Disadvantages of Freewheeling Diode
- Being careful in choosing the freewheeling diode is essential as incorrect diode ratings may lead to its failure and poor protection.
- Energy is dissipated as heat in high-power applications. In that situation, a Freewheeling diode may be provided to raise the temperature and there is a requirement for heat sinks or other cooling methods.
- A few freewheeling diodes may have reverse improvement time after forward bias condition which leads to short period spike.
- There will be energy losses during the freewheeling phase which takes to slight reduction in overall efficiency as energy stored in the inductor is dissolute as heat in the diode.
- The short-circuit collapse of the freewheeling diode may lead to potential harm to the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) and other components, as it makes unrestricted high current to the circuit.
Freewheeling Diode
In an Electrical circuit, a Diode is a semiconductor device that acts like a one-way switch (it allows current to flow in one direction and restricts the current to flow in another direction). Semiconductor is made up of p-type and n-type materials. Semiconductors have conductivity between conductors and insulators. To control the Load voltage, a switching element is used to switch at a particular frequency.
A severe high voltage occurs at the time the switching element is activated due to the stored energy within the magnetic field of the inductive load coming across the switching element terminals in switch OFF condition which may destroy the switching element. To distribute this energy, a Freewheeling diode is used. The Load can be short-circuited at the time the switching element is inactivated. The energy stored in the magnetic field is degenerate like heat.
Table of Content
- What is a Freewheeling Diode?
- Basics of Flyback Converters
- Operation
- Importance in Inductive Load Circuits
- Advantages
- Disadvantages
- Applications