Patent ID: 7405911

Claim:
A circuit arrangement, comprising: a voltage link converter, including an intermediate-circuit capacitor and switching paths, arranged in parallel therewith and including series-connected switching elements, wherein a short-circuit thyristor is provided as protection against short-circuit currents and overvoltages; and a short-circuit protection arrangement, including a parallel circuit of the short-circuit thyristor with pairs of series-connected protective diodes which conduct in opposition to said short-circuit thyristor, connected to the intermediate-circuit capacitor and to the switching paths, wherein the short-circuit protection arrangement is connected in parallel with the intermediate-circuit capacitor and the short-circuit protection arrangement is connected to the intermediate-circuit capacitor via additional protective diodes arranged in two connecting lines, the additional protective diode in the first connecting line conducting in opposition to the additional protective diode in the second connecting line, wherein a connection point between two series-connected switching elements in a switching path is connected to a connection point between two series-connected protective diodes of the short-circuit protection arrangement, and wherein the switching elements in the switching paths are IGBTs.