Performance evaluation of high power semiconductor devices employed in solid-state circuit breakers for MVDC grids

Abstract

This paper presents a performance evaluation of power losses of three high-power and high-voltage power semiconductor devices, namely, IGBTs, BIGTs, and IGCTs operating in solid-state DC circuit breakers for medium voltage Direct Current grids. The performance of each breaker is evaluated for a wide range of DC voltages and load conditions under steady-state operation, whereas the criteria are the conduction losses associated with the switches and the corresponding junction temperature. The IGCT-based solid-state breaker achieved the lowest power losses, while the IGBT-based performed the highest losses under all the investigated cases. Last but not least, a comparative study regarding the transient responses of the three devices when a short-circuit occurs is also examined and presented. The superiority of BIGT-based breaker in terms of minimizing the short-circuit current is revealed.