Three-State Output Gate Driver for IGBTs

Conference: CIPS 2020 - 11th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems
03/24/2020 - 03/26/2020 at Berlin, Deutschland

Proceedings: ETG-Fb. 161: CIPS 2020

Pages: 4Language: englishTyp: PDF

Authors:
Reigosa, Paula Diaz (University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, FHNW, Windisch, Switzerland)
Urcan, Bogdan Marian; Gascue, Martin Iriondo; Iannuzzo, Francesco (Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark)

Abstract:
This paper presents a gate driver for IGBTs having three distinct state outputs: 1) turn-on state, 2) turn-off state and 3) open-circuit state. The gate driver implements a robust control method, which immediately eliminates high-frequency oscillations typically appearing in IGBTs in the event of a short circuit. In the developed prototype, two isolated gate drivers have been used to operate the IGBT in the three distinct modes. The open-circuit state is applied when the output of both gate drivers is set low, decoupling the IGBT from the gate circuit. The new concept has been validated under normal switching and short circuit events, demonstrating a smooth operation of the IGBT in normal operations and the capability to survive short circuit events on top of it.