Power Electronics

List all electronic devices (names and abbreviations) used in power electronics and
Compare their following characteristics:
a. Voltage (forward and reverse)
b. Current
c. Power
d. ‘On’ Resistance
e. Frequency
f. Turn ‘On’ and turn ‘Off’ delays
g. Any other important parameters

Power electronic devices:

1. Power Diode
2. Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
3. Emitter Switched Thyristor (EST)
4. Gate Turn off Thyristor (GTO)
5. Gate Assisted Turn off Thyristor (GATT)
6. Gate Commutated Thyristor (GCT)
7. Integrated Gate Commuted Thyristor (IGCT)
8. MOS Controlled Thyristor (MCT)
9. Reverse Conducting Thyristor (RCT)
10. Static Induction Thyristor (SITH)
11. Insulated Gate Turn off Thyristor (IGTT)
12. DIode for AC (DIAC)
13. TRIode for Alternating Current (TRIAC)
14. Light Triggered (Activated) Thyristor LTT(LASCR)
15. Metal Oxide semi conductor field effect Transistor (MOSFET)
16. Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
17. Bipolar Mode Static Induction Transistor (BSIT)
18. Insulated Gate Bi-Polar Transistor (IGBT)
19. Injection Enhanced Gate Transistor (IEGT)
20. Uni-Junction Transistor (UJT)
21. Static Induction Transistor (SIT)
22. Silicon Carbide (SiC)

Figure 1 Devices symbol and characteristic

 Comparison of Power Electronic Devices
Comparison on the basis of control characteristic:
The power electronic devices can be classified on the basis of:
1. Uncontrolled turn on and off e.g. (diode-2 terminal device)
2. Controlled turn on and uncontrolled turn off e.g. SCR
3. Controlled turn on and off e.g. GTO, MCT, BJT and MOSFET
4. Pulse gate requirement e.g. GTO, SCR
5. Continuous gate requirement e.g. BJT, MOSFET
6. Bidirectional current capability e.g. RCT, TRIAC
7. Unidirectional current capability e.g. diode, GTO, SCR, BJT, MOSFET
8. Bipolar voltage withstanding capability e.g. SCR
9. Unipolar voltage withstanding capability e.g. GTO, BJT, MOSFET

Figure 2 Comparison on the basis of current conduction

Figure 3 Comparison on the basis of switching characteristic
Ratings of Power Electronics Devices:
 Figure 4 Power ranges of commercially available power semiconductor

Working of Power Devices

Diode:
Diode is an uncontrollable electronic switch. It is a two terminal device (cathode and anode).
The voltage and current in the circuit determine the on/off conditions. When the current through
diode is positive then it is forward biased/on (ideally short circuit) and when voltage across it is
negative then it is reverse biased/off (ideally open circuit). The diode’s symbol and its voltage/
current characteristics are shown below:
There are three types of power diodes general purpose, fast recovery and schottky diodes.
General purpose diodes are available with ratings up to 3000V and 3500 A and their forward
voltage drop is 0.5 V and 1.2 V. The power ratings of fast recovery diodes are up to 3000 V,
1000 A. These diodes have high switching frequency and have reverse recover time between 0.1
to 5 micro seconds. The ratings of schottky diodes can go up to 100 V, 300 A. The reverse
recovery time of schottky diodes is very small mostly in nanoseconds and their on state voltage
is also low.
Thyristors:
Thyristors are controllable electronic switches (three terminal devices) e.g. SCR, GTO, MCT etc.
They can be used in high power applications where control of switch turn on is required as they
can block large voltages and can conduct large currents but the switching frequency is not much
high. Their forward voltage drop is typically 0.5 V to 2 V. Natural thyristors are available with
ratings up 2500 V, 4000 A. The turn off time of 1200 V, 2000 A thyristor is 10 µs to 20µs. RCTs
and GATTs are used for high speed switching. RCT can be considered as a thyristor with an
inverse parallel diode and are available with ratings up to 2500 V, 1000 A (and 400 A current in
reverse conduction). The switching time of RCT is 40 µs. GATTs are available with ratings up to
1200 V, 400 A and the switching time is 8 µs. For High Voltage Power System, LASCRs are
used which are available up to 6000 V, 1500 A with a switching speed of 200 µs to 400 µs.
Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR):
Silicon controlled rectifier has three terminals cathode, anode and gate. Thyristor and SCR are
terms that are sometimes used synonymously. To trigger the device gate current and positive
anode to cathode voltage must be applied. When the device starts conducting then gate loss its
control to turn off device (no gate current is required for further conduction) and device conducts
as long as anode current is positive and above a minimum value called holding level. Thus it is
self latching device.
Gate turnoff thyristor (GTO):
Gate turnoff thyristor is a fully controllable electronic switch. It has three terminals anode,
cathode and gate. Gate terminal controls the device, the device can be turn on or off by switching
polarity of the gate signal. When the anode to cathode voltage is positive it can be turn on by
applying a small gate current and to turn it off large magnitude negative gate current (one third
of anode current in on state) is applied for few microseconds. GTOs are very attractive for forced
commutation of convertors and are available up to 2500 V, 1000 A.

Triode for Alternating current (Triac):

Triac is a three terminal device which consists of two parallel SCR connected in opposite
direction, they share a common gate terminal. It functions same as two antiparallel SCR and it is
a bidirectional device. Since it can conduct current in both directions therefore its terminals are
called Main terminal 1 (MT1) and Main terminal 2 (MT2) and gate. The symbol and
characteristic curve of triac are shown below:
In quadrant one and quadrant three, device can be triggered by applying either a positive and
negative gate current. As it can be switched on by either a positive and negative gate pulse
regardless of the polarity of AC supply hence it is a most commonly used semiconductor device
for switching and power control of AC systems.

MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT):

MOS controlled thyristor like GTO is fully controllable and can be turn on and off. It has two
integrated MOSFETs and one SCR. Proper gate to cathode voltage is established to turn on/off
device. One MOSFET turn on and other turn off the device.

Transistors:
Transistors are operated as switches in power electronics circuits. Transistor drive circuits are
designed to have the transistor either in the fully on or fully off state. Unlike the diode, turn-on
and turnoff of a transistor are controllable. Types of transistors used in power electronics circuits
include MOSFETs, bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), and hybrid devices such as insulated-gate
bipolar junction transistors (IGBTs).
MOSFET:
The MOSFET is a voltage-controlled device. Power MOSFETs are of the enhancement type
rather than the depletion type. A sufficiently large gate-to-source voltage will turn the device on,
resulting in a small drain-to-source voltage. In the on state, the change in vDS is linearly
proportional to the change in iD. Therefore, the on MOSFET can be modeled as an on-state
resistance called RDS(on). MOSFETs have on-state resistances as low as a few milliohms.
Ratings are to 1500 V and more than 600 A(although not simultaneously). MOSFET switching
speeds are greater than those of BJTs and are used in converters operating into the megahertz
range.

BJT:
Typical BJT characteristics are shown in Fig below. The on state for the transistor is achieved
by providing sufficient base current to drive the BJT into saturation. The collector-emitter
saturation voltage is typically 1 to 2 V for a power BJT. The BJT is a current controlled device,
and power BJTs typically have low hFE values, sometimes lower than 20.. Power BJTs are
rarely used in new applications, being surpassed by MOSFETs and IGBTs. The IGBT is an
integrated connection of a MOSFET and a BJT. The drive circuit for the IGBT is like that of the
MOSFET, while the on-state characteristics are like those of the BJT. IGBTs have replaced BJTs
in many applications.
 Applications of Power Devices

Figure 5 Application of Power devices

References:

1) Erickson, Robert W., and Dragan Maksimovic. Fundamentals of power electronics.

Springer Science & Business Media, 2007.
2) Rashid, Muhammad H. Power electronics: circuits, devices, and applications. Pearson
Education India, 2009.
3) Hart, Daniel W. Power electronics. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2011.