march 2008 rev 3 1/10 AN302 application note thyristors and triacs: holding current - an important parameter introduction the purpose of this note is to familiarize the users of triacs or thyristors with the hypostatic current parameter, i h , also known as the holding current parameter. the importance of this parameter is illustrated by some typical examples. then a description is given of how to measure it and on its variation with the conditions of use and the sensitivity of the components. this application note discusses only the triac; however, the concepts are also valid for scrs. definition to keep an electromechanical relay turned on, it is necessary to have a minimum current circulating in its coil. if the current falls too low the relay would turn off. the same phenomenon can be observed in a triac. this minimum current which keeps the triac conducting is called the hypostatic or holding current, i h . (see figure 1 ). figure 1 below shows the holding current and the gate current pulse, i g , which is applied to the basic triac circuit. after the triac is turned on, a current, i t , flows through it.when the triac current falls below the holding current the triac is blocked and requires another gate pulse before it can turn on again. figure 1. current control i t i h t i t i h t www.st.com
application examples AN302 2/10 1 application examples the importance of the holding current is highlighted by the following application examples. 1.1 example 1: light dimmer figure 2. dimmer with interference suppression filter (coil and capacitor) figure 3. current in the dimmer triac in the dimmer circuit of figure 2 the interference suppression filter can produce oscillations. if the minimum current during these oscillations is higher than the holding current, that is, if i o >i h in figure 3 , the triac remains turned on. but if i o falls below i h , the triac will be blocked. it is possible, if the coil is the incorrect type or of poor quality, that the oscillation is insufficiently damped and the triac current falls below the holding current. this results in untimely blocking of the triac. however, it is turned on again at the next gate current pulse; but the oscillations again prevent continuous conduction and the lamp flickers. hence this is known as the flicker effect. how to prevent the flicker effect the flicker effect can be prevented by using an appropriate interference suppression filter which does not produce extensive oscillations, and then by choosing a triac with a lower holding current. i g rc phase-shift network 220v i t l c tr i a c load interference suppression lc filter i t t i h i o
AN302 application examples 3/10 1.2 example 2: motor control (1) figure 4. control of a small motor by triac the designer wishes to control a small high-impedance motor (2500 , for example) by a triac. he obtains the parts and an operating manual and carries out some tests. the circuit, based on that in figure 4 , operates as expected at first. however, after one year of production, the manufacturer complains of low torque in the motor and blames the triac. what?s happened? the circuit was designed with a type of triac whose maximum specified holding current i h was 50 ma. but the triacs used for the tests were not worst-case, they were more sensitive, having i h+ = 13 ma and i h- = 8 ma. the designer based his choice on these results. after a year of delivery, the component manufacturer continues to deliver parts which are in conformity with the specification but less sensitive than before, in fact now i h+ = 40 ma and i h- = 20 ma, typically. with these different values the conduction time decreases, the asymmetry is greater as shown in figure 5 , and the resulting dc component of current causes the motor to gradually lose torque. to prevent this kind of difficulty, one must, when designing the circuit, take into account not the typical value of the sample used but the worst-case value specified by the component manufacturer. figure 5. voltage across the triac and current for the motor control m induction motor i i h + v t i h ?
application examples AN302 4/10 1.3 example 3: motor control (2) this time, the designer selects a triac with a lower maximum specified holding current, i h . the small high-impedance motor ( figure 4 ) seems to operate without problems. however, the motor is intended for mounting on out-door equipment. it is installed in summer and works well. but in winter, the fault described above occurs. what has happened? the designer studied the operation of his circuit at an ambient temperature of 25 c. but the holding current varies inversely with the temperature. thus, as the temperature decreases, the holding current increases and the phenomenon described in example 2 occurs. again, it is essential to take into account the temperature effects on the device parameters for circuits which have to operate at extremes of temperature. it is not sufficient to use the values given for an ambient temperature of 25 c.
AN302 holding current - the details 5/10 2 holding current - the details the three examples in the previous chapter illustrate the importance of the holding current parameter and the different problems it can cause if it is not taken into account at an early stage in the design cycle. if the device is to remain in the conducting state, it is imperative that the circuit in which it is used ensures an operating current sufficiently high. in our data sheets, for all types of triacs, the holding current, i h , is specified as a maximum value. then, corrections must be made to compensate for temperature variations. 2.1 measuring the holding current in figure 6 push button r is used to fire the triac. the value of the conducting current i t is set to be much higher than the latching current i l . increasing the resistance r causes the current i t to decrease. the value of the holding current i h is the value of i t just before the triac is blocked. the holding current is always measured with the gate unconnected, that is disconnected from the trigger circuit and without bias. however, sensitive scrs, that is, those with a gate trigger current i gt of 200 a or less, are measured with a 1 k resistor connected between gate and cathode. for repeatable results, the triac should be suitably turned on. the following guidelines must be applied. the initial value of current i t must be more than five times the latching current i l before the test can begin. if the holding current is measured by pulses (by an automatic tester, for example), the triac should be conducting for at least 500 s before starting the test. figure 6. circuit for measurement of the holding current i h example: bta/btb12-600c: i l (qi - qiii and qiv) = 40 ma, so choose i t = 500 ma, i h maximum = 25 ma for a triac, i h has two values; i h+ , when electrode a2 is positive with respect to electrode a1, and i h- , when electrode a2 is negative with respect to electrode a1. in the documentation only one maximum value is given for both quadrants. this value is always the higher value. i t r a2 a g a1 rr 33 ohms v = 12v
holding current - the details AN302 6/10 depending on the production batch, the holding current can vary. however, the dispersion always remains below the limits specified in the data sheet. for a better perspective, here are some figures: sensitive triac: i gt (qi): 5 ma (type tw), 2 ma < i h < 8 ma (specified i h max: 10 ma) standard triac: i gt (qi): 50 ma (type b), 8 ma < i h < 40 ma (specified i h max: 50 ma) the minimum value of the i h parameter is not specified in the data sheets. 2.2 variation of the holding current 2.2.1 typical variation of i h with device sensitivity and direction of commutation the holding current, i h , is related to the gate firing current, i gt as shown in ta bl e 1 . example: bta/btb12-600tw: if i gt (qi) = 1.5 ma then i h+ = 3.8 ma. bta/btb12-600c: if i gt (qi) = 10 ma then i h+ = 14 ma. in the case of the triac (as opposed to the thyristor), it is important to note that current i h- (electrode a2 negative with respect to a1) can be higher or lower than i h+ according to the rated current and the device technology. example: bta/btb06-600tw: if i h+ = 4.3 ma, i h- = 4.8 ma. bta/btb12-600c: if i h+ = 15 ma, i h- = 8.3 ma. 2.2.2 variation of i h with junction temperature the holding current is physically related to the firing current, i gt . these two parameters vary with the junction temperature as shown in figure 7 . example: triac to-220ab, type bta/btb12-600c: i h = 20 ma at t j = 25 c and 14 ma at 110 c. table 1. ratio between i h+ and i gt (qi) for sensitive and standard triacs triac i h+ / i gt (qi) sensitive triac 12 arms (tw type) 2.5 (approx.) standard triac 12 arms (c type) 1.4 (approx.) table 2. ratio between i h+ and i h- for sensitive and standard triacs triac i h+ / i h- sensitive triac 12 arms (tw type) 0.9 (approx.) standard triac 12 arms (c type) 1.8 (approx.)
AN302 holding current - the details 7/10 figure 7. relative variation of i h , with the junction temperature, t j 2.2.3 effect of reapplied voltage the rise time and the level of the reapplied reverse voltage across the triac after blocking have no effect on the value of its holding current, i h . 2.2.4 influence of the exte rnal gate cathode resistor figure 8. variation of i h , of a sensitive thyristor with r gk some applications require a resistor, r gk , to be connected between the gate and the cathode of the component, either to improve its behavior under voltage at high junction temperatures (by-pass for leakage current) in the case of sensitive thyristors or because it forms part of the firing circuit. the value of this resistor, as well as the sensitivity of the component, affects the holding current as shown in figure 8 . sensitive thyristors (i gt < 200 a) for sensitive thyristors r gk has a large influence on the holding current as shown by figure 9 . thus, in certain applications, the designer may want to use a high-impedance control circuit. standard thyristors, sensitive and standard triacs here, r gk has no significant effect on the holding current provided that it is not too low, that is, r gk should be greater than 20 . note: the hypostatic current for sensitive thyristors is always specified for r gk = 1000ohms.
holding current - the details AN302 8/10 figure 9. a darlington triac for high sensitivity with high holding current 2.3 combining characteristics we have seen that the more sensitive the triac (lower i g ), the lower the value of the holding current, i h . now, in certain applications a sensitive triac with a high holding current, i h (or i l ), may be required. in this case, two triacs, a sensitive one and a standard one, connected as a ?darlington? pair could be used as shown in figure 9 . the assembly is sensitive but has a higher holding current. t1: standard triac e.g. bta/btb12 -600b: i gt = 50ma i h = 50ma t2: sensitive triac e.g. bta/btb12 -600tw: i gt = 5ma i h = 10ma
AN302 conclusions 9/10 3 conclusions the choice of a thyristor or a triac does not depend only on the voltage, the rated current and the sensitivity. other parameters must be taken into account to ensure reliability. the holding or hypostatic current, i h , plays an important role in many circuits. the value of this parameter varies with: dispersion of the characteristics at manufacture temperature control circuit (in the case of sensitive thyristors) direction of current flow. taking into account these elements, the designer can obtain satisfactory operation of his circuit in industrial real-life applications. 4 revision history table 3. document revision history date revision changes feb-1989 1 first issue 30-mar-2004 2 stylesheet update. no content change. 10-mar-2008 3 reformatted to current standards. complete technical review
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