New Approach to a High-Power GTO PWM Inverter for AC Motor Drives

A control method for GTO PWM inverter parallel-set operation and a new protection system for prevention of short-circuit faults caused by turn-off failure, both to realize a high-power drive system are described. Timing control of GTO gate pulse command provided by a feedback loop, and a reactor at the output of the inverter can minimize the cross current flowing between inverters and can balance the output current of each inverter in inverter parallel-set operation. This method eliminates the necessity of selecting GTO's of equal characteristics, and can apply to parallel-set operation of three or more inverters. The new protection system judges the on and off states of the GTO from the GTO gate-cathode voltage and detects turn-off failure of the GTO. This method positively stops the inverter system safely and reliably upon turn-off failure of the GTO. Experiments are carried out on a 30-kVA inverter and two sets of 450-kVA GTO inverters.