IGBT Development and Structure
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The use of VSC technology within Siemens has been growing over the last decades. Innovations in IGBT and capacitor technology open up the future for the latest concept in VSC technology, the multilevel VSC, used for the second generation of HVDC PLUS. The VSC technology with IGBTs with turn-off capability has many advantages. The standard IGBT module is produced for the broad market by many manufacturers and has benefited from rapid technological developments. To allow the use of modular IGBTs, Siemens engineers have developed an economical and fail-safe short-circuit mechanism within the multilevel module.
Structure:
The module comprises the following components:
DC capacitor: To suppress the ripple from the conversion of AC currents in the kilo-ampere range requires several milli Farads of capacitance, making the DC capacitor the largest single component in the module.
Modular IGBTs: The modular IGBTs/diodes are mounted on a rugged water-cooled heatsink with carefully routed busbars to minimize the stray inductance between devices and capacitor.
Parallel thyristor: A press-pack thyristor is also fitted in parallel with the electrical connections on the module to provide a safe path for very high main circuit fault currents, thereby allowing the converter to withstand DC side short-circuits and to provide a fast acting protection for the submodule.
In addition, the submodule can be by-passed by means of a special vacuum switch, when there is an internal failure. Based on the redundant number of submodules, operation of the converter can continue until the next scheduled maintenance cycle.
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