SWITCHES

a. Definition
switch is an electrical component that can break anelectrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it
from one conductor to another.[1][2]
b. theory

n electronics engineering, an ideal switch describes a switch that:

has no current limit during its ON state

has infinite resistance during its OFF state

has no voltage drop across the switch during its ON state

has no voltage limit during its OFF state

has zero rise time and fall time during state changes

switches without "bouncing" between on and off positions

Practical switches fall short of this ideal, and have resistance, limits on the current and voltage they can handle, finite
switching time, etc. The ideal switch is often used in circuit analysis as it greatly simplifies the system of equations to
be solved, however this can lead to a less accurate solution.

c. history
The first light switch employing quick-break technology was invented by John Henry Holmes in 1884 in the
Shieldfield district of Newcastle upon Tyne.
he toggle light switch was invented in 1917 by William J. Newton.
d. classification

e. 2 Contacts

a. 2.1 Contact terminology

b. 2.2 Contact bounce

c. 2.3 Arcs and quenching

d. 2.4 Power switching

e. 2.5 Inductive loads

f. 2.6 Incandescent loads

g. 2.7 Wetting current

f. 3 Actuator

a. 3.1 Biased switches

b. 3.2 Toggle switch

g. 4 Special types

a. 4.1 Mercury tilt switch

b. 4.2 Knife switch

c. 4.3 Footswitch

d. 4.4 Reversing switch

h. 5 Light switches

i. 6 Electronic switches

j. illustration

k. application
A switch may be directly manipulated by a human as a control signal to a system, such as a computer
keyboard button, or to control power flow in a circuit, such as a light switch. Automatically operated switches
can be used to control the motions of machines, for example, to indicate that a garage door has reached its
full open position or that a machine tool is in a position to accept another workpiece. Switches may be
operated by process variables such as pressure, temperature, flow, current, voltage, and force, acting
assensors in a process and used to automatically control a system. For example, a thermostat is a
temperature-operated switch used to control a heating process. A switch that is operated by another
electrical circuit is called a relay. Large switches may be remotely operated by a motor drive mechanism.
Some switches are used to isolate electric power from a system, providing a visible point of isolation that
 can be pad-locked if necessary to prevent accidental operation of a machine during maintenance, or to
prevent electric shock.

RHEOSTAT

A. definition
a two-terminal variable resistor that varies the resistance a circuit.
B. Theory
they may be built with a resistance wire wound around a semicircular insulator, with the wiper sliding from
one turn of the wire to the next. The basic principle that rheostats use is Ohms law, which states that
current is inversely proportional to resistance for a given voltage. This means the current decreases
as the resistance increases or it increases as the resistance decreases.
C. History
D. Classification
E. illustration

F. application

Some light dimmers use rheostats to limit the current passing through the light bulbs in order to

change their brightness. The greater the rheostats resistance, the lower the light bulbs brightness.

Some lights cannot use dimmers, such as fluorescents and gas discharge lamps. These lights have

large resistance loads called ballasts, that maintain a constant current through them. Rheostats

have no effect on their brightness and can even damage them.

Motor controllers also use rheostats to control a motors speed by limiting the flow of current

through them. They are used in many small appliances such as blenders, mixers, fans, and power

tools. Rheostats are also used as test instruments to provide an accurate resistance value. While

rheostats can be used to control electric ovens and cooktops, thermostats are preferred because

they have additional parts that automatically adjust the current flow to maintain a constant

temperature.
 The rheostat is still a common and fundamental electronic component used to control the flow of

current in a circuit. However, it has largely been replaced by the triac, a solid-state device also

known as a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR). A triac does not waste as much power as a rheostat

and is more reliable due to the absence of mechanical parts. Rheostats commonly fail because their

contacts become dirty or the coil wire corrodes and breaks.

VARIABLE REACTANCE

A. definition
B. Theory
C. History
D. Classification
E. Illustration
F. Application

TRANSFORMERS

G. definition
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another throughinductively
coupled conductorsthe transformer's coils.
H. Theory
A varying current in the first orprimary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and
thus a varyingmagnetic field through the secondary winding. This varying magnetic field induces a
varyingelectromotive force (EMF), or "voltage", in the secondary winding. This effect is calledinductive
coupling.
Transfomers rely on Faraday's Law, which states that a time-varying magnetic field can induce a time-
varying voltage in a loop of wire. In a transformer, this is accomplished by wrapping multiple turns of wire
around some type of ferromagnetic material. Usually, there are two sets of windings: a primary and a
secondary. The primary winding is attached to the generator; the secondary side is attached to the load.
When a time-varying voltage is applied to the primary, a magnetic field is created inside the ferromagnetic
core. The ferromagnetic material serves to "capture" the magnetic flux within the windings, meaning that the
magnetic flux will not leak outside of the windings; this results in more efficient operation of the device. The
time-varying magnetic field induces a voltage in the secondary winding.
I. History
The principle behind the operation of a transformer, electromagnetic induction, was discovered
independently by Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry in 1831. Faraday performed the first experiments on
induction between coils of wire, including winding a pair of coils around an iron ring, thus creating the
first toroidalclosed-core transformer.[4] However he only applied individual pulses of current to his
transformer, and never discovered the relation between the turns ratio and EMF in the windings.
J. Classification

Transformers can be further classified according to such key parameters as follow:

Power capacity: from a fraction of a volt-ampere (VA) to over a thousand MVA;

 Duty of a transformer: continuous, short-time, intermittent, periodic, varying;

Frequency range: power-, audio-, or radio frequency;

Voltage class: from a few volts to hundreds of kilovolts;

Cooling type: (dry and liquid-immersed) self-cooled, forced air-cooled; (liquid-immersed) forced oil-cooled,
water-cooled;

Application: such as power supply, impedance matching, output voltage and current stabilizer or circuit
isolation;

Purpose: distribution, rectifier, arc furnace, amplifier output, etc.;

Basic magnetic form: core form, shell form;

Constant-potential transformer descriptor: power, step-up, step-down, isolation, high-voltage, low voltage;

Three phase winding configuration: autotransformer, delta, wye, zigzag;[69]

Rectifier input phase-shift configuration: (n-winding -> p-pulse) 2-wdg -> 6-p, 3-wdg -> 12-p, . . . n-wdg -> [n-
1]*6-p; polygon; etc.)

System characteristics: ungrounded, solidly grounded, high or low resistance grounded, reactance
grounded;

Efficiency, losses and regulation: excitation, impedance & total losses, resistance, reactance & impedance
drop, regulation.
K. Illustration

L. Application
Transformers are also used extensively in electronic products to step down the supply voltage to a level
suitable for the low voltage circuits they contain. The transformer also electrically isolates the end user from
contact with the supply voltage.

Signal and audio transformers are used to couple stages of amplifiers and to match devices such
as microphones and record players to the input of amplifiers. Audio transformers allowed telephone circuits
to carry on a two-way conversationover a single pair of wires. A balun transformer converts a signal that is
referenced to ground to a signal that has balanced voltages to ground, such as between external cables and
internal circuits.
RELAYS

M. definition
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to operate a switching
mechanism mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. Relays are used where it is
necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal (with complete electrical isolation between control and
controlled circuits), or where several circuits must be controlled by one signal.
N. Theory
A simple electromagnetic relay consists of a coil of wire wrapped around a soft iron core, an iron yoke which
provides a low reluctance path for magnetic flux, a movable iron armature, and one or more sets of contacts
(there are two in the relay pictured). The armature is hinged to the yoke and mechanically linked to one or
more sets of moving contacts. It is held in place by a spring so that when the relay is de-energized there is
an air gap in the magnetic circuit. In this condition, one of the two sets of contacts in the relay pictured is
closed, and the other set is open.
O. History

The relay was invented in 1835 by American scientist Joseph Henry in order to improve his version of
the electrical telegraph, developed earlier in 1831.[5][6][7]

It is claimed that the English inventor Edward Davy "certainly invented the electric relay"[8] in his electric
telegraph c.1835.

A simple device, which we now call a relay, was included in the original 1840 telegraph patent[9] of Samuel
Morse. The mechanism described acted as a digital amplifier, repeating the telegraph signal, and thus
allowing signals to be propagated as far as desired. This overcame the problem of limited range of earlier
telegraphy schemes

P. Classification

2.1 Latching relay

2.2 Reed relay

2.3 Mercury-wetted relay

2.4 Polarized relay

2.5 Machine tool relay

2.6 Ratchet relay

2.7 Contactor relay

2.8 Solid-state relay

2.9 Solid state contactor relay

 2.10 Buchholz relay

2.11 Forced-guided contacts relay

2.12 Overload protection relay

Q. Illustration

R. Application

Relays are used to and for:

Amplify a digital signal, switching a large amount of power with a small operating power. Some special cases
are:

A telegraph relay, repeating a weak signal received at the end of a long wire

Controlling a high-voltage circuit with a low-voltage signal, as in some types of modems or audio

amplifiers,

Controlling a high-current circuit with a low-current signal, as in the starter solenoid of

an automobile,

Detect and isolate faults on transmission and distribution lines by opening and closing circuit
breakers (protection relays),

A DPDT AC coil relay with "ice cube" packaging

Isolate the controlling circuit from the controlled circuit when the two are at different potentials, for example
when controlling a mains-powered device from a low-voltage switch. The latter is often applied to control office
lighting as the low voltage wires are easily installed in partitions, which may be often moved as needs change.
They may also be controlled by room occupancy detectors to conserve energy,

Logic functions. For example, the boolean AND function is realised by connecting normally open relay
contacts in series, the OR function by connecting normally open contacts in parallel. The change-over or Form C
contacts perform the XOR (exclusive or) function. Similar functions for NAND and NOR are accomplished using
normally closed contacts. The Ladder programming language is often used for designing relay logic networks.
 The application of Boolean Algebra to relay circuit design was formalized by Claude Shannon in A

Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits

Early computing. Before vacuum tubes and transistors, relays were used as logical elements

indigital computers. See electro-mechanical computers such as ARRA (computer), Harvard Mark II,Zuse

Z2, and Zuse Z3.

Safety-critical logic. Because relays are much more resistant than semiconductors to nuclear

radiation, they are widely used in safety-critical logic, such as the control panels of radioactive waste-

handling machinery.

Time delay functions. Relays can be modified to delay opening or delay closing a set of contacts. A very
short (a fraction of a second) delay would use a copper disk between the armature and moving blade assembly.
Current flowing in the disk maintains magnetic field for a short time, lengthening release time. For a slightly
longer (up to a minute) delay, a dashpot is used. A dashpot is a piston filled with fluid that is allowed to escape
slowly. The time period can be varied by increasing or decreasing the flow rate. For longer time periods, a
mechanical clockwork timer is installed.

Vehicle battery isolation. A 12v relay is often used to isolate any second battery in cars, 4WDs, RVs and
boats.

Switching to a standby power supply.

BREAKERS

S. definition
A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect anelectrical circuit from
damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by
interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow.
T. Theory
The circuit breaker must detect a fault condition; in low-voltage circuit breakers this is usually done within the
breaker enclosure. Once a fault is detected, contacts within the circuit breaker must open to interrupt the
circuit; some mechanically-stored energy (using something such as springs or compressed air) contained
within the breaker is used to separate the contacts, although some of the energy required may be obtained
from the fault current itself. When a current is interrupted, an arc is generated. This arc must be contained,
cooled, and extinguished in a controlled way, so that the gap between the contacts can again withstand the
voltage in the circuit.
U. History

Inspired by the works of American scientist Joseph Henry and English scientist Michael Faraday, the circuit
breaker was invented in 1836 by an American, Charles Grafton Page.[1]

An early form of circuit breaker was described by Thomas Edison in an 1879 patent application, although his
commercial power distribution system used fuses.[2] Its purpose was to protect lighting circuit wiring from
 accidental short-circuits and overloads. A modern miniature circuit breaker similar to the ones now in use
was patented by Brown, Boveri & Ciein 1924. Hugo Stotz, an engineer who had sold his company, Stotz-
Kontakt, to BBC, was credited as the inventor on DRP (Deutsches Reichspatent) 458329.[3] Stotz's invention
was the forerunner of the modern thermal-magnetic breaker commonly used in household load centers to
this day.

V. Classification

a. 6.1 Low voltage circuit breakers

b. 6.2 Magnetic circuit breakers

c. 6.3 Thermal magnetic circuit breakers

d. 6.4 Common trip breakers

e. 6.5 Medium-voltage circuit breakers

f. 6.6 High-voltage circuit breakers

g. 6.7 Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) high-voltage circuit-breakers

The following types are described in separate articles.

Breakers for protections against earth faults too small to trip an over-current device:

Residual-current device (RCD, formerly known as a residual current circuit breaker) detects

current imbalance, but does not provide over-current protection.

Residual current breaker with over-current protection (RCBO) combines the functions of an RCD

and an MCB in one package. In the United States and Canada, panel-mounted devices that combine

ground (earth) fault detection and over-current protection are called Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI)

breakers; a wall mounted outlet device or separately enclosed plug-in device providing ground fault

detection and interruption only (no overload protection) is called a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI).

Earth leakage circuit breaker (ELCB)This detects earth current directly rather than detecting

imbalance. They are no longer seen in new installations for various reasons.

AutorecloserA type of circuit breaker that closes automatically after a delay. These are used on
overhead power distributionsystems, to prevent short duration faults from causing sustained outages.
 Polyswitch (polyfuse)A small device commonly described as an automatically resetting fuse rather than a
circuit breaker.

W. Illustration

X. Application
Circuit breakers are made in varying sizes, from small devices that protect an individual household
appliance up to large switchgear designed to protect high voltage circuits feeding an entire city.

THYRATRON

Y. definition
A thyratron is a type of gas filled tube used as a high energy electrical switch and controlled rectifier.
Z. Theory
Because of the gas fill, thyratrons can handle much greater currents than similar hard vacuum valves/tubes
since the positive ions carry considerable current. Gases used include mercury vapor, xenon, neon, and (in
special high-voltage applications or applications requiring very short switching times)hydrogen
AA. History
In the 1920s Thyratrons were derived from early vacuum tubes such as the UV-200, which contained a small
amount of argon gas to increase its sensitivity as a radio signal detector; and the German LRS Relay tube,
which also contained argon gas. Gas rectifiers which predated vacuum tubes, such as the argon-filled
General Electric "Tungar bulb" and the Cooper-Hewitt mercury pool rectifier, also provided an influence. A
thyratron is basically a "controlled gas rectifier". Irving Langmuir and G. S. Meikle of GE are usually cited as
the first investigators to study controlled rectification in gas tubes, about 1914. The first commercial
thyratrons didn't appear until around 1928.
AB. Classification
Triode, tetrode and pentode
AC. Illustration

AD. Application
 Small thyratrons were manufactured in the past for controlling electromechanical relays and for industrial
applications such as motor and arc-welding controllers. Large thyratrons are still manufactured, and are
capable of operation up to tens of kiloamperes (kA) and tens ofkilovolts (kV).

Modern applications include pulse drivers for pulsed radar equipment, high-energy gas
lasers, radiotherapy devices, particle accelerators and in Tesla coils and similar devices. Thyratrons are also
used in high-power UHF television transmitters, to protect inductive output tubes from internal shorts, by
grounding the incoming high-voltage supply during the time it takes for a circuit breaker to open and reactive
components to drain their stored charges. This is commonly called a "crowbar" circuit.

Thyratrons have been replaced in most low and medium-power applications by corresponding
semiconductor devices known as thyristors (sometimes called silicon-controlled rectifiers, or SCRs)
and triacs. However, switching service requiring voltages above 20 kV and involving very short risetimes
remains within the domain of the thyratron. Variations of the thyratron idea are the krytron, the sprytron,
the ignitron, and the triggered spark gap, all still used today in special applications.

One miniature thyratron, the triode 6D4, found an additional use as a potent noise source, when operated as
a diode in a transverse magnetic field. Sufficiently filtered for "flatness" ("white noise") in a band width of
interest, such noise was used for testing radio receivers, servo systems and occasionally in analog
computing as a random value source.

IGNITRONS

AE. definition
ignitron, electron tube functioning as a rectifier to convert alternating current (AC) to direct
current (DC). a cathode-
arc vacuum tube with an auxiliary electrode projectinginto a pool of mercury: it conducts curre
nt when the anode ispositive.
AF. Theory
It is usually a large steel container with a pool of mercury in the bottom that acts as a cathode during
operation. A large graphite or refractory metal cylinder, held above the pool by an insulated electrical
connection, serves as the anode. An igniting electrode (called the "ignitor"), made of a refractory
semiconductor material such as silicon carbide,[1] is briefly pulsed with a high current to create a puff of
electrically conductive mercury plasma. Once ignited, an ignitron will continue to pass current until either the
current is externally interrupted or the voltage applied between cathode and anode is reversed.
AG. History
dating from the 1930s. Invented byJoseph Slepian while employed by Westinghouse, Westinghouse was the
original manufacturer and owned trademark rights to the name "Ignitron".
AH. Classification

AI. Illustration
AJ. Application
Ignitrons were long used as high-current rectifiers in major industrial and utility installations where thousands
of amperes of AC current must be converted toDC, such as aluminum smelters. Ignitrons were used to
control the current in electric welding machines. Large electric motors were also controlled by ignitrons used
in gated fashion, in a manner similar to modern semiconductor devices such as silicon controlled
rectifiers and triacs. Many electriclocomotives used them in conjunction with transformers to convert high
voltage AC from the overhead lines to relatively low voltage DC for the traction motors. For most of these
applications, ignitrons have been replaced by solid state alternatives.

THYRISTORS

AK. definition
A thyristor is a solid-state semiconductor device with four layers of alternating N and P-type material. They
act as bistable switches, conducting when their gate receives a current trigger, and continue to conduct
while they are forward biased (that is, while the voltage across the device is not reversed).
AL.Theory

AM. n a conventional thyristor, once it has been switched on by the gate terminal, the device remains latched in
the on-state (i.e. does not need a continuous supply of gate current to conduct), providing the anode current
has exceeded the latching current (IL). As long as the anode remains positively biased, it cannot be switched
off until the anode current falls below the holding current (IH).

AN. A thyristor can be switched off if the external circuit causes the anode to become negatively biased, a
method known as natural, or line, commutation. In some applications this is done by switching a second
thyristor to discharge a capacitor into the cathode of the first thyristor. This method is called forced
commutation.

AO. After the current in a thyristor has extinguished, a finite time delay must elapse before the anode can again
be positively biased and retain the thyristor in the off-state. This minimum delay is called the circuit
commutated turn off time (tQ). Attempting to positively bias the anode within this time causes the thyristor to
be self-triggered by the remaining charge carriers (holes and electrons) that have not yet recombined.

AP. History

The Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) or Thyristor proposed by William Shockley in 1950 and championed
by Moll and others at Bell Labs was developed in 1956 by power engineers at General Electric (G.E.) led by
Gordon Hall and commercialized by G.E.'s Frank W. "Bill" Gutzwiller.
AQ. Classification

AR. AGT Anode Gate Thyristor A thyristor with gate on n-type layer near to the anode

AS. ASCR Asymmetrical SCR

AT. BCT Bidirectional Control Thyristor A bidirectional switching device containing two thyristor structures
with separate gate contacts
AU. BOD Breakover Diode A gateless thyristor triggered by avalanche current

a. DIAC Bidirectional trigger device

b. Dynistor Unidirectional switching device

c. Shockley diode Unidirectional trigger and switching device

d. SIDAC Bidirectional switching device

e. Trisil, SIDACtor Bidirectional protection devices

AV. GTO Gate Turn-Off thyristor

AW. IGCT Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor

a. DB-GTO Distributed Buffer Gate Turn-Off thyristor

b. MA-GTO Modified Anode Gate Turn-Off thyristor

AX. LASCR Light Activated SCR, or LTT Light triggered thyristor

AY. LASS Light Activated Semiconducting Switch

AZ. MCT MOSFET Controlled Thyristor It contains two additional FET structures for on/off control.

BA. BRT Base Resistance Controlled Thyristor

BB. RCT Reverse Conducting Thyristor

BC. PUT or PUJT Programmable Unijunction Transistor A thyristor with gate on n-type layer near to the
anode used as a functional replacement for unijunction transistor

BD. SCS Silicon Controlled Switch or Thyristor Tetrode A thyristor with both cathode and anode gates

BE. SCR Silicon Controlled Rectifier

BF. SITh Static Induction Thyristor, or FCTh Field Controlled Thyristor containing a gate structure that
can shut down anode current flow.

BG. TRIAC Triode for Alternating Current A bidirectional switching device containing two thyristor structures
with common gate contact

BH. Illustration
BI.
BJ. Application
hyristors are mainly used where high currents and voltages are involved, and are often used to
control alternating currents, where the change of polarity of the current causes the device to switch off
automatically; referred to as Zero Crossoperation. They can also be found in power supplies for digital
circuits, where they are used as a sort of "circuit breaker" or "crowbar" to prevent a failure in the power
supply from damaging downstream components. A thyristor is used in conjunction with a Zener
diode attached to its gate, and when the output voltage of the supply rises above the Zener voltage, the
thyristor will conduct, then short-circuit the power supply output to ground (and in general blowing an
upstream fuse). Thyristors have been used for decades as lighting dimmers in television, motion pictures,
and theater, where they replaced inferior technologies such as autotransformers and rheostats. They have
also been used in photography as a critical part of flashes (strobes).

BREAK-OVER DEVICES

BK. definition
BL.Theory
BM. History
BN. Classification
BO. Illustration
BP. Application

THYRECTOR

BQ. definition
A special type of semiconductor device used to protect a piece of electronic
equipment from being damaged by spikes of voltage.
BR. Theory
A thyrector contains two zener diodes, connected together back to back.
When the circuit voltage is below that for which the diodes are rated, no
current flows through them. But if a spike of voltage occurs in the circuit, one
 of the diodes breaks down and conducts the spike to ground. Since the zener
diodes are connected back to back, the thyrector protects against spikes of
voltage of either polarity.
BS.History

BT. Classification
BU. Illustration
BV. Application