For my dissertation I'm investigating different methods of triac triggering. I have looked at basic methods such as control using a capacitor variable resistor and DIAC but my superviser has advised me to look at using pulse train and impulse train signals to control the gate. The triac is be used as a dimmer circuit. I would be grateful for advice on triggering methods.

 

Could you elaborate on the meaning of -

pulse train and impulse train signals

How does a pulse train differ from an impulse train, for instance?

 

a pulse would be a single long pulse used to trigger the triac. impulse would be lots of short impulses which would eventually trigger the triac. can you suggest possible logic setups that would trigger the gate and do these need to be used to with a current transformer to amplify the gate current

 

Any pulse that fulfills the triggering requirement will do. So it's not correct that -

a pulse would be a single long pulse used to trigger the triac. impulse would be lots of short impulses which would eventually trigger the triac.

- as the triac cannot distinguish between a long pulse and a set of shorter ones as long as the triggering conditions are met. If the shorter pulses can't trigger the device, then a train of them won't do, either. You would need a diode isolator and a capacitor to build enough energy to do the triggering.