Series-Connected IGBTs Using Active Voltage Control Technique

With series insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) operation, well-matched gate drives will not ensure balanced dynamic voltage sharing between the switching devices. Rather, it is IGBT parasitic capacitances, mainly gate-to-collector capacitance C gc , that dominate transient voltage sharing. As...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on power electronics 2013-08, Vol.28 (8), p.4083-4103
Main Authors: Lim, T. C., Williams, B. W., Finney, S. J., Palmer, P. R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active control
Active voltage control (AVC)
Applied sciences
Buildings
Circuit properties
Circuits
Connection and protection apparatus
Devices
Dynamics
Educational institutions
Electric currents
Electric potential
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering
Electrical machines
Electronic circuits
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Insulated gate bipolar transistors
insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
Logic gates
Other multijunction devices. Power transistors. Thyristors
Power supply
Regulation and control
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
series connection
Switches
Switching
Switching, multiplexing, switched capacity circuits
Transistors
Voltage
Voltage control
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Summary:With series insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) operation, well-matched gate drives will not ensure balanced dynamic voltage sharing between the switching devices. Rather, it is IGBT parasitic capacitances, mainly gate-to-collector capacitance C gc , that dominate transient voltage sharing. As C gc is collector voltage dependant and is significantly larger during the initial turn-off transition, it dominates IGBT dynamic voltage sharing. This paper presents an active control technique for series-connected IGBTs that allows their dynamic voltage transition dV ce /dt to adaptively vary. Both switch ON and OFF transitions are controlled to follow a predefined dV ce /dt. Switching losses associated with this technique are minimized by the adaptive dv/dt control technique incorporated into the design. A detailed description of the control circuits is presented in this paper. Experimental results with up to three series devices in a single-ended dc chopper circuit, operating at various low voltage and current levels, are used to illustrate the performance of the proposed technique.
ISSN:0885-8993
1941-0107
DOI:10.1109/TPEL.2012.2227812