Title :
Application of the MCT to soft-switched DC-AC converters
Author :
Bellar, M.D. ; Mahdavi, J. ; Ehsani, M.
Author_Institution :
Power Electron. Lab., Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX, USA
Abstract :
The development of high power density and high efficiency soft-switched inverter drives for application in electric and hybrid vehicle systems is of current interest. The MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT) seems to be a good choice for this type of application due to its high power density features. Several experimental MCT evaluations either with hard-switching or soft-switching, have been performed on the first generation of MCT, developed and commercialized by the Harris Semiconductor Corporation. Soft-switching techniques are generally used for improving the power converter performance by expanding the safe operating area (SOA) of power semiconductor devices. However, the published MCT soft-switching tests have shown the device operation to be below its hard-switching rating limits. The paper shows some soft-switching experiment results, with a better understanding on the MCT full operating limits, for the purpose of soft switching DC-AC converter design
Keywords :
DC-AC power convertors; MOS-controlled thyristors; invertors; power semiconductor switches; semiconductor device testing; switching circuits; thyristor convertors; DC-AC power converters; MCT; MOS-controlled thyristor; application; efficiency; performance; power density; power semiconductor devices; safe operating area; soft-switching; test results; Commercialization; Hybrid electric vehicles; Inverters; MOSFETs; Performance evaluation; Power semiconductor devices; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Testing; Thyristors; Vehicle driving;
Conference_Titel :
Industry Applications Conference, 1997. Thirty-Second IAS Annual Meeting, IAS '97., Conference Record of the 1997 IEEE
Conference_Location :
New Orleans, LA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4067-1
DOI :
10.1109/IAS.1997.628987
