Title :
Optimised diodes for high voltage GTO snubbers
Author :
Profumo, F. ; Tenconi, A. ; Facelli, S. ; Passerini, B. ; Fimiani, S.
Author_Institution :
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Bologna Univ., Italy
Abstract :
In this paper, discussion is focused on the optimum characteristics of the diode for an active GTO snubber circuit. A description of the high voltage GTO turn-off operation which put in evidence the critical voltage and power loss spikes is reported. In this description, attention is drawn on the importance assumed by the electrical parameters of the snubber diode for the GTO safe turn-off operation. A new snubber diode with improved characteristics is proposed and the advantages of this new design with respect to the traditional solutions are explained. In the last section, the performance of the new generation snubber diode and the standard high voltage soft switching fast recovery diode are experimentally compared
Keywords :
optimisation; power semiconductor diodes; power semiconductor switches; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device testing; snubbers; switching circuits; thyristors; HV GTO snubbers; active GTO snubber circuit; critical voltage; fast recovery diode; high voltage GTO turn-off operation; optimum characteristics; power loss spikes; soft switching; Anodes; Cathodes; Circuits; Diodes; Electric breakdown; Inductance; Low voltage; Rectifiers; Snubbers; Thyristors;
Conference_Titel :
Industry Applications Conference, 1996. Thirty-First IAS Annual Meeting, IAS '96., Conference Record of the 1996 IEEE
Conference_Location :
San Diego, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3544-9
DOI :
10.1109/IAS.1996.559232
