Current Developments in High-Power Thyristors

One way of increasing the reliability of thyristor valves is to reduce the number of devices required for a high blocking voltage. An essential precondition for this is the introduction of new technologies which allow the total power loss of high-blocking thyristors to be kept within reasonable limits. The drive circuitry can be further simplified by directly integrating light triggering and overvoltage protection into the thyristor.