High Power Switching Circuits Research Articles

A NEW STRUCTURE OF FIVE-LEVEL DIODE CLAMPED INVERTER WITH REDUCING ITS ELEMENTS

At the high power switching circuit's applications, when the harmonic distortion is harmful, a multi-level diode clamped inverter is useful, especially when reduced total harmonic distortion and high power are desired. But when the levels get a rise, number of semiconductors are also rising, which leads to many problems such as increasing cost, losses, installation area, and total harmonic distortion. Many researchers have tried to find solutions to these problems. In this sense, this paper focuses on: a) build a new structure of five level diode clamped inverter. b) Increase the efficiency of the inverter by reducing the number of switches. c) Reduce the total harmonic distortion. The theoretical calculation and simulation results are performed for five level diode clamped inverter by MATLAB/ SIMULINK.

Analysis of ringing effects due to magnetic core materials in pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance circuits

This work presents investigations and detailed analysis of ringing in a non-resonant pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) circuit. Ringing is a commonly observed phenomenon in high power switching circuits. The oscillations described as ringing impede measurements in pulsed NMR systems. It is therefore desirable that those oscillations decay fast. It is often assumed that one of the causes behind ringing is the role of the magnetic core used in the antenna (acting as an inductive load). We will demonstrate that an LRC subcircuit is also set-up due to the inductive load and needs to be considered due to its parasitic effects. It is observed that the parasitics associated with the inductive load become important at certain frequencies. The output response can be related to the response of an under-damped circuit and to the magnetic core material. This research work demonstrates and discusses ways of controlling ringing by considering interrelationships between different contributing factors.

A new GaN-based high-speed and high-power switching circuit for envelope-tracking modulators

In this paper, we report a new high-speed and high-power switching circuit based on GaN HEMT's. The elementary switching cell, composed of two GaN HEMT's and two resistors, acts like a power threshold comparator with high-output voltage. Theoretical analysis of static and dynamic circuit operation points out the dependence of efficiency and switching speed to the main circuit elements. Four switching cells are then combined together thanks to SiC Schottky diodes to design a multi-level power switch that can be used as a power supply modulator for envelope tracking power amplifiers. The designed four-level supply modulator, based on Nitronex GaN HEMT's, exhibits more than 75% of efficiency for an envelope signal up to 4 MHz, a switching frequency of 20 MHz and output voltages in the range of 12–30 V.

Development and test of the poloidal field prototype coil POLO at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe

A superconducting prototype (3 m Ø and nominal current 15 kA) of a poloidal field coil was developed, constructed and tested according to the typical specification of the Tokamak magnet system in collaboration with European industry. In order to withstand fast ramping (≈2 T s −1), plasma disruption (80 T s −1, 10 ms) and plasma control (≈ ±0.05 T, 10 Hz) in the superconducting state a low loss conductor and a well developed high voltage technique at 4 K were indispensable attributes of the design. The sc cable of the conductor consists of mixed matrix strands (NbTi in Cu/CuNi) cooled by a dual cooling system (two phase forced flow helium for heat removal at constant temperature, and stagnant helium for good transient stability). The sc cable is inclosed in a thick walled stainless steel jacket. All coil components are designed and constructed according to the rules of the high voltage technique. The coil was tested in the TOSKA facility at FZK-Karlsruhe. For generating the typical positive and negative magnetic field transients a special high power switching circuit of a discharge power up to 700 MW (30 kA, 23 kV) was constructed and used. The coil was investigated considering its superconducting, electromagnetic and mechanical properties. All results were conclusive in agreement with calculations and fulfil the specifications. A highlight is that for this conductor type the stability against transient field changes is only determined by the expected stability margin or the critical current boundary no other limitations of the ramp rate were observed.

Switching time bifurcations in a thyristor controlled reactor

Thyristor controlled reactors are high power switching circuits used for static VAR control and the emerging technology of flexible AC transmission. The static VAR control circuit considered in the paper is a nonlinear periodically operated RLC circuit with a sinusoidal source and ideal thyristors with equidistant firing pulses. This paper describes new instabilities in the circuit in which thyristor turn off times jump or bifurcate as a system parameter varies slowly. The new instabilities are called switching time bifurcations and are fold bifurcations of zeros of thyristor current. The bifurcation instabilities are explained and verified by simulation and an experiment. Switching time bifurcations are special to switching systems and, surprisingly, are not conventional bifurcations. In particular, switching time bifurcations cannot be predicted by observing the eigenvalues of the system Jacobian. We justify these claims by deriving a simple formula for the Jacobian of the Poincare map of the circuit and presenting theoretical and numerical evidence that conventional bifurcations do not occur.