Characterisation of IGBTs in Soft Commutation Mode for Medium Frequency Transformer Application in Railway Traction

摘要

Nowadays, the typical railway traction chain, that operates under AC catenaries, includes a bulky andrnheavy transformer. In order to reduce the weight and the size of the input transformer, a medium frequencyrntopology, which involves soft commutation mode for the switches, is proposed. At this effect,rnfor the characterization of high voltage components in soft commutation mode, a specific test bench isrnbuilt in the PEARL. In this paper, experimental characterisation results are given for 6.5 kV IGBTs inrnDual-Thyristor mode. The snubber capacitors provide a significant reduction in turn-off energy and arnswitching frequency of several kHz is then possible.