5SHY5055L0002 3BHE019719R0101 GVC736BE101 IGCT module

Description

5SHY5055L0002 3BHE019719R0101 GVC736BE101
Introducing the 5.5kV, 5kA HPT IGCT
Tobias Wikström, Thomas Setz, Kenan Tugan, Thomas Stiasny and Björn Backlund, ABB
A 5.5kV asymmetric Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor (IGCT) has been developed
based on the High Power Technology (HPT) platform for very high SOA in large-area IGCTs.
The device can safely control up to 3.6kA of current (actual destruction limit is higher – beyond 5kA), at DC-link voltages up to 3.9kV, while retaining important reliability aspects, as
resilience towards cosmic-rays and load cycling. The device can handle frequencies up to
10kHz and an operating temperature of 125°C
The IGCT is a well-known and often preferred technology for handling very high power. The
applications range from industrial drives (tens of MW), track-side supplies, power quality
and high-current breakers. A picture of the device is shown in Fig. 1 below.
The 5.5kV High-Power IGCT, consisting of the silicon switch in an hermetic ceramic housing
to the left, intimately coupled to the gate driving circuit to the right.
The main strengths of the device lies in its thyristor-like on-state with maximal possibilities
for engineering the on-state plasma distribution for optimal trade-off between on-state and
turn-off losses, its rugged mechanical design and the good thermal coupling to the cooler.
The main weakness compared to the IGBT, which is the only competitor device for the
power range of the IGCT, is the relatively large effort needed to control the device – tens of
Watts for the 3.6kA device – as well as the inability to control the anode voltage during turnon as the IGBT does The former is due to the fact that it is a current-controlled device. The
latter is due to it being a thyristor and as such it is, crudely, either off or on and the transition
in between those states is only stable in theory. Hence, implementing it in most common inverter topologies means protecting the antiparallel diode at turn-on. Nevertheless, thanks to
its low losses and efficient cooling, it is and continues to be the preferred choice for many
manufacturers of very large power inverters. Other applications, such breakers for large currents, can only be conceived using the low on-state of the IGCT.