Parameter design of three-level converter based on series connected HV-IGBTs

Although the maximum collector-emitter voltage of high voltage insulated gate bipolar transistor (HV-IGBT) reaches 3300V or higher, it still cannot satisfy the requirements of some high voltage high power converters. Applying power semiconductor devices in series connection can effectively improve the voltage rating and power rating of power electronic converter. The key issue of device series connection is voltage balancing in static switching state and dynamic switching state. In this paper, a three-level converter based on series connected HV-IGBTs is presented, its voltage balancing sub-circuits are analyzed, and the parameter design method for the converter is proposed. During the design process, component parameters of the three-level converter are calculated considering the influence of voltage balancing circuit. The proposed parameter design method is applied in the development of a three-level HV-IGBT (4500V/600A) series connection test platform with 10000V rated dc-link voltage. Experimental results verify the validity of the proposed method.