A new gate drive circuit for safe switching of MOS Controlled Thyristor (MCT)

The MOS Controlled Thyristor (MCT) is a relatively new class of MOS Gated Power Device having superior characteristics as compared to other similar type of devices. A new compact and reliable gate drive circuit for p-MCT has been developed having features of short- circuit lower current and thermal protection along with low delay times and high immunity against spurious disturbances. The drive circuit has been tested in a chopper circuit upto 12.0 KHz with test under both short-circuit and thermal stress. Test results from a MeT based PWM controlled ACIDC converter using this drive circuit has also been presented.