Switch and semi-conductor components: overview
Introduction
The semi-conductor components are of four types:
- the switch
- the diode
- the thyristor
- the GTO (Gate Turn-Off Thyristor)
Utilization
The semi-conductor components switch, diode, thyristor, and GTO are available only in transient applications .
In fact, it deals with the commanded components, and their state (on, off) is time dependent.
Overview
In a general way the semi-conductor components are defined by:
- a current-voltage characteristic
- a command mode
Diodes, thyristors and GTOs use the same models for their current-voltage characteristic. Two models are available for this characteristic:
- Ron-Roff model
- Exponentiel model
These two models are described in the following paragraph (§ Semi-conductor components: diode model ).
The semi-conductors components are presented in the table below.
Component | Model for the current-voltage characteristic | Command mode | |
---|---|---|---|
ignition | extinction | ||
Switch | Ron-Roff | controlled | controlled |
Diode | Ron-Roff / Exponential | natural | natural |
Thyristor | Ron-Roff / Exponential | controlled | natural |
GTO | Ron-Roff / Exponential | controlled | natural or controlled |