Emitter turn-off (ETO) thyristor, ETO light converter and their grid applications

In today's electric power system, solid state power electronics technology plays more and more important roles and the demand for mega-watt level power ratings is increasing. The development of mega-watt power converters strongly depends on the state-of-the-art of power semiconductor technology, cooling technology and digital controller. The authors have been involved in the development of the emitter turn-off (ETO) thyristor, an emerging power semiconductor switch for high power applications. Packed with advanced features as well as superior performance, ETO based power electronics systems are very attractive for various grid applications. In this paper, the authors will present the ETO device, ETO Light converter that are under development at the NSF FREEDM Systems Center. Moreover, the authors will explain how these developments will facilitate grid applications: static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) without/with energy storage, direct connection of wind turbine, high voltage direct current (HVDC) application, power flow control and solid-state circuit breaker and current limiter.