Thyristor Firing Circuit

Rs = 10-22 Ω
Rg = 1 kΩ
Cg = 0.01 μF - 0.1μF

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Advantages of Pulse Triggering
• Much less power is dissipated in the gate compared to a continuous current
• Instant of firing can be accurately timed

Pulse Transformer
• low winding resistance
• low leakage reactance
• low inter-winding capacitance

Advantages of using pulse transformer

• The isolation of low-voltage gate circuit from high-voltage anode circuit
• The triggering of two or more devices from the same trigger source

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 Gate Protection Circuits
• D2: D2 allows only positive pulses. It is used to prevent the negative gate current due to reverse voltage
induced in the secondary when the transistor turns off
• Rs: Rs damps out any transient oscillation (due to stray inductance and capacitance together) and limits the
gate current
• Dg: Protects the gate from negative voltage
• Rg: Rg increases the dv/dt capability of the SCR, reduces turn-off time and increases latching and holding
currents. Rg is used to bypass some anode current around the gate and maintain the conduction. The
resistance bypasses the internal current caused by high dv/dt and raises the breakover voltage. Particularly,
in low current high sensitivity thyristors this resistance is helpful in avoiding turn-on by thermally
generated currents. Turn-off time is reduced because such a resistance helps in the rapid recovery of stored
charge, raises holding current and anode current required for re-triggering.
• Cg: Cg removes high frequency noise components and increases dv/dt capability and gate delay time. After
the thyristor is turned-on, the capacitor may remain charged and when anode current is zero may still
supply triggering current and prevent commutation process.
• Both Cg and Rg are responsible to bypass the current i=C(dv/dt). Cg will be charged and turn-on time will
be little more increased. 3
Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO)
IC
 (common base current gain) 
IE
IC 2   2 I K
I B 2  I K   2 I K  (1   2 ) I K

A Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO) is

basically a thyristor-type device that
can be turned on by a positive gate
current pulse, but in addition, has the
capability of being turned off by a
large negative gate current without
reversing the cathode-to-anode
voltage. The turn-off capability of a
GTO is due to the diversion of P-N-P
collector current by the gate, thus
breaking the PNP/NPN regenerative
feedback effect.
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• In principle, a thyristor can be turned off if the charge is removed from the p2-base at a faster rate than the
rate at which the charge arrives. When this happens, the central junction J2 can no longer remain in
saturation. The p2-base receives a current (α1 IA ) from the anode. Part of this current IK(1-α2) flows out to
the cathode as the base current of the n2-p2-n1 transistor in its on-state. Hence, if IG is the gate current,
then turn-off will occur when
I G  I K (1   2 )   1 I A
IA Anode current
I I Turn - off gain   off  
1  K (1   2 )   1 A I G Reverse gate current
IG IG
(I A  IG ) I
1 (1   2 )   1 A
IG IG
IA I
1 (  1 ) (1   2 )   1 A
IG IG
1  (  off  1 ) (1   2 )   1  off
 2   off   2  off   1  off
 2   1  off   2  off   off
 2   off ( 1   2  1 )
2
  off 
1   2 1 5
GTO

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 Optocoupler
• Optocoupler can be used to provide electrical isolation between an input
source and an output load using just light.
• The basic design of an optocoupler, also known as an Opto-isolator,
consists of an LED that produces infra-red light and a semiconductor
photo-sensitive device that is used to detect the emitted infra-red beam.
Both the LED and photo-sensitive device are enclosed in a light-tight
body or package with metal legs for the electrical connections as shown.
• An optocoupler or opto-isolator consists of a light emitter, the LED and
a light sensitive receiver which can be a single photo-diode, photo-
transistor, photo-resistor, photo-SCR, or a photo-TRIAC with the basic
operation of an optocoupler being very simple to understand.

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 Optocoupler Types
• Optocouplers are available in four general types,
each one having an infra-red LED source but with
different photo-sensitive devices.
• The four optocouplers are called the:
vPhoto-transistor,
vPhoto-darlington,
vPhoto-SCR and
vPhoto-triac
The photo-transistor and photo-darlington devices are
mainly for use in DC circuits while the photo-SCR and
photo-triac allow AC powered circuits to be controlled.
There are many other kinds of source-sensor
combinations, such as LED-photodiode, LED-LASER,
lamp-photoresistor pairs, reflective and slotted
optocouplers.
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 Phototransistor Optocoupler
• Assume a photo-transistor device as shown. Current from the source signal
passes through the input LED which emits an infra-red light whose intensity is
proportional to the electrical signal.
• This emitted light falls upon the base of the photo-transistor, causing it to switch-
ON and conduct in a similar way to a normal bipolar transistor.
• The base connection of the photo-transistor can be left open (unconnected) for
maximum sensitivity to the LEDs infra-red light energy or connected to ground
via a suitable external high value resistor to control the switching sensitivity
making it more stable and resistant to false triggering by external electrical noise
or voltage transients.

• When the current flowing through the LED is interrupted, the infra-red emitted
light is cut-off, causing the photo-transistor to cease conducting. The photo-
transistor can be used to switch current in the output circuit. The spectral
response of the LED and the photo-sensitive device are closely matched being
separated by a transparent medium such as glass, plastic or air. Since there is no
direct electrical connection between the input and output of an optocoupler,
electrical isolation up to 10kV is achieved. 9
 Triac Optocoupler Application

This type of optocoupler configuration forms the basis of a very simple solid state
relay application which can be used to control any AC mains powered load such as
lamps and motors. Also unlike a thyristor (SCR), a triac is capable of conducting in
both halves of the mains AC cycle with zero-crossing detection allowing the load to
receive full power without the heavy inrush currents when switching inductive loads.

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