Cols15 wrote:Hi yummyrum
I have see ssr va type controllers as like you said they seem to be common.
Would you be kind enough to explain how a potentiometer can control a relay?. I take it the relay is just not 'open' or 'closed', it must also be the part scrubbing off the unwanted power as its connected to the heat sink?
If you don't feel comfortable answering this question on a forum I understand.
If you feel comfortable sending me a pm please feel free to do that.
I was intending to do a comprehensive "how it works" on controllers sometime soon but I'll give you a basic run down .
The simple answer is the controllers use a technique called "Phase Control."
The idea behind it to control the amount of power reaching the element by switching on the power at a certain point in each mains cycle .
As our Alternating Current supply is 50 Hz , that means there are 50 cycles every second where the voltage rises from zero to a maximum positive voltage ...then drops back to zero....then rises to a maximum negative voltage ...then drops back to zero ...............There are 100 pulses of power per second ...50 positive and 50 negative . See top pic below
CCF15072014_00001.jpg
So by varying the delay in each cycle before switching on the power ,we can control how much of each half cycle reaches the element ......in the middle diagram the delay is small and most of the cycle is supplied to the element ...in the lower , the delay is much longer so there is very little power supplied .
OK so how do we control the mains cycles when they are happening much faster than we could turn a switch on of off...even faster than a mechanical relay could switch ?
We use a semiconductor device called a TRIAC.
A TRIAC has three terminals ...two switch the main current .....the third is used to trigger the triac into conduction .
Once triggered , a TRIAC will continue to conduct until either the current flowing through it reaches Zero or the supply polarity reverses .
So we trigger the TRIAC at the part of the cycle we want and it supplies power to the element until the end of the cycle ....perfect :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Here is a triac ...the blue thing on the left .
On the right , a basic 300watt light dimmer controller ....guess what ,its a low power version of a SSR VA
Power Controllers.jpg
So whats inside ...basically fuck all ...a few components that delay the mains cycle and produce a trigger current to the TRIAC
The Potentiometer, resistor and capacitor form the delay circuit ,the DIAC breaks down when the voltage across it has reached a certain level and supplies a trigger pulse of current to the TRIAC causing it to conduct until the end of the cycle
CCF15072014_00000.jpg
Hope this helps :D
EDIT : the coil around the pot shaft is part of the interference suppression circuit I omitted to include ....Oh yeah ...and don't use a light dimmer controller to control an element...firstly ,the triac in it can only handle a few amps (hense the 300 watt rating ) and secondly the interferrance suppression coil will get so hot it will melt the plastic shaft off the pot :laughing-rolling: ...I know .... :laughing-rolling: I forgot to remove it when I subrituted the triac for a 40 Amp one :angry-banghead:
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