subject: Learning About Solid State Relays [print this page] Learning About Solid State Relays Learning About Solid State Relays
There are a variety of different relays that are commonly used in electronics and one of the most common types happens to be solid state. If you do not know much about relays, then this may help you grasp the basics of the solid state type. It turns out that solid state relays are one of the most useful relays out there because they can be used for a very wide range of applications. Unlike electromechanical relays, the solid state variety does not have the same kind of limits as to what they can do. If you were to build an electromechanical relay yourself, it would be fairly costly and it would end up consuming quite a bit of space. It also would not switch very rapidly and its contact life cycle would be relatively short. In the case of bigger power contractor relays, this is going to be even more the case. That is why manufacturers of relays also make relays that will use transistor output to switch the controlled power instead of contacts of the mechanical variety. Within the solid state relays, there will be an LED light that is optically coupled to the output device. Then, with DC power set to a low voltage, the LED light is energized which turns on the relay itself. That makes this type of relay comparable with an electromechanical one.
The advantage of solid staterelays is that they do not have moving parts that are going to wear down over time as they strike against one another. Also, the armature of a mechanical relay can only move so fast and that means that solid state relays are much faster in terms of their operation compared with electromechanical relays. Corrosion that typically affects the electromechanical relay's contacts is not going to be an issue when you choose solid state instead, nor is sparking of the contacts going to cause any sort of issue. Still, the main reason that we do not see the common and wide spread usage of the better type of relay is that they are expensive to build for industrial purposes if one wants the relay to have a high current rating. It is still possible to obtain solid state relays for certain applications in which people do so regularly. If you are looking for a place to get some yourself, you will be glad there are some easy solutions.
You can definitely find sources for this type of relay online these days and that tends to be where most companies and individuals are going to get the relays they need. It is a much easier solution that can definitely give you a great price.
