to ωt = π and SCR T2, is turned-ON from ωt = π to ωt =
2π. Hence, an alternating load voltage is produced as shown in the
below waveforms.
What is an Electrical Drive?
Whenever the term electric motor or electrical generator is used,
we tend to think that the speed of rotation of these machines is
totally controlled only by the applied voltage and frequency of the
source current.
But the speed of rotation of an electrical machine can be controlled
precisely by implementing the concept of an electrical drive.

The main advantage of an electrical drive is that the motion control

can be easily optimized.

Put simply, the system which controls the motion of electrical

machines are known as electrical drives. A typical drive system is
assembled with an electric motor (there may be several) and a
sophisticated control system that controls the rotation of the motor
shaft.
Now days, this control can be done easily with the help of software.
So, the controlling becomes more and more accurate and this
concept of drive also provides the ease of use
This drive system is widely used in large number of industrial and
domestic applications like factories, transportation systems, textile
mills, fans, pumps, motors, robots etc.

Drives are employed as prime movers for diesel or petrol engines,

gas or steam turbines, hydraulic motors and electric motors.
Now coming to the history of electrical drives, this was first
designed in Russia in the year 1838 by B.S.Iakobi, when he tested a
DC electric motor supplied from a storage battery and propelled a
boat. Even though the industrial adaptation occurred after many
years as around 1870. Today almost everywhere the application of
electric drives is seen.
The very basic block diagram an electric drives is shown below.
The load in the figure represents various types of equipments which
consists of electric motor, like fans, pumps,

Speed Control of DC motor

Often we want to control the speed of a DC motor on demand. This intentional change of drive speed
is known as speed control of a DC motor.

We can control the speed of DC motor manually or through an automatic control device. This is
different to speed regulation – where the speed can regulate against the natural change in speed due
to a change in the load on the shaft.

he speed of a DC motor (N) is equal to

N = K (V – IaRa)/ ø Where, K is a constant.

This implies three things:

1. Speed of the motor is directly proportional to supply voltage.

2. The Speed of the motor is inversely proportional to armature voltage drop.
3. The motor speed is inversely proportional to the flux due to the field findings

Thus, the speed of a DC motor can control in three ways:

 By varying the flux, and by varying the current through field winding
 By varying the armature voltage, and the armature resistance
 Through the supply voltage

1. Flux Control Method

Due to the field winding, the magnetic flux varies in order to vary the speed of the motor. As the
magnetic flux depends on the current flowing through the field winding, it changes by varying the
current through the field winding. This can achieve using a variable resistor in a series with the field
winding resistor.

Initially, when the variable resistor keeps at its minimum position, the rated current flows through the
field winding due to a rated supply voltage, and as a result, the speed is kept normal. When the
resistance increases gradually, the current through the field winding decreases. This in turn decreases
the flux produced. Thus, the speed of the motor increases beyond its normal value.

2. Armature Control Method

The controlling of armature resistance controls the voltage drop across the armature. With this method,
the speed of the DC motor can control. This method also uses a variable resistor in series with the
armature
 When the variable resistor reaches its minimum value, the armature resistance is at normal one.
Therefore, the armature voltage drops. When the resistance value gradually increases, the voltage
across the armature decreases. This in turn leads to decrease in the speed of the motor. In this way,
this method achieves the speed of the motor below its normal range.

3. Voltage Control Method

Both the above mentioned methods cannot provide speed control in the desirable range. Moreover,
the flux control method can affect commutation. Whereas the armature control method involves huge
power loss due to its usage of resistor in series with the armature. Therefore, a different method is
often desirable – the one that controls the supply voltage to control the motor speed.

In such a method, the field winding receives a fixed voltage, and the armature gets a variable voltage.
One such technique of voltage control method involves the use of a switch gear mechanism to provide
a variable voltage to the armature. Another one uses an AC motor driven Generator to provide variable
voltage to the armature (named as Ward-Leonard System).

The basic DC motor's E.M.F equation is given below.

 Eb = PΦNZ / 60A.
 V = Eb + IaRa ….. ( ...
 VIa= EbIa + Ia2 Ra ….. ( ...
 V = E b + I a x Ra
 Ish = V / Rsh
 Eb = kfΦω
 Eb = V/2.
 Pin = VIa