:Ross Herbert wrote: :> You would be aware, no doubt, that some speed controllers use a bridge rectifier :> AND a thyristor (SCR) for full wave control. It doesn't necessarily use a triac. : :Interesting - I wonder why? It surely can't be cheaper that way can it? :Is it easier to make the output symmetrical perhaps?
The SCR was invented back in the early 1960's but the triac came on the scene long afterwards. The SCR was seen as a convenient, if not ideal, device for a compact speed control system for that time. : :BTW, that circuit has a DC output. It's possible to control an AC load :using an SCR and a bridge, but not this way.
The circuit was one example only of a typical SCR motor speed control. Almost all small electrical appliances use a "Universal Motor" which can run on either AC or DC
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The first SCR universal motor speed controller I came across was in a GE Thyristor Applications booklet published in 1967 and it used an SCR connected in series with the motor and the AC supply (with the appropriate gate triggering arrangement). It didn't bother with full wave control and this is possibly why some motors don't function very well with this type of controller.
It'd also make some nice :smoke if you cranked the pot to the top - 100 ohms is way too small, :there's no need for half an amp of gate drive. That pot is already :dissipating 1 watt, way too much. In short, that circuit is stuffed.
Do some research....