A Novel Self-Powered Supply for GCT Gate Drivers

The commercial power supply for the gate driver of integrated gate-commutated thyristors (GCTs) is an expensive proposition since the supply's output must withstand the high voltage of the GCT switch against all other relevant potentials in the converter. This voltage varies from a few thousand volts to several ten thousands of volts over the GCT application range. In this paper, a novel self-powered supply is proposed for the GCT gate driver, where the supply obtains energy from the snubber circuit of the GCT switch and then provides a regulated dc voltage for the gate driver. Since the snubber circuit is at the same potential as the GCT, the insulation level of the supply is reduced from thousands of volts to a couple of hundred volts, leading to a significant reduction in cost and size. The supply configuration is introduced and its operating principle is discussed. The design guidelines are discussed and experimental results from a 4160 V GCT current source rectifier are also provided.

[1]  A. Kudymow,et al.  25 MW SMES-based power modulator , 2002 .

[2]  S. Bernet,et al.  Recent developments of high power converters for industry and traction applications , 2000 .

[3]  Jiang Qirong,et al.  Investigation of voltage regulation stability of static synchronous compensator in power system , 2000, 2000 IEEE Power Engineering Society Winter Meeting. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37077).

[4]  N. Morishima,et al.  Coordinated Voltage Control and Continuous Operation of the 80MVA STATCOM under Commercial Operation , 2007, 2007 Power Conversion Conference - Nagoya.

[5]  J.-M. Meyer,et al.  A DC hybrid circuit breaker with ultra-fast contact opening and integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCTs) , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery.

[6]  A. Pokryvailo,et al.  Repetitive inductive storage supply for an ETC tank gun , 2003 .

[7]  IGCTs – megawatt power switches for medium-voltage applications , .

[8]  S. Bartos,et al.  Converters based on IGCTs in light traction drives , 2002, IEEE 2002 28th Annual Conference of the Industrial Electronics Society. IECON 02.

[9]  Luiz A. C. Lopes,et al.  Pulse width modulated capacitor for series compensation , 2001 .

[10]  Bin Wu,et al.  Current-Source Converter and Cycloconverter Topologies for Industrial Medium-Voltage Drives , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[11]  I. Cadirci,et al.  Reactive-Power Compensation of Coal Mining Excavators by Using a New-Generation STATCOM , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

[12]  H. F. Bilgin,et al.  Reactive power compensation of coal mining excavators by using a new generation STATCOM , 2005, Fourtieth IAS Annual Meeting. Conference Record of the 2005 Industry Applications Conference, 2005..

[13]  C. Schaeffer,et al.  Toward Generic Fully Integrated Gate Driver Power Supplies , 2006, IECON 2006 - 32nd Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics.

[14]  Yuan Xiao,et al.  A new current source converter using a symmetric gate commutated thyristor (SGCT) , 2000, Conference Record of the 2000 IEEE Industry Applications Conference. Thirty-Fifth IAS Annual Meeting and World Conference on Industrial Applications of Electrical Energy (Cat. No.00CH37129).

[15]  P.K. Steimer,et al.  IGCT-a new emerging technology for high power, low cost inverters , 1997, IAS '97. Conference Record of the 1997 IEEE Industry Applications Conference Thirty-Second IAS Annual Meeting.

[16]  Li Bing,et al.  A High Voltage and High Power Adjustable Speed Drive System Using the Integrated$LC$and Step-Up Transforming Filter , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[17]  Frede Blaabjerg,et al.  Control and testing of a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) at medium voltage level , 2004 .