Circuit configuration of the GTO converter for superconducting magnetic energy storage

This paper discusses two circuit configurations of ac to dc power converters for Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) using GTO's, and their design. The power converter circuit for SMES is a current source rectifier, hence suppressing the over voltage on GTO power devices during commutation is a very important problem, when using GTO's. Another problem is to get high conversion efficiency by handling the commutation energy properly. Two circuits are presented for this purpose and the detailed computer simulation for these circuits were carried out. As a result, design policies and characteristics for both circuits were derived. The best choice of the converter circuit for SMES is discussed based on these results