Variable Voltage IGBT Gate Driver for Low Voltage Hybrid Circuit Breaker

In this work, design and development of a variable voltage IGBT gate driver used in a low voltage DC hybrid circuit breaker (HCB) is presented. An HCB is designed with a nominal rating of 100 A-760V, to interrupt a detected fault within approximately 650 μ s in a power grid with prospective 15 kA short-circuit capacity. The gate driver, only during the switching-off operation under fault event, increases gate voltage from 15 V to 24 V to shift up collector current saturation point so that a standard 400 A IGBT module can conduct an average of 2.6 kA with a peak of 3.6 kA for a maximum of 485 μ s. For safety and reliability reasons, in steady-state on-state operation, 15 V is applied. This allows for the realization of the most compact, cost-effective, and reliable HCB.