Set Lighting Technician's Handbook, 4th Edition > Electronic Dimmer Systems > Sinewave dimmers - Pg. 362. IGBT Solid State Dimming 240VAC 500W b.o.m 15$ per channel | OpenPort Home Automation. This is circuit of soft light dimmer. This circuit uses the IGBT STGP10N50A and the TS555 timer as main components. Here is the circuit: The timer is triggered on the zero crossing voltage pulse. The timeconstant determined by C5/R14+R15 that is used to determine theconduction angle. The T2 – T3 inhibits the power switch until the auxiliary supply voltage reaches 8V to guarantee that the gate of the IGBT receives correct voltage level. R5 is the current sense resistor, that is used for the short circuitand over-current protection. Dimming 120VAC Incandescent Light using IGBT rather than TRIAC or SCR. Dimmer - Random Phase Light Dimmer Using IGBT | DigiSpeaker. Jon found some examples of light dimmers constructed using FETs and IGBTs. He was intrigued by these dimmers because they apparently had no filter inductor like triac based dimmers.
That inductor can be quite large for higher amperage and make small/compact layout difficult. Also, these dimmers could be triggered at any point in the AC cycle which means they can be switched at points where the EMI can be minimized. Triac based dimmers work by 'squelching' the current through the load at the zero crossing point and then turning on the current later in the half-cycle. To avoid these problems (noise, space), designers have turned to IGBTs and FETs. Of course, FETs and IGBTs are unidirectional. The full wave rectifier does present a problem, however. Here is a schematic for what Jon and I call an 'outside power supply IGBT dimmer'. We are using the IRG4BC20S IGBT in this example.
Below is a picture of the simulation output. Here is the new schematic. Dimmer, IGBT - ControlBooth.