A New AC Current Switch Called MERS with Low On-State Voltage IGBTs (1.54 V) for Renewable Energy and Power Saving Applications

Emergence of new power electronics configurations have historically been one of the important drivers for improvement of the IGBT technology. Development of new IGBTs is said to be a trade-off between saturation voltage, short-circuit capability and switching losses. With the common applications requiring high switching frequency and short-circuit capability, the saturation voltage performance has not been fully optimized. This paper describes a new configuration called the Magnetic Energy Recovery Switch (MERS). It is characterized by using simple control and low switching frequency, where saturation voltage is the main contributor to losses. The semiconductor requirements of this configuration have led to the development of a new low on-state voltage IGBT. Application in the area of wind power conversion shows potential for efficiency improvements. Additionally, due to the soft-switching nature of the MERS application, series connection of the new IGBTs in variable frequency induction heating application is shown to be easy without voltage sharing problems.