SCR TURNOFF (COMMUTATION) Circuits

Group Members:

1. Aisha Kalsoom 2. Farwa Aslam

11-EE-08 11-EE-32

What is Commutation?
It is achieved by
Reducing anode current below holding current Make anode negative with respect to cathode

The process of turning off an SCR is called commutation.

Types of commutation are:

Natural or line commutation Forced commutation

SCR TURNOFF METHODS

Diverting the anode current to an alternate path Shorting the SCR from anode to cathode Applying a reverse voltage (by making the cathode positive with respect to the anode) across the SCR Forcing the anode current to zero for a brief period Opening the external path from its anode supply voltage Momentarily reducing supply voltage to zero

(1) CAPACITOR COMMUTATION

SCR turnoff circuit using a transistor switch

SCR turnoff circuit using commutation capacitor

Value of capacitance is determined by:

C> =

tOFF 0.693RL

(2) COMMUTATION BY EXTERNAL SOURCE

The reverse voltage is applied to the load current carrying SCR from an external pulse source therefore it is called External pulse commutation. When thyristor is conducting ,the drop across the transformer is negligibly small. The supply voltage appears across the load resistance. When commutation of SCR is desired a pulse of duration equal or slightly greater than the turn off time specification of the thyristor is applied. arlier to the commutation, the capacitor voltage remains at a small value of about!". When a pulse of voltage from the pulse generator is applied to the primary of the pulse transformer, the voltage #nduced in the secondary appears across T$ as a reverse voltage %&"p' and turns it off.

Mathematical Expression

(3) COMMUTATION BY RESONANCE

Series resonant turnoff circuit:
When the SCR is triggered, anode current flo(s and charges up C (ith the dot as positive. The )&C&R form a second order under& damped circuit. The current through the SCR builds up and completes a half cycle. The inductor current (ill then attempt to flo( through the SCR in the reverse direction and the SCR (ill be turned off.

Series resonant turnoff circuit:

Parallel resonant turnoff circuit

*uring initial po(er up, the capacitor C charges to the supply voltage % dc' and the thyristor is +,,. The initial charging current of the )C branch flo(s thru the load.When the thyristor is fired, the supply *C voltage is applied across the load, and the voltage across the )C branch goes to almost -ero %the for(ard drop of the thyristor'. Then the )C circuit enters a resonant discharge (ith an angular frequency of the square root of the inverse of )C product. The )C resonant cycle supplies a pea. for(ard current thru the thyristor of dc times the square root of C/). This pea. current must exceed the load current in order to effect the turn&off of the thyristor during the second half of the discharge resonant cycle. This pea. current is usually designed to be t(ice the load current. The thyristor is reversed biased %and turned +,,' during the first quarter cycle of this second half of the resonant cycle & thus allo(ing the supply to recharge the capacitor in the )C parallel branch. Then the cycle can repeat.

Parallel resonant turnoff circuit

(4) AC LINE COMMUTATION

THANK YOU!