A special high-frequency soft-switched high-voltage isolated DC/DC power supply for multiple GCT gate drivers

This paper is devoted to the development of a novel high voltage isolated power supply for the gate driver of integrated Gate Commutated Thyristors (GCT). The proposed power supply is essentially a special high frequency soft switched DC/DC converter, integrating six parallel isolated power supplies (PIPS) in one module where each power supply generates a regulated dc supply for the GCT gate driver at very high voltage isolation level. In all, this design strives to achieve a general power supply for powering up the gate drivers of all types of GCT devices in all MV applications with minimal changes in configuration. The transformer optimization procedure satisfying the voltage isolation (more than 9kV corona and 37kV high-pot testing) requirement for GCT gate drivers is discussed. The performance of the proposed power supply, including the front-end DC/DC converter, and the optimization of the transformer, is verified by simulations and experiments where a 360W laboratory prototype is built for the experimental use.