An innovative oil immersed power stack for wind power conversion using series connected GCTs

A novel 450 kW DC wind power generator has been built using Active Stator technology, with an integrated oil immersed power electronic converter. The converter utilises unpackaged series connected Reverse Blocking Gate Commutated Thyristors (RB-GCT), operating at unity gain, to achieve high power density within a sealed `i-CAN´ stack enclosure. The stack is cooled with synthetic ester oil which is also utilised as a liquid dielectric to provide 3 kV isolation in a small converter footprint.. The Active Stator machine is capable of operating in four quadrants for either motoring or generating.