TRIGGERING METHODS FOR TRIACS

RC Gate Control Circuits

The simplest triac triggering circuit is shown in Fig. 6-4(a). In Fig. 6-4(a),
capacitor C charges through R1 and R2 during the delay angle portion of each half cycle.
During the positive half cycle. MT2 is positive with respect to MT1, and C charges
positive on its top plate. When the voltage at C builds up to a value large enough to
deliver sufficient gate current (IGT) through R1, to trigger the triac, the triac fires.
During a negative half cycle, C charges negative on its top plate. Again, when the
voltage across the capacitor gets large enough to deliver sufficient gate current in the
reverse direction through R1 to trigger the triac, the triac fires.
The changing rate of capacitor C is set by the resistance of R2. For large R2 the
charging rate is slow, causing a long firing delay and small average load current. For
small R2, the charging rate is fast, the firing delay angle id small, and the load current is
high.
As was true with SCR triggering circuits,a single RC network cannot delay triac
firing much past 90o. to establish a wider range of delay angle adjustment, the double RC
network of Fig. 6-4(b) is often used. Typical component sizes are shown for use with a
medium sized triac.

Breakover Devices in Gate Control Circuits of Triacs

The gate control circuits of Fig. 6-4 can be improved by the addition of a
breakover device in the gate lead as shown in Fig. 6-5(a). The breakover device pictured
in Fig. 6-5(a) is a diac, but there are several other breakove devices which also work well.
Use of a breakover device in the gate triggering circuit of triac offers some important
advantages over simple RC gate control cicuits. These advantages stem from the fact that
breakover devices deliver a pulse of gate current rather than a sinusoidal gate current.
The ability of a breakover device to provide a current pulse can be understood by
studying Fig 6-5(b), which shows a typical current-voltage characteristic curve for a diac.
(A diac is known by the names bidirectional trigger diode and symmetrical trigger diode)
Let us intercept the diac’s characteristics curve now. The curve shows that for
applied forward voltage less than the forward breakover (symbolized + VBO) the duac
permits virtually no current to flow. Once the forward breakover voltage is reached,
however, the dic switches into conduction and the current surges up as the voltage across
the terminal declines. Refer to Fig 6-5(b) to see this. This surge of current on the
characteristic accounts for the pulsing ability of the diac.
In the negative voltage region, the behavior is identical. When the applied reverse
voltage is smaller than the reverse breakover voltage (symbolized –VBO) the diac permits
no current to flow. When the applied voltage reaches –VBO, the diac switches into
conduction in the opposite direction. This is graphed as negative current in Fig 6-5(b).
Diacs are manufactured to be relatively temperature stable and to have fairly close
tolerances on breakover voltages. There is very little difference in magnitude between
forward breakover volatage and reverse breakover voltage for a diac. The difference is
typically less than 1 V. This enables the trigger circuit to maintain nearly equal firing
delay angles for both half cycles of the AC supply.
The operation of the circuit in Fig 6-5(a) is the same as that of the circuit in the
Fig.6-4(a) except that the capacitor voltage must build up to the breakover volatage of
the diac in order to deliver gate current to the triac. For a diac, the breakover volatage
would be quite a bit higher than the voltage which would be necessary in fig 6-4(a). The
most popular .breakover voltage for diacs is 32 V (+VBO = +32 V, -VBO = -32 V). This
value is the convinient for use with a 115-V supply. Therfore when the capacitor voltage
reaches 32 V, in either polarity, the diac breaks over, delivering the turn-ON pulse of
current to the gate of the triac. Because the capacitor voltage must reach hogher values
when a diac is used, the charging time constant must be reduced. This mean that Fig6-
5(a) would have a smaller component values (resistor and capacitor values) than Fig6-
4(a).
A second schematic symbol for the diac is presented in fig6-5(c). This symbol is
less frequently used, and the diac symbol in fig6-5(a) is preferred.