Demonstration of compact solid state opening and closing switch utilizing GTOs in series

A compact opening and closing solid state switch has been designed, constructed, and demonstrated. The switch has successfully repetitively switched over 4 MW of peak power and yet measures only 0.45 m×0.12 m×0.32 m and has a mass of 13 kg. The switch uses commercially available gate turn-off thyristors (GTOs), arranged in series to enable the collected devices to switch a voltage five times the rating of an individual device. The system uses exclusively commercially available components, yet takes advantage of state-of-the-art components. System dV/dt exceeded 1 kV/μs and system di/dt exceeded 200 A/μs, for both turn-on and turn-off. The system was only limited in the amount of power it could switch by thermal considerations