EXPERIMENT NUMBER: 3

AIM:-TO STUDY AND TEST THE FIRING CIRCUIT OF THREE PHASES FULL
CONTROLLED BRIDGE CONVERTOR.

APPRATUS:-

S.NO. NAME OF APPRATUS QUANTITY RANGE TYPE

1. C.R.O 1 D.S.O.
2. CRO Probes 2 1:10
3. Connecting Leads As per
required

THEORY:--
FIRING CIRCUIT:-

The triggering circuits are called firing circuits. We have already discussed the requirements of gate
trigger circuits. The following features or requirements must be fulfilled by the firing circuits in
addition to those discussed earlier.

(i) The triggering circuit should produce the triggering pulses for every thyristor at appropriate
instants.

(ii) The triggering pulses generated by the control circuit need to be amplified and passed through
the isolation circuit. The triggering pulses generated by the control circuit have very small power.
Hence their power is increased by pulse amplifier. Fig. 1.1 shows the scheme. The firing circuit
operates at low voltage levels (5 to 20 volts). And the thyristor operates at high voltage levels
(greater than 250 volts). Hence there must be electrical isolation between firing circuit and thyristor.
This isolation is provided by the pulse transformer.

Triggering of SCR by using three methods:

1) R Triggering

2) RC Triggering

3) UJT Triggering

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R Triggering:-
It includes one fixed resistor, variable resistor, diode, SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier),Load
resistor.
The circuit diagram of an R Triggering is shown below(Figure1).

Simple resistor, diode combinations trigger and control SCRs over the full 180 electrical degree
range, performing well at commercial temperatures. These types of circuits operate most
satisfactorily when SCRs have fairly strong gate sensitivities. Since in a scheme of this type a
resistor must supply all of the gate drive required to turn on the SCR, the less sensitive the gate, the
lower the resistance must be, and the greater the power rating.

Fig. 3.1 R firing circuit

Figure 1 shows a very simple variable resistance half-wave circuit. It provides phase retard from
essential zero (SCR full on) to 90 electrical degrees of the anode voltage wave (SCR half
on).Diode D1 blocks reverse gate voltage on the negative half-cycle of anode supply voltage. It is
necessary to rate blocking to at least the peak value of the AC upply voltage and the trigger voltage

producing the gate current to fire IGF are in phase. When EAC = Em, at the peak of the AC supply
voltage, the SCR can still trigger with the maximum value of resistance between anode and gate.

RC Triggering:- It includes variable resistor, two diodes, SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier),
Capacitor, Load resistor.
The circuit diagram of an RC Triggering is shown below (Figure 2).

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Figure 2 shows an R-C-Diode circuit giving full half-cycle control (180 electrical degrees). On the
positive half-cycle of SCR anode voltage the capacitor charges to the trigger point of the SCR in a
time determined by the RC time constant and the rising anode voltage. The top plate of the capacitor
charges to the peak of the negative voltage cycle through diode D2 on the negative half-cycle,
resetting it for the next charging cycle.

Fig. 3.2 RC half wave firing circuit

UJT Triggering: It includes UJT triggering, SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier), Load resistor.

UJT

A unijunction transistor (UJT) is an electronic semiconductor device that has only one junction.
The UJT has three terminals: an emitter (E) and two bases (B1 and B2). The base is formed by
lightly doped n-type bar of silicon. Two ohmic contacts B1 and B2 are attached at its ends. The
emitter is of p-type and it is heavily doped. The resistance between B1 and B2, when the
emitter is open-circuit is called inter base resistance.

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 Fig. 3.3 UJT firing circuit
Working of Capacitor:-Initially the capacitor charges through R whose voltage is applied to the
emitter of UJT.

When the capacitor voltage reaches peak point voltage of UJT. The UJT will switch to on condition.
Now the capacitor discharges through the output resistance. Thus the pulse is generated in the
circuit.

PROCEDURE:-

1. Connect 3-ohase input supply with4 wires to the unit R, Y, B, & N terminals on the left side of the
front panel in lagging sequence.
2. Check all the 3 phase voltages wrt neutral using DMM. (Do not switch on the unit for this
measurement.)

3. Check the phase sequence of R, Y, and B using power scope or unearthed CRO. (Usw 10 probes
& put CRO on-line trigger mode. Observe two channels at a time & note the phase difference of
120-deg between them.) The unit needs the inputs in lagging sequence only i.e. in R-Y-B, Y lags R
by 120 & B lags Y by 120 this required for correct synchronization of generated pulses.
4. After correctly connecting the inputs. Switch on the mains. (LED glows) anticlockwise.

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5. Press start button.

6. Observe output of synchronizing transformer wrt gnd. & verify their phases & polarities
(R+R+Y+Y+B+B-) keep the CRO in line trigger mode only. Otherwise, you cannot see the phase
difference on single channel.

7. Observe the trigger pulse 6 generator outputs TPG-6 wrt gnd. These are +/- 12v pulses
corresponding to 180- degree position of firing angle.

8. Turn the firing angle pot clockwise & observe the slow movement of above pulse from right to
left.

9. Observe the output of carrier generator. (Square wave 1 to 10 khz, 12v amplitude) wrt gnd.

10. Observe the output of each chopped pulse at CH1 to CH6 wrt gnd.

11. Observe the output of adder & sequence block as p. a. (pulse amp) inputs.

12. Compare the PA input with CH1 to CH6, output and determine which two pulses are added or
coupled together, for each pulse amplifier (PA1-PA6) decide the relationship between pulse amplifier
& synchronizing signals R+R-Y+Y-B+B-

13. Analyse the pulse sequence & try to decide the period of 6-SCR in respect to the 3-phase input
supply.

14. Observe the GK pulse G1 K1 to G6 K6- (note that GK pulse are isolated & therefore they cannot
be observe w.r.t circuit ground, we can observe all gate pulse at G1 to G6 w.r.t. their respective
cathodes K1 to K6 only.
RESULT:- We have study and test the firing circuit of three phase full bridge converter bridge.
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