Comparisons of STRETCH meat grinders based on two different topologies of ICCOS

Inductive energy storage systems (IES) require opening switches which are technically much more difficult to realize than closing switches. Institute of Advanced Technology (IAT) puts forward a meat grinder with an inductive pulse power topology called slow transfer of energy through capacitive hybrid (STRETCH). In this topology, an integrated gate-commutated thyristor (IGCT) is capable of breaking the charging currents on the order of 4 kA, and it may encounter difficulties in expanding to higher energy systems. German-French Institute of Saint Louis (ISL) has developed a high-power opening switch based on standard high-power thyristors by using their so-called inverse current commutation with semiconductor devices (ICCOS) countercurrent commutation principle. Two topologies of the STRETCH meat grinder with ICCOS are analyzed. And they are compared based on the voltage across the main switch, the current multiplication factor and other aspects by using Matlab simulations. The advantages and disadvantages of the two topologies are shown through the comparisons. Therefore a more suitable topology can be chosen for realistic applications according to their performances.