An improved gate drive circuit using an air core reactor developed for high power GTO thyristors

Abstract

An improved gate drive circuit for high power GTO thyristors is presented. The energy storage/transfer characteristics of an air core reactor and the fast switching characteristics of FETs are employed to make the high gate current of sharp pulse form. The power loss in the gate drive circuit can be reduced by using the low resistance and the hysteresis comparator to detect and control the steady on-gate current. The proposed gate drive circuit is analyzed, and its usefulness is confirmed by experiments.<>