Selection of a Switching Element to characterize the Dynamic Behavior of DC Sources

The increasing number of DC applications demand new requirements to switching elements. Especially for surge protective devices the power which they have to handle depends on the different kind of DC technologies. For this reason the dynamic behaviour of the circuit in which they should operate has to be determined reliably. This paper describes the important parameters for switching devices in DC sources. Furthermore, the selection of a switching element for DC circuits is described. Due to the low switching times semiconductor switches are suited for determining the time constant of DC circuits. In addition with semiconductor switches there are no arcs during the switch-off process, whose extinction would cause problems at the DC current. Concurrently, the low switching times are also…