Devices-drivers and protection

Once a step is made to a medium power range of several hundred volts and amps the power device parasitic characteristics begin to dominate design, and the ability to scale up power devices begins to falter. Many applications prefer to advance power requirements by parallel units rather than make a technology jump. Good applications for medium power devices are often missed. This paper concentrates on the interaction between system performance, and the design of the power conversion stage, and to show the inter-dependence of switch drivers and switch snubbers. The author concludes with one example of optimisation of power conversion for both a bipolar junction transistor (BIT) and gate turn-off thyristor (GTO), the emitter and cathode switch