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

Claim 8:
9. A short-circuit protection circuit for a multilevel converter, the multilevel converter including a first segment and a second segment electrically connected to the first segment, wherein the first and second segments are each configured to convert a first current to a second current, wherein the first segment includes a plurality of first switches, and wherein the second segment includes a plurality of second switches, said short-circuit protection circuit comprising:
at least one electrical component electrically connected in parallel with at least one of the plurality of first switches and the plurality of second switches of the multilevel converter,
wherein during a short-circuit condition, the plurality of first switches and the plurality of second switches are turned off, and said short-circuit protection circuit is configured to protect the plurality of first switches and the plurality of second switches from a short-circuit current during the short-circuit condition, and
wherein the multilevel converter includes a bus capacitor and a flying capacitor, and wherein said short-circuit protection circuit is configured to isolate energy stored in the bus capacitor and the flying capacitor to eliminate the short- circuit current during the short-circuit condition.