State-of-the-art verification of the hard-driven GTO inverter development for a 100-MVA intertie

• Published in: IEEE transactions on power electronics Vol. 13; no. 6; pp. 1182 - 1190
• Main Authors: Steimer, P.K., Gruning, H.E., Werninger, J., Schroder, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.11.1998; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuits; Connection and protection apparatus; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Frequency conversion; Inverters; Power electronics; Power electronics, power supplies; Power generation; Prototypes; Rail transportation; Robustness; Snubbers; Technological innovation; Thyristors; Valves; Inverter; Simulation; Rapid prototyping; Power electronics; Experimental study; Application; Optimization; Gate turn off thyristor
• ISSN: 0885-8993; 1941-0107
• DOI: 10.1109/63.728345

The 100 MVA intertie is mainly characterized by the following innovations: hard-driven gate turn-off thyristor (HD-GTO) with a new housing; series connection of hard-driven GTOs; low-inductive high-power HD-GTO inverter valve; and fuseless high-power HD-GTO inverter. The presented hard-driven GTO technology allows the robust, reliable, and cost-efficient series connection of GTOs. The concept of the 100 MVA intertie, which is based on, the HD-GTO technology, is reviewed. The development of the high-power HD-GTO inverter module according to a state-of-the-art development process is presented. With the use of a circuit simulator with accurate physical models of the power semiconductors, especially during the concept phase, the development and verification phases have been supported.