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Triac Tutorial
A Triac is a high-speed solid-state device that can switch and control AC
power in both directions of a sinusoidal waveform
Being a solid state device, thyristors can be used to control lamps, motors, or heaters etc. However, one of the problems of using a
thyristor for controlling such circuits is that like a diode, the “thyristor” is a unidirectional device, meaning that it passes current in one
direction only, from Anode to Cathode.
For DC switching circuits this “one-way” switching characteristic may be acceptable as once triggered all the DC power is delivered
straight to the load. But in sinusoidal AC switching circuits, this unidirectional switching may be a problem as it only conducts during
one half of the cycle (like a half-wave recti er) when the Anode is positive irrespective of whatever the Gate signal is doing. Then for
AC operation only half the power is delivered to the load by a thyristor.
In order to obtain full-wave power control we could connect a single thyristor inside a full-wave bridge recti er which triggers on each
positive half-wave, or to connect two thyristors together in inverse parallel (back-to-back) as shown below but this increases both the
complexity and number of components used in the switching circuit.
Thyristor Con gurations
There is however, another type of semiconductor device called a “Triode AC Switch” or Triac for short which is also a member of the
thyristor family that be used as a solid state power switching device but more importantly it is a “bidirectional” device. In other words,
a Triac can be triggered into conduction by both positive and negative voltages applied to its Anode and with both positive and
negative trigger pulses applied to its Gate terminal making it a two-quadrant switching Gate controlled device.
A Triac behaves just like two conventional thyristors connected together in inverse parallel (back-to-back) with respect to each other
and because of this arrangement the two thyristors share a common Gate terminal all within a single three-terminal package.
Since a triac conducts in both directions of a sinusoidal waveform, the concept of an Anode terminal and a Cathode terminal used to
identify the main power terminals of a thyristor are replaced with identi cations of: MT1, for Main Terminal 1 and MT2 for Main
Terminal 2 with the Gate terminal G referenced the same.
In most AC switching applications, the triac gate terminal is associated with the MT1 terminal, similar to the gate-cathode relationship
of the thyristor or the base-emitter relationship of the transistor. The construction, P-N doping and schematic symbol used to
represent a Triac is given below.
Triac Symbol and Construction
We now know that a “triac” is a 4-layer, PNPN in the positive direction and a NPNP in the negative direction, three-terminal
bidirectional device that blocks current in its “OFF” state acting like an open-circuit switch, but unlike a conventional thyristor, the
triac can conduct current in either direction when triggered by a single gate pulse. Then a triac has four possible triggering modes of
operation as follows.
Ι + Mode = MT2 current positive (+ve), Gate current positive (+ve)
Ι – Mode = MT2 current positive (+ve), Gate current negative (-ve)
ΙΙΙ + Mode = MT2 current negative (-ve), Gate current positive (+ve)
ΙΙΙ – Mode = MT2 current negative (-ve), Gate current negative (-ve)
And these four modes in which a triac can be operated are shown using the triacs I-V characteristics curves.
Triac I-V Characteristics Curves
In Quadrant Ι, the triac is usually triggered into conduction by a positive gate current, labelled above as mode Ι+. But it can also be
triggered by a negative gate current, mode Ι–. Similarly, in Quadrant <ΙΙΙ, triggering with a negative gate current, –ΙG is also common,
mode ΙΙΙ– along with mode ΙΙΙ+. Modes Ι– and ΙΙΙ+ are, however, less sensitive con gurations requiring a greater gate current to cause
triggering than the more common triac triggering modes of Ι+ and ΙΙΙ–.
Also, just like silicon controlled recti ers (SCR’s), triac’s also require a minimum holding current IH to maintain conduction at the
waveforms cross over point. Then even though the two thyristors are combined into one single triac device, they still exhibit individual
electrical characteristics such as different breakdown voltages, holding currents and trigger voltage levels exactly the same as we
would expect from a single SCR device.
Triac Applications
The Triac is most commonly used semiconductor device for switching and power control of AC systems as the triac can be switched
“ON” by either a positive or negative Gate pulse, regardless of the polarity of the AC supply at that time. This makes the triac ideal to
control a lamp or AC motor load with a very basic triac switching circuit given below.
Triac Switching Circuit
The circuit above shows a simple DC triggered triac power switching circuit. With switch SW1 open, no current ows into the Gate of
the triac and the lamp is therefore “OFF”. When SW1 is closed, Gate current is applied to the triac from the battery supply VG via
resistor R and the triac is driven into full conduction acting like a closed switch and full power is drawn by the lamp from the sinusoidal
supply.
As the battery supplies a positive Gate current to the triac whenever switch SW1 is closed, the triac is therefore continually gated in
modes Ι+ and ΙΙΙ+ regardless of the polarity of terminal MT2.
Of course, the problem with this simple triac switching circuit is that we would require an additional positive or negative Gate supply
to trigger the triac into conduction. But we can also trigger the triac using the actual AC supply voltage itself as the gate triggering
voltage. Consider the circuit below.
Triac Switching Circuit
The circuit shows a triac used as a simple static AC power switch providing an “ON”-“OFF” function similar in operation to the previous
DC circuit. When switch SW1 is open, the triac acts as an open switch and the lamp passes zero current. When SW1 is closed the triac
is gated “ON” via current limiting resistor R and self-latches shortly after the start of each half-cycle, thus switching full power to the
lamp load.
As the supply is sinusoidal AC, the triac automatically unlatches at the end of each AC half-cycle as the instantaneous supply voltage
and thus the load current brie y falls to zero but re-latches again using the opposite thyristor half on the next half cycle as long as the
switch remains closed. This type of switching control is generally called full-wave control due to the fact that both halves of the sine
wave are being controlled.
As the triac is effectively two back-to-back connected SCR’s, we can take this triac switching circuit further by modifying how the gate
is triggered as shown below.
Modi ed Triac Switching Circuit
As above, if switch SW1 is open at position A, there is no gate current and the lamp is “OFF”. If the switch is moved to position B gate
current ows at every half cycle the same as before and full power is drawn by the lamp as the triac operates in modes Ι+ and ΙΙΙ–.
However this time when the switch is connected to position C, the diode will prevent the triggering of the gate when MT2 is negative
as the diode is reverse biased. Thus the triac only conducts on the positive half-cycles operating in mode I+ only and the lamp will light
at half power. Then depending upon the position of the switch the load is Off, at Half Power or Fully ON.
Triac Phase Control
Another common type of triac switching circuit uses phase control to vary the amount of voltage, and therefore power applied to a
load, in this case a motor, for both the positive and negative halves of the input waveform. This type of AC motor speed control gives a
fully variable and linear control because the voltage can be adjusted from zero to the full applied voltage as shown.
Triac Phase Control
This basic phase triggering circuit uses the triac in series with the motor across an AC sinusoidal supply. The variable resistor, VR1 is
used to control the amount of phase shift on the gate of the triac which in turn controls the amount of voltage applied to the motor by
turning it ON at different times during the AC cycle.
The triac’s triggering voltage is derived from the VR1 – C1 combination via the Diac (The diac is a bidirectional semiconductor device
that helps provide a sharp trigger current pulse to fully turn-ON the triac).
At the start of each cycle, C1 charges up via the variable resistor, VR1. This continues until the voltage across C1 is suf cient to trigger
the diac into conduction which in turn allows capacitor, C1 to discharge into the gate of the triac turning it “ON”.
Once the triac is triggered into conduction and saturates, it effectively shorts out the gate triggering phase control circuit connected
in parallel across it and the triac takes control for the remainder of the half-cycle.
As we have seen above, the triac turns-OFF automatically at the end of the half-cycle and the VR1 – C1 triggering process starts again
on the next half cycle.
However, because the triac requires differing amounts of gate current in each switching mode of operation, for example Ι+ and ΙΙΙ–, a
triac is therefore asymmetrical meaning that it may not trigger at the exact same point for each positive and negative half cycle.
This simple triac speed control circuit is suitable for not only AC motor speed control but for lamp dimmers and electrical heater
control and in fact is very similar to a triac light dimmer used in many homes. However, a commercial triac dimmer should not be used
as a motor speed controller as generally triac light dimmers are intended to be used with resistive loads only such as incandescent
lamps.
Then we can end this Triac Tutorial by summarising its main points as follows:
A “Triac” is another 4-layer, 3-terminal thyristor device similar to the SCR.
The Triac can be triggered into conduction in either direction.
There are four possible triggering modes for a Triac, of which 2 are preferred.
Electrical AC power control using a Triac is extremely effective when used properly to control resistive type loads such as
incandescent lamps, heaters or small universal motors commonly found in portable power tools and small appliances.
But please remember that these devices can be used and attached directly to the mains AC power source so circuit testing should be
done when the power control device is disconnected from the mains power supply. Please remember safety rst!.
172 Comments
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Anantha Murthy
I want to know if the power control in the output is accomplished due to the variability of the time constant of the Capacitor at the input to the diac.
Please clarify. Thanks.
Posted on January 11th 2021 | 4:08 pm Reply
Wayne Storr
The RC time constant is used to control the ring angle of the triac gate between 0 and pi and again between pi and 2pi
Posted on January 12th 2021 | 8:39 am Reply
Farman
Sir I want to join you
Posted on December 11th 2020 | 5:21 am Reply
Ojo Oladipo Aderogba
I want to adjust from 220v to zero please how do I do this
Posted on November 08th 2020 | 9:45 pm Reply
Rathnasooreya Wimalatissa
I am an equipment technician. I want to know more about this. My scope is factory equipment technology and electrical technology. For me to gain
knowledge about electronics.
I request that these details be referenced in plain Sinhala English. I have little knowledge of English.
Thank you for your help
Posted on October 09th 2020 | 1:37 am Reply
Ephraim Auchman
What else can i use instead of daic? Because Daic is not easy to nd in the market here or how can i trigger a traic without a daic?
Posted on October 06th 2020 | 2:12 pm Reply
Manoel
You can easily obtain diacs scavenging a CFL lamp.
Posted on November 28th 2020 | 9:58 pm Reply
César
Me podrían ayudar necesito un circuito para disparar 3 recti cadores TD162N08KOF DE UN CARGADOR DE BATERÍAS INDUSTRIAL DE 36 DC
VOLTIOS TRIFASICO a su máxima potencia. Gracias de antemano por su atención y ayuda.
Posted on October 05th 2020 | 1:01 am Reply
Madhu Sudan Sharma
I made a project night senser with BT136.DB3connect to MT2.resistance 220k to MT2and and end of DB3.Ldr connected to MT1 and MT2. Supply
Phase to MT1 and neutral to MT2. When supply start the bulb glow without Ldr.whenever all the components are new and used after checked.How it
can be oprated. Madhusudan 9351349385 whatsapp
Posted on September 30th 2020 | 9:31 pm Reply
JayBirde
Question for you. I have a smoker that is using a Triac in the circuit to power on two lights inside the smoker. Power in to the smoker is 120VAC and the
same out to the lights. They are breaking the ‘hot’ side of the lights through the Triac (not the neutral side).
I would like to put in a SPST switch that basically transfers 120VAC from the ‘hot’ power input to the ‘hot’ wire to the lights. I am concerned about
sending power back into the triac when using this switch. Should I be concerned or not?
Thanks!
Posted on September 17th 2020 | 5:04 pm Reply
Johnny
Excellent tutorial I learned a lot from your lessons your the superman of the electronics world
Posted on August 27th 2020 | 8:31 pm Reply
Radio Randy
Your diagram of a triac is confusing.
In yours, the gate is tied to both p and n type materials, but in other drawings I’ve seen, the gate is tied only to p type materials.
Are both correct?
Posted on August 02nd 2020 | 10:52 pm Reply
muthu krishnan
why not triac swicthing starting capacitor please any reason
Posted on July 19th 2020 | 6:36 pm Reply
JOHN JACOVIDES
I am using a phase control circuit of a 4kw load at 220v AC,operating at .5 KW.
What fuse should I use ? A 3 A fuse is regularly blown.
Posted on July 01st 2020 | 2:43 am Reply
Doyle Johnson
I want to safely control the temperature of a heating cartridge, 125 watts, @ 120 VAC, less than 2 Amps, can a Triac such as NTE 5638 switch this much
load? The heater is mounted inside an aluminum block and would require a feed-back thermocouple, also need LCD/LED digital display.
Do I need an embedded microprocessor? Can I use an Arduino UNO? I would like to do a proto-type board, but don’t have the expertise to design, I
would really appreciate it if someone with experience could help me. Thanks in Advance.
Posted on May 25th 2020 | 2:35 pm Reply
Nuwan
Hi
Posted on May 07th 2020 | 12:36 am Reply
JYOTIRANJAN KAR
ok
Posted on May 03rd 2020 | 12:40 am Reply
Sumedha
I have a water heater which got faulty recently,,the triac is delivering some amount of power(heater is working) via MT 1 even gate terminal is
disconnected from triac..can it be or is triac is faulty???.later i found that capasitor is also weak
Posted on April 24th 2020 | 6:41 am Reply
Upali
but how do you calculate the resistor in Triac Switching Circuit section?
Posted on April 22nd 2020 | 10:24 pm Reply
Zahid khan
How can i make hi amps ac in ac out 220 dimmer with dual thyristor 100 amps using module …
Posted on April 08th 2020 | 9:39 am Reply
HeroHenson
Hi Good Day,
Regarding TRIACS, can we bypass it? I have an auto boil powerboard with busted TRIAC, in order to run the unit, it must allow the ow of 220v to the
other end but the TRIAC is in the middle. I am planning to bypass it via redirect it on the other end. Thank You
(P.S. Sorry about my grammar, English is not my mother tongue)
Posted on January 21st 2020 | 10:17 am Reply
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Kalhan-SL
“However, because the triac requires differing amounts of gate current in each switching mode of operation, for example Ι+ and ΙΙΙ–, a triac is therefore
asymmetrical meaning that it may not trigger at the exact same point for each positive and negative half cycle. ”
that asymmetrical possibility to make harmonics . therefore use Diac in gate terminal of Triac to re it symmetrical. that makes less harmonics
Posted on January 09th 2020 | 3:18 am Reply
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