Experiment 1: Thyristor Familiarization (Part 1)

Dy | Egalla | Flores | Gervacio | Liabres | Pagarigan | Pajarito | Zarate

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
FEU Institute of Technology, Manila

I. INTRODUCTION II. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A Silicon Controlled Rectifier is one type of thyristor

used where the power to be controlled is Table 1.1
unidirectional. SCRs are normally off but may be
triggered on by a low current pulse to an input called RED PROBE BLACK REMARKS
the gate. Once triggered on, they remain on until the PROBE
current flowing through the main terminals of the 1 2 Very High
device drops below a hold value which is very close 2 1 Very High
to zero. Thyristors are used to control power in 1 3 Very Low
numerous application including motor speed controls, 3 1 Very Low
solid state relays, traction motors for locomotive and 2 3 Very High
electric cars, power inverters for transmission of 3 2 Very High
power other DC-DC or DC-AC or AC-AC inverters,
AC-DC regulated power supplies, and many other
applications where efficient power control is Table 1.1 shows us the data on what probe indicates
required. very high and very low resistance which enables us to
define where cathode, anode, and gate lies among
The objectives of this experiment are: this 3 pins. Pins 1 and 3 gave us an output of very
low resistance because forward bias across the SCR’s
a) To identify the terminals of the SCR using cathode and gate is observed. On the other hand,
ohmmeter. pinning the red and black probe respectfully through
b) To determine if the SCR is in good terminals 3 and 1 gives us also a very low resistance
condition. which indicates that the passage of current through
c) To show the turn-ON and turn-OFF methods this pins has a very low resistance. The rest gave us
for an SCR an output of very high resistance clearly because
d) To observe the operation of the SCR in DC anode and cathode in the SCR are made as a switch
circuit. in a given circuit.
e) e. To observe the operation of SCR in AC
circuit Table 1.2
The researchers started this experiment by finding PIN TERMINAL
which terminal has a very high valie of resistance and
a very low resistance. Terminals 1, 2, and 3 are
1 CATHODE
Cathode, Anode and Gate where the dark part of the
2 ANODE
SCR is facing you respectively. As we perform this
3 GATE
experiment using an ohmmeter by setting it to
midrange scale, we must find out what terminals
Table 1.2 absolutely helps us to distinguish easily
causes very high and very low resistance.
which among the 3 pins of an SCR are the cathode,
anode, and the gate.

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 mV
Table 1.3 2 B A 0m OFF OFF
Steps Observed Expected Remarks V
Value Value 3 A A 11.1 ON ON
Figure 1 Very High Open Line Good 1V
Figure 1 Very High Open Line Good 4 B A 0m OFF OFF
(R) V
Figure 2 Very High Open Line Good 5 B B 0.1 ON ON
Figure 2 Very Low 0 ohms Good mV
(R)
Figure 3 Very High Open Line Good
Figure 3 Very High Open Line Good Table 2.1 shows us data on how SCR behave when it
(R) is turned ON and turned OFF. Current flows through
the SCR if we observe a forward bias according to
Table 1.3 helps us identify which line shows an the junction, therefore we can now measure a voltage
infinite resistance and where the circuit is shorted or drop across the load because forward biased were
turned on. A reading was observed if the SCR is observed.
defective because as you can see, we must attain
measurements that is close according to an SCR’s Table 3.1
characteristics or behaviour. Rpot Measured Calculated % Error
Setting α α for α
100 kΩ 16.25 ⁰ 12.67⁰ 28.26%
Table 2.1 200 kΩ 33.75⁰ 20.42⁰ 65.28%
Combin S S VRL SCR SCR 300 kΩ 22.5⁰ 28.59⁰ 21.30%
ation W W (ON/O (ON/OF 400 kΩ 28.125⁰ 37.46⁰ 24.92%
1 2 FF) F) 500 kΩ 11.25⁰ 47.67⁰ 76.40%
Theoret Experim
Table 3.1 allows us to determine at which angle α is
ical ental
triggered so that our SCR will be conductive. As you
1 B B 0.2 ON ON can see clearly, the firing angle varies directly from
the resistance. This graphs also shows at which
period can an SCR conduct current and when it is
turned off.

WAV E FO R M S

Rpot Setting: 100 kΩ Rpot Setting: 200 kΩ

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Rpot Setting: 300 kΩ

Rpot Setting: 500 kΩ

Rpot Setting: 400 kΩ

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