Gate circuit should also be protected against overvoltages and over currents. Overvoltages across the gate circuit can cause false triggering of the SCR. Overcurrent may raise junction temperature beyond specified limit leading to its damage. Protection against over-voltages is achieved by connecting a zener diode ZD across the gate circuit. A resistor R2 connected in series with the gate circuit provides protection against overcurrents. A common problem in thyristor circuits is that they suffer from spurious, or noise, firing. Turning-on or turning-off of an SCR may induce trigger pulses in a nearby SCR. Sometimes transients in a power circuit may also cause unwanted signal to appear across the gate of a neighbouring SCR. These undesirable trigger pulses may turn on the SCR leading to read more

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As thyristor possesses high surge current capability, it can be used in an electronic crowbar circuit for overcurrent protection of power converters using SCRs. An electronic crowbar protection provides rapid isolation of the power converter before any damage occurs Fig. 4.28 illustrates the basic principle of electronic crowbar protection. A crowbar thyristor is connected across the input dc terminals. A current sensing resistor detects the value of converter current. If it exceeds preset value, gate circuit provides the signal to crowbar SCR and turns it on in a few microseconds. The input terminals are then short-circuited by crowbar SCR and it shunts away the converter overcurrent. The crowbar thyristor current depends upon the source voltage and its impedance. After some time, main read more

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Thyristors have small thermal time constants. Therefore, if a thyristor is subjected to overcurrent due to faults, short circuits or surge currents ; its junction temperature may exceed the rated value and the device may be damaged. There is thus a need for the overcurrent protection of SCRs. As in other electrical systems, overcurrent protection in thyristor circuits is achieved through the use of circuit breakers and fast-acting fuses as shown in Fig. 4.29. The type of protection used against overcurrent depends upon whether the supply system is weak or stiff. In a weak supply network, fault current is limited by the source impedance below the multi-cycle surge current rating of the thyristor. In machine tool and excavator drives, if the motor stalls due to overloads, the current is read more

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Thyristors are very sensitive to overvoltages just as other semi-conductor devices are. Overvoltage transients are perhaps the main cause of thyristor failure. Transient overvoltages cause either maloperation of the circuit by unwanted turn-on of a thyristor or permanent damage to the device due to reverse breakdown. A thyristor may be subjected to internal or external overvoltages ; the former is caused by the thyristor operation whereas the latter comes from the supply lines or the load circuit. (i) Internal overvoltages. Large voltages may be generated internally during the commutation of a thyristor. After thyristor anode current reduces to zero, anode current reverses due to stored charges. This reverse recovery current rises to a peak value at which time the SCR begins to block. read more

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A snubber circuit consists of a series combination of resistance Rs and capacitance Cs in parallel with the thyristor as shown in Fig. 4.25. Strictly speaking, a capacitor Cs in parallel with the device is sufficient to prevent unwanted dv/dt triggering of the SCR. When switch S is closed, a sudden voltage appears across the circuit. Capacitor Cs behaves like a short circuit, therefore voltage across SCR is zero. With the passage of time, voltage across Cs builds up at a slow rate such that dv/dt across Cs and therefore across SCR is less than the specified maximum dv/dt rating of the device. Here the question arises that if Cs is enough to prevent accidental turn-on of the device by dv/dt, what is the need of putting Rs in series with Cs ? The answer to this is as under. Before SCR is read more

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