Digital Gate Drive Control Method for Active Voltage Balancing of Series-connected IGBT Devices

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: 5Language: englishTyp: PDF

Authors:
Tripathi, Ravi Nath; Arimoto, Takaaki; Omura, Ichiro (Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Japan)
Tsukuda, Masanori (Green Electronics Research Institute and KIT, 1-8 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Japan)

Abstract:
High voltage power generation and conversion are essential considering reduced system losses, consequently, lead to better power system efficiency. Series-connected power devices are used to address and satisfy the high voltage requirement of the system. However, unbalanced voltage stress distribution among the series-connected power devices is a vital concern considering the ageing of the devices, safe-operating-area (SOA) and system reliability. This paper presents, a digital gate drive control (DGDC) method for voltage balancing of series-connected IGBT devices. The proposed method dynamically controls the gate voltage to optimize the overshoot voltage as well as the voltage-stress distribution. The DGDC method is implemented for a three series-connected IGBT system to authenticate the performance.