As far as I know, SCRs are basically the DC-only cousin of a TRIAC. However, in my travels I have not encountered a TRIAC being much different in price than a similarly spec'd SCR, so I guess I don't really understand the point of SCRs from an applications point of view.
To clarify, I understand the fundamental differences in operation between the devices, but I don't see why, from an applications point of view why SCRs would even be manufactured. It seems that if you buy an SCR, you are buying half the "features" of a TRIAC for approximately the same price. In what instance would you only want to use an SCR? Is it merely that you want to only conduct an AC waveform in one direction?
Best Answer
While you may have undoubtedly found a load of principes of operation of SCR vs TRIAC it seems you miss out, at least (but likely not limited to):