Investigation of Reverse Recovery Current of High-Power Thyristor in Pulsed Power Supply

Abstract

The instantaneous overvoltages from the load side can cause damages of high-power thyristors in conventional pulsed power supply topologies, especially in cases of numerous pulse-forming units that operate together with discharge time intervals. The instantaneous overvoltages from the load side, which leads to high reverse recovery currents in high-power thyristors, can be induced by load mutations in the electromagnetic launching field. This paper establishes circuit models of PPS topologies, and investigates effects of the initial voltage of the energy-storage capacitor, the discharge time intervals, and the load resistance on the reverse recovery currents in high-power thyristors. To overcome the shortcomings of conventional PPS topologies, an improved PPS topology is developed. The improved PPS topology applies coupling inductor and resistance-capacitance snubber techniques, which can absorb the surge energy from the load side and reduce the reverse recovery currents in high-power thyristors. The simulation technique has been applied to validate theoretical analysis and the proposed model.