Patent ID: 11881764
Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A multilevel converter system comprising:
a multilevel converter comprising a first segment and a second segment electrically connected to said first segment, wherein said first and second segments are each configured to convert a first current to a second current, wherein said first segment comprises a plurality of first switches, and wherein said second segment comprises a plurality of second switches; and
a short-circuit protection circuit electrically connected to said multilevel converter, wherein said short-circuit protection circuit comprises at least one electrical component that is electrically connected in parallel with at least one of said plurality of first switches and said plurality of second switches,
wherein during a short-circuit condition, said plurality of first switches and said plurality of second switches are turned off, and said short-circuit protection circuit is configured to protect said plurality of first switches and said plurality of second switches from a short-circuit current during the short-circuit condition, and wherein said multilevel converter comprises a bus capacitor and a flying capacitor, and wherein said short-circuit protection circuit is configured to isolate energy stored in said bus capacitor and said flying capacitor to eliminate the short-circuit current during the short-circuit condition.