Comparative study of IGBTs and MCTs in resonant DC link converters

The switching characteristics of IGBTs (insulated-gate bipolar transistors) and MCTs (MOS controlled thyristors) in both zero voltage and zero current switching RDCL (resonant DC link) converters with low and high power ratings. The factors that affect the switching operation are noted. Waveforms of the experimental results are used to present a comparative study between the switching characteristics of both devices under the various operating conditions. The need for adjusting the initial conditions in the RDCL converters to account for the nonideal behavior of the switching device is discussed. Both MCTs and IGBTs were found to operate extremely well in both zero-voltage-switching and zero-current-switching resonant converters. MCTs were found to have fewer losses in both circuits due to reduced conduction losses.<
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