Development of the 120kV/70A High Voltage Switching Circuit with MOSFETs Operated by Simple Gate Drive Unit

120kV/70A MOSFETs Switch의 구동회로 개발

A 120kV/70A high voltage switch has been installed at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in Taejon to supply power with Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) system. NBI system requires fast cutoff of the power supply voltage for protection of the grid when arc detected and fast turn-on the voltage for sustaining the beam current. Therefore the high voltage switch and arc current detection circuit are important part of the NBI power supply and there are much need for high voltage solid state switches in NBI system and a broad area of applications. This switch consisted of 100 series connected MOSFETs and adopted the proposed simple and reliable gate drive circuit without bias supply, Various results taken during the commissioning phase with a 100kW resistive load and NBI source are shown. This paper presents the detailed design of 120kV/70A high voltage MOSFETs switch and simple gate drive circuit. Problems with the high voltage switch and gate driver and solutions are also presented.