Evaluation of a high power ARCP voltage source inverter with IGCTs

An evaluation and comparison of a two-level conventional voltage source inverter (VSI) and an auxiliary resonant commutated pole voltage source inverter (ARCPVSI) featuring IGCTs for a 3 MVA application is presented. Design issues of both topologies are addressed. The IGCT loss approximations are based on extensive measurements of the devices under hard and soft switching conditions. The results show that the ARCPVSI with IGCTs is a highly competitive alternative to conventional VSIs in this power range.