50 kJ ultra-compact pulsed power supply unit for various applications

Performance study of a novel 13.5 kV multichip thyristor switch

“…Packaged individually they are capable of a current rise rate (dI/dt) in excess of 20 kA/µs. This has been demonstrated for both, discrete devices and switching assemblies of up to three thyristors in series connection [4]. The 4.5 kV diode assures the switch to be reverse blocking on a reduced scale.…”

“…The 4.5 kV diode assures the switch to be reverse blocking on a reduced scale. Unlike first prototypes (Figure 1), which have been presented previously [1,4], the wafer stack is now integrated in an industry standard, hermetically sealed, ceramic press-pack housing ( Figure 2) In this configuration the switch is specified for 13.5 kV repetitive peak off-state voltage and 100 kA pulse current (half sine wave, t p < 100 µs). Instead of air, the housing is filled with dry nitrogen to have a controlled atmosphere inside.…”

“…Focusing on a very compact switching module design, ABB and ISL jointly developed a new multichip device based on fast switching thyristors. Using these devices the height of the switching module could be reduced by 40 % [4]. A 200 cycle fatigue test demonstrated a high reliability of the switching module when generating 100 µs half sine wave pulses with a peak current of 110 kA.…”