Abstract：This paper describes the design and development of a novel semiconductor based switch specialized for damped oscillating voltage test system. The proposed switch is configured as two series-connected identical switch stacks with each 10 IGBT function units in series connection. Each unit consists of one IGBT, its gate driver and the auxiliary voltage sharing circuit. Single switch stack can block 20kV rated high voltage and two stacks in series are proved to be feasible for the 30kV application. Turn-on speed of the switch is approximately 250ns. A flyback topology based power supply system with front end PFC is built up for the drive circuit by loosely inductively coupling each unit with a ferrite core to the primary side power generator, giving the advantages of galvanic isolation as well as a compact size. After the parasitic effect on the gate drive are simulated, measured and estimated, a prototype is assembled and tested under different operating regimes. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the developed prototype.
2015, Vol. 16 
