CONTROL OF D.C.

POWER USING SCR

INTRODUCTION:
Shockley diodes are curious devices, but rather limited in application. Their usefulness may be expanded, however, by equipping them with another means of latching. In doing so, each becomes true amplifying devices (if only in an on/off mode), and we refer to these as silicon-controlled rectifiers, or SCRs.

The Silicon-Controlled Rectifier (SCR) If an SCR's gate is left floating (disconnected), it behaves exactly as a Shockley diode. It may be latched by breakover voltage or by exceeding the critical rate of voltage rise between anode and cathode, just as with the Shockley diode. Dropout is accomplished by reducing current until one or both internal transistors fall into cutoff mode, also like the Shockley diode. However, because the gate terminal connects directly to the base of the lower transistor, it may be used as an alternative means to latch the SCR. By applying a small voltage between gate and cathode, the lower transistor will be forced on by the resulting base current, which will cause the upper transistor to conduct, which then supplies the lower transistor's base with current so that it no longer needs to be activated by a gate voltage. The necessary gate current to initiate latch-up, of course, will be much lower than the current through the SCR from cathode to anode, so the SCR does achieve a measure of amplification. This method of securing SCR conduction is called triggering, and it is by far the most common way that SCRs are latched in actual practice. In fact, SCRs are usually chosen so that their breakover voltage is far beyond the greatest voltage expected to be experienced from the power source, so that it can be turned on only by an intentional voltage pulse applied to the gate.

It should be mentioned that SCRs may sometimes be turned off by directly shorting their gate and cathode terminals together, or by "reversetriggering" the gate with a negative voltage (in reference to the cathode), so that the lower transistor is forced into cutoff. I say this is "sometimes" possible because it involves shunting all of the upper transistor's collector current past the lower transistor's base. This current may be substantial, making triggered shut-off of an SCR difficult at best. A variation of the SCR, called a Gate-Turn-Off thyristor, or GTO, makes this task easier. But even with a GTO, the gate current required to turn it off may be as much as 20% of the anode (load) current! The schematic symbol for a GTO is shown in the following illustration: (Figure below)

The Gate Turn-Off thyristor (GTO)

THE EXPERIMENT:
With a positive dc voltage , an SCR triggers when a positive gate voltage is applied. Thus the SCR can be triggered by an ac gating voltage whose phase is variable with respect to the dc voltage. With a gating voltage eg, the gating angle can be adjusted by variation of the phase of the eg wave. The average current to a resistive load R can be expressed in terms of the firing angle and Q1 and Q2 where

Eo being the voltage drop (of the order of 2.0 volts) across the SCR after firing and Em is the amplitude of the a.c-supply. [ ( ) ( )]

The phase angle Q1 , must always be lagging. Because of the steepness with which a large-amplitude a-c gating crosses the zero axis, variations in the time of SCR turn on are wave

reduced. The a-c phase control circuit provides precisian in the triggering angle, as well as smooth control over the full range of current. A simple circuit or shifting the phase of an ac voltage is the phase shift bridge. The transformer is polarized, and the voltage at A is in phase with the dc voltage. Voltage CA is drawn as a phasor and with Zj=R and Zo=j/wc, it is known that IR and IXo must be straight angles and must add to the constant voltage CA. Thus the locus of point D is a circle of the diameter CA. phasor BD is triggering voltage, which will be of constant magnitude, and the angle Q is the angle of the triggering voltage behind the anode voltage. Variation of either R or Xc will change the triggering phase angle , with Q=0 for R=0 and Q=180o for R=. From the geometry of the phasor diagram it is that triangle BCD is isosceles. Then, Q+ (180o -2) Q= 2=2 For the circuit diagram using C and R elements: If the inductance is used interchanged or Z1=JwL and Z2=R. It can be found that Q= 2 This circuit modification is frequently employed because variable inductances are of practical Size at supply frequencies. The variation can be obtained by moving an iron core in a solenoid Or by saturating an iron-cored reactor as the inductive element. =180o

OBSERVATIONS:

Value OF R in K

Load Current in amps for GATE Resistances

Theoritical Value of firing angle

2.2K
0.1 0.39 0.82 1.50 2.20 3.90 1.0 0.95 0.80 0.625 0.40 0.10

1K
1.05 1.025 0.925 0.75 0.60 0.25

Degree 3.60 13.97 28.89 50.46 69.30 101.56

Radian 0.063 0.24 0.504 0.88 1.20 1.77

0.1 FIRING ANGLE IN RADIAN

0.39

0.82

1.50

2.20

3.90

0.063

0.24

0.504

0.88

1.20

1.77

CURRENT IN Amp(Theoritical)

1.42

1.41

1.35

1.18

0.97

0.56

MATLAB CODES:
Firing_Angle=[.063 .24 .504 .88 1.2 1.77]; I1dc=[1.05 1.025 .925 .75 .6 .25]; I2dc=[1 .95 .8 .625 .4 .1]; plot(I1dc,Firing_Angle,I2dc,Firing_Angle ); xlabel('Load current(Idc)'); ylabel(Firing Angle (1) in radian');

OUTPUTS: