Novel general-purpose IGBT test platform for hybrid DC circuit breakers and analysis

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) devices for hybrid Direct Current (DC) circuit breakers must not only ensure their safety and reliability, but also fully exploit their capabilities, especially the turn-off capability. However, the current research on IGBT device characteristic in this application is not perfect, especially the turn-off characteristics with high current. Therefore, it is necessary to test the ultimate capability of IGBT devices through special test platforms, including ultimate turn-off capability, reclosing turn-off capability and so on. This paper proposes an electrical stress test circuit for IGBT devices from the perspective of hybrid DC circuit breakers. Firstly, the electrical stress commonality of IGBT devices under different circuit breaker topologies and operating conditions is analyzed and summarized. Based on this, a new universal test circuit topology of IGBT devices for hybrid DC circuit breakers is proposed. The proposed test circuit has good flexibility in circuit parameter adjustment to meet different tests and analysis requirements of DC circuit breaker under various operating conditions. And then the corresponding test platform is built based on the circuit. Further, a simplified model considering the parasitic parameters and special component parameters is established for the test platform, and then the analytical analysis of the electrical stress of the tested IGBT device is obtained at each phase of the test. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the test circuit and the highly adjustment of the test electrical stress. The test circuit topology, test electrical stress analysis and adjustment methods proposed in this paper can be widely applied to the evaluation and R&D test of IGBT devices for circuit breakers.