ACST8
Figure 2: Typical Application Diagram
OUT
G
COM
CONTROL
UNIT
2. ROBUSTNESS AGAINST FAST CAPACITOR DISCHARGE
When parasitic transients or controller mis-operation occur, the blocked switch may turn on by spurious
switch firing. Since the phase shift capacitor is charged, its energy is instantaneously dissipated through
the two ACSTs which can be destroyed. To prevent such a failure, a resistive inductive circuit R-L is added
in series with the phase shift capacitor.
The dI/dt depends on the maximal voltage Vmax of the phase shift capacitor (700V on 240V mains appli-
cations), and on the inductance L:
-d---l = v---m----a---x
dt L
The total switch turn on di/dt is the sum of the di/dt created by any RC noise suppressor discharge and
the dI/dt created by the motor capacitor discharge.
Since the maximal dI/dt capability at turn-on of the ACST8 is 100A/µs, the motor capacitor di/dt is assumed
to be less than 50A/µs; therefore, the inductance should be 14µH.
The resistor R limits the surge current through the ACST8 during the capacitor discharge according to the
specified curve ITSM = f (tp) as shown in figure 11 (to be issued), and 1.2Ω is low enough to limit the resistor
dissipation (usually less than 1 W).
Finally both the 14µH inductance and the 1.2Ω resistance provide a safety margin of two on the surge cur-
rent ITSM described in figure 11.
M
VAC
C
LR
700V
T1
ON
T2
Fast capacitor discharge when
one ACST switch turns on (T2)
and the motor runs (T1 ON).
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