State-of-the-art verification of the hard-driven GTO inverter development for a 100-MVA intertie

The 100 MVA intertie is mainly characterized by the following innovations: hard-driven gate turn-off thyristor (HD-GTO) with a new housing; series connection of hard-driven GTOs; low-inductive high-power HD-GTO inverter valve; and fuseless high-power HD-GTO inverter. The presented hard-driven GTO technology allows the robust, reliable, and cost-efficient series connection of GTOs. The concept of the 100 MVA intertie, which is based on, the HD-GTO technology, is reviewed. The development of the high-power HD-GTO inverter module according to a state-of-the-art development process is presented. With the use of a circuit simulator with accurate physical models of the power semiconductors, especially during the concept phase, the development and verification phases have been supported.