MODULE 2

Protection circuits and Rectifiers: BJT and MOSFET driver circuits,

Snubber circuits, Semiconductor device temperature control, Single
phase and three phase diode bridge rectifiers, Single phase and three
phase Controlled rectifiers. .
Some of the common optimizing base drive of
transistor are

 Turn on control
 Turn off control
 Proportional base control
 Antisaturation control
BJT DRIVE CIRCUIT WITH NEGATIVE TURN OFF
 BJT DRIVE CIRCUIT WITH NEGATIVE TURN OFF
Qp is the power transistor
 Q1, Q2 – Auxiliary transistor
 They are low power transistor to provide necessary base current to drive Qp.
 When input Vbb is positive
 Q2 is on
 VEC =0
 R4 is connected to ground
 Emitter base junction of Q1 is FB – so Q1 turns on
 This pumps necessary current Ib to Qp.
FAST TURN ON/OFF BJT DRIVE CIRCUIT
 FAST TURN ON/OFF BJT DRIVE CIRCUIT

 The surge base current cause turn on and negative base current cause turn off of power
transistor
 When Vbb is zero, Q3 turns on
This cause forward bias of Emitter – Base of Q1
Also cause Reverse bias of Emitter – Base of Q2
So, Q1 turns on and Q2 is off
Q1 provide surge current through R1 and C towards power Transistor Qp.
 During the time Q2 turn on capacitor will be completely charged to Vcc.
 FAST TURN ON/OFF BJT DRIVE CIRCUIT
 When Vbb is +ve, Q3 turns off
Due to capacitor voltage, forward bias of Emitter – Base of Q2 occurs
So, Q2 turns on and Q1 is off
Capacitor charged to Vcc will discharge through Q2 and provide reverse base current
I b.
The negative base current turns off Qp
The turn on surge current pass through R2C and steady state current through R1.
Toff = R2 . C
 IGBT and MOSFET GATE CONTROL CIRCUIT
 The input characteristic of IGBT and other voltage control power devices are same. (i.e,
gate emitter threshold voltage and capacitive input impedance).
 To turn on the device the input capacitance should be charged to a value greater than
threshold before gain/ collector current starts to flow.
HIGH SPEED GATE DRIVE
 For turn on the device, input capacitance should be charged to a value greater than
threshold.
 The turn on time depends on the charging time of input or gate capacitance.
 For fast switching
 The gate drive should have low input impedance
 The ability to sink and source relatively large current
 The totem pole arrangement has ability to sink and source large current
 The transistor pair(npn, pnp) offers low input impedance.
 Operating the device in linear region reduces the delay time.
 IGBT and MOSFET GATE CONTROL CIRCUIT

 The npn transistor goes in the conduction mode provides +ve gate to the MOSFET and it
turns on.
 To turn off . The gate is shorted to the source through R0 and pnp transistor.
 steady state current flows through R1 and not through R0.
 By selecting small value for R0 result in fast turn on and off .
 IGBT and MOSFET GATE CONTROL CIRCUIT USING OP – AMP
 The C provide the feedback and regulate rise/ fall of the gate voltage.
 This regulate the rise and fall of gate current.
 The diode across capacitor provides change of voltage only in one direction.

High speed gate drive using an op-amp

What’s a snubber?
 Snubbers are circuits which are placed across semiconductor devices for
protection and to improve performance.
Snubbers can do many things:
 Reduce or eliminate voltage or current spikes ·
 Limit dI/dt or dV/dt
 Shape the load line to keep it within the safe operating area (SOA)
 Transfer power dissipation from the switch to a resistor or a useful load
 Reduce total losses due to switching
 Reduce EMI by damping voltage and current ringing
 There are many different kinds of snubbers but the two most common ones are
the resistor capacitor (RC) damping network and the resistor-capacitor-diode
(RCD) turn-off snubber.
 This application note will show you how to design these two snubbers.
 Using a snubber that is connected across the semiconductor, however,
these turn off losses can be minimized.
 In this setup, the current is diverted into the snubber - which is initially
uncharged - when the switch opens.
 This diversion slows the build-up of switch voltage and, as a result, the
current drops to a low value before the switch voltage has a chance to
significantly increase.
 The effect of this is a slow increase in switch voltage, which produces a
reduction in switching energy loss.
 With this arrangement, snubbers in power electronics can attain a high
operation frequency and low switching losses.
 The energy in the charged snubber needs to go somewhere, though. When
the switch is closed at the start of its conduction angle, the snubber
discharges through it, and a small resistor is typically used with the
snubber to limit the discharge current.
Following comments apply to snubbers:
• A snubber controls or manages energy on a transient basis during and
immediately after switching transitions.
• The use of a snubber can greatly increase the power handling
capability of a given device or increase it's reliability or both.
• Snubbers are sometimes referred to as "switching" or "commutation"
aids.

Snubber circuit are :

Turn on snubber
Turn off snubber
 Turn-off snubber
 During turn-off - reverse base current is made very
large in order to minimize storage time, such
conditions may avalanche the base–emitter junction
leading to destruction.
 So, reducing collector current with rising collector
voltage is implemented by RC protective networks
called snubbers.
 Therefore, an RC snubber network can be used to
divert the collector current during the turn-off
improving the RBSOA in addition the snubber circuit
dissipates a fair amount of switching power relieving
the transistor.
 Turn-off snubber working
 When the power transistor is off, the capacitor C is
charged through diode D1.
 Such collector current flows temporarily into the
capacitor as the collector-voltage rises.
 When the power transistor turns on, the capacitor
discharges through the resistor R back into the
transistor.
single-phase half-wave rectifier with resistive load
Single-phase full-wave rectifier with resistive load
Three-Phase Diode Bridge Rectifiers ( Three Phase Uncontrolled
Bridge Rectifier)
• Three-phase bridge rectifiers are
commonly used for high-power
applications because they have
the highest possible transformer
utilization factor for a three-phase
system.

• The circuit of a three-phase

bridge rectifier is shown in Fig.

• The diodes are numbered in the

order of conduction sequences,
and the conduction angle of each
diode is 2π/3.
• In 3-phase power rectifiers, conduction always occurs in the most
positive diode and the corresponding most negative diode.

• Thus as the three phases rotate across the rectifier terminals,

conduction is passed from diode to diode.

• Then each diode conducts for 120o (one-third) in each supply cycle
but as it takes two diodes to conduct in pairs, each pair of diodes will
conduct for only 60o (one-sixth) of a cycle at any one time as shown
above.

• Therefore we can correctly say that for a 3-phase rectifier being fed by
“3” transformer secondary's, each phase will be separated by 360o/3
thus requiring 2*3 diodes.
Phase controlled rectifier
 The diode rectifiers are termed as uncontrolled rectifiers.
 When these diodes are switched with Thyristors, then it becomes phase control
rectifier.
 The o/p voltage can be regulated by changing the firing angle of the Thyristors.
 Phase controlled rectifier is a one type of rectifier circuit in which the diodes are
switched by Thyristors or SCRs.
 The main application of these rectifiers is involved in speed control of DC motor.
 The Thyristors can be used to differ the output voltage by adjusting the firing angle
or delay.
 A phase control Thyristor is activated by applying a short pulse to its gate terminal
and it is deactivated due to line communication or natural.
 In case of heavy inductive load, it is deactivated by firing another Thyristor of the
rectifier during the negative half cycle of i/p voltage.
Applications of Phase Controlled Rectifier Phase controlled
rectifier include paper mills, textile mills using DC motor drives
and DC motor control in steel mills.
 AC fed traction system using a DC traction motor.
 Electro-metallurgical and Electrochemical processes.
Reactor controls.
Magnet power supplies.
Portable hand instrument drives.
Flexible speed industrial drives.
Battery charges.
High voltage DC transmission.
 UPS (Uninterruptible power supply systems).
 Single-phase Controlled Rectifier :
 This type of rectifier which works from single phase AC i/p power supply.
 Single Phase Controlled Rectifiers are classified into different types
 Half wave Controlled Rectifier:
 This type of rectifier uses a single Thyristor device to provide o/p control only in one
half cycle of input AC supply, and it offers low DC output.
 Full wave Controlled Rectifier:
 This type of rectifier provides higher DC output
 Full wave controlled rectifier with a center tapped transformer requires two
Thyristors.
 Full wave bridge controlled rectifiers do not need a center tapped transformer
Single-phase Half wave Controlled Rectifier
 A single phase half wave Thyristor converter circuit is used to convert AC to DC
power conversion.

 The i/p AC supply is attained from a transformer to offer the required AC supply
voltage to the Thyristor converter based on the o/p DC voltage required.

 In the above circuit, the primary and secondary AC supply voltages are denoted
with VP and VS.

 During the +ve half cycle of i/p supply when the upper end of the transformer
secondary winding is at a + ve potential with respect to the lower end, the
Thyristor is in a forward biased state.
 The thyristor is activated at a delay angle of ωt =α, by applying an
appropriate gate trigger pulse to the gate terminal of thyristor.
 When the thyristor is activated at a delay angle of ωt =α, the thyristor
behaviors and assuming a perfect thyristor.
 The thyristor acts as a closed switch and the i/p supply voltage acts
across the load when it conducts from ωt =α to π radians For a purely
resistive load, the load current io that flows when the thyristor T1 is on,
is given by the expression.
 Io= vo/ RL, for α≤ ωt ≤ π
SINGLE PHASE HALF CONTROLLED RECTIFIER
WITH RL LOAD AND FREE WHEELING DIODE
SINGLE PHASE HALF CONTROLLED RECTIFIER
WITH RL LOAD AND FREE WHEELING DIODE
 SINGLE PHASE FULL CONTROLLED RECTIFIER
WITH RL LOAD (CONTINUOUS CURRENT)
 The waveforms for voltage, and current, assuming a inductive load provides
continuous load current (i.e., inductance is high which will provide current higher
than holding current, thus SCR will be on till another is triggered).
 SCR1 conducts for 180 degree from α to (π+α), and the load voltage follows the
input voltage.
 At (π+α); SCR2 is fired. SCR1 now turns off, since the supply voltage
immediately appears across it and applies a reverse bias.
 SCR2 now conducts for 180 degree from (π+α) to (2π+α) and supplies power to
the load.
Turn off time provided to the thyristors are:
 SINGLE PHASE FULL CONTROLLED RECTIFIER WITH RL
LOAD

 The output voltage is at its maximum when α = 0°, zero when α = 90 , and its
negative maximum when α = 180°.
 The normalized average output voltage is
 SINGLE PHASE FULL CONTROLLED RECTIFIER WITH RL
LOAD (DISCONTINUOUS CURRENT)
• When the inductance is small or the delay angle α is kept large, the DC output
current reaches zero every half cycle at (π + β)
.
• During this period, neither pair of SCRs is on, nor therefore is the current said to
be discontinuous.
SINGLE PHASE FULL CONTROLLED RECTIFIER WITH RL
LOAD & FREE WHEELING DIODE
  For firing angle greater than 90o i.e. α>90o

For firing angle, α< 90o

 THREE PHASE FULL CONVERTER
 It is three phase fully controlled full bridge rectifier
 Also known as 6 pulse converter
 Used in industrial application upto 120 KW output power