Analysis and Experiments for IGBT, IEGT, and IGCT in Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker

Abstract

As power semiconductor devices are the key components of hybrid DC circuit breakers (HCBs), how to select suitable devices is critical for the whole HCB design. First, this paper compared the general characteristics of press pack insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), injection-enhanced gate transistor (IEGT), and integrated gate commutated thyristor (IGCT). Then working conditions of devices were analyzed from the perspective of HCBs. According to these, vital features of devices including maximum turn-off current, on-state voltage, conduction ability, and robustness of power semiconductor devices were carefully analyzed and compared. Related experiments were implemented to compare maximum turn-off capability, and the 4.5 kV/3 kA IGBT/IEGT was able to turn off 19 and 22 kA respectively after 5-ms current conduction. Analysis and experiments indicated that IGCT was suitable for natural commutation low-voltage and low-current hybrid circuit breakers, due to its low on-state voltage and huge surge current conduction ability. Comparatively, IGBT and IEGT were more suitable for very high current interruption, and IEGT was the superior selection among available commercial devices. However, the interference should be considered in applications.