Four Quadrant 60 A, 8 V Power Converters for LHC

The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) particle accelerator requires many true bipolar power converters (752), located under the accelerator dipole magnets in a radioactive environment. A special design and topology are required to obtain the necessary performance while meeting the criteria of radiation tolerance and compact size. This paper describes the ±60A ±8V power converter, designed by CERN to meet these requirements. Design aspects, performances and test results of this converter are presented.