Development and Test of a 260 kVA Inverter with a Passive Soft-Switching Snubber

A 260 kVA inverter has been developed with a passive soft-switching snubber. The main circuit configuration and prototyping are described. Optimization of the passive soft-switching snubber parameters has been made to control the voltage overshoot across the switches, minimize snubber and inverter losses, and effectively limit dv/dt and di/dt during activation. An efficiency higher than 98.5% has been achieved as well as other prospected features. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the validity and features of the inverter.