IGCT Switching Behaviour Under Resonant Operating Conditions

In the area of medium voltage DC-DC conversion, LLC Series Resonant Converter (LLC-SRC) presents itself as an attractive topology for implementation of the DC transformer. Employing Integrated Gate-Commutated Thyristor (IGCT) as a switching element one can obtain very low conduction losses with this design, while considerably lowering the switching losses. Low current turn-off of the switch previously flooded with the high quasi sinusoidal load current is explored throughout this paper. Conclusions are supported by Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) simulations and by waveforms obtained from a dedicated test setup designed to emulate the conduction and switching conditions present in LLC-SRC.