Characterisation of 3.3kV IGCTs for Medium Power Applications

Abstract

The Low Voltage IGCT (3.3kV) is developed to provide a semiconductor able to work at high switching frequencies (>1kHz), preserving its « high current » capacity (4kA). The ultimate goal is to increase the dynamic performances of medium/high power converters, thus extending their application field. To characterise the experimental samples of 3.3kV IGCTs, an opposition method based test bench was developed. This method allows the components to be evaluated at different test conditions in real operation without the need of several megawatt power supplies. Once the samples were characterised, the applicability analysis of these components on specific applications related to the French railway network (SNCF) is performed. Finally, a reactive power compensation application for single-phase systems is studied in detail and a 100kVAR IGCT based set up is built.