SiC power device design and fabrication, and insertion in novel MV power converters
• The U.S Department of Energy launched the PowerAmerica Institute under the initiative of “National Network of Manufacturing Institutes (NNMI)” to Accelerate Adoption Wide Band Gap (WBG) power devices • PowerAmerica started operations in 2015 with $140M funds over 5 years, and is managed by North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC USA • PowerAmerica addresses gaps in technology to enable manufacturing that contributes to its mission of realizing manufacturing jobs creation and energy savings through accelerated large-scale adoption of WBG semiconductor devices in power electronic systems.
Characterization of IGCTs for series connected operation
This paper describes the series connection of integrated gate commutated thyristors (IGCTs) using RC-snubbers. An experimental setup with a power rating of 6 kV, 4 kA is used to analyze the dynamic and static behavior of the series connected IGCTs in detail. The mechanism of thermal stabilization of series connected IGCTs is discussed. It is shown that a good voltage balancing can be achieved by small RC-snubbers due to the fast switching IGCTs.
The 10 kV IGCT-a new device for medium voltage drives
In order to find the optimum solution for 6.9 kV medium voltage drives (MVD) and power quality applications, IGCT devices with a blocking voltage of up to 10 kV were investigated by numerical device simulation. With such devices, the complicated series connection can be avoided. The new devices fulfill all requirements, including cosmic ray stability, and operation without turnoff snubber. In addition, the maximum output power of a three-level inverter equipped with 10 kV IGCTs was calculated. With careful device design, an apparent output power of the inverter of 5 MVA with a single IGCT switch per position is feasible.