I would look at more complex thyristor firing schemes if I were you. Not my field, but commutating inductive loads at arbitrary firing angles is very common.

See if this link helps fore-arm you for your meeting !

http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/transfor.htm

We have been 0-90 firing a 7kVa transformer with HORRIBLE leakage inducatance very successfully, using a bought in firing module from United Automation. We too are firing a short circuit load, but in a continuous mode.


Steve