Actively clamped zero-current-switching quasi-resonant convertersusing IGBTs

Conventional zero-current-switching quasi-resonant power converters (ZCS-QRCs) suffer from the disadvantages of high switch current stress and variable switching frequency. This paper proposes the use of a “current-clamping circuit” to overcome these disadvantages. By incorporating such a circuit into the family of ZCS-QRCs, a new family of actively clamped ZCS-QRCs using insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) is derived. These power converters feature high (and constant) switching frequency and zero-current turn-off (without increased current stress), which are particularly useful for high-power applications where minority-carrier semiconductor devices (such as IGBTs and bipolar junction transistors) are used as power switches. The design criteria, simulation and experimental results are reported     

Electrothermal simulations in punchthrough and nonpunchthroughIGBT's

The performance of 1200 V punchthrough (PT) and nonpunchthrough (NPT) insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT's) is studied in detail under unclamped inductive switching (UIS) and short circuit (SC) conditions. The need for a good physics based simulator to carry out a reliability study is pointed out in the paper. Using such a finite element-based device and circuit simulator it is shown that NPT-IGBT's show a much better performance than PT-IGBTs under UIS condition. It is also shown that an NPT device has a better short circuit withstanding capability than a PT device due to the structural differences between the two devices. As there is a huge power loss within the device during these operating conditions, device self-heating is expected to have a significant impact on device characteristics. Electrothermal simulations are used to study device self-heating and it is shown that it significantly influences device performance under SC operation whereas self-heating influences the UIS performance of only the PT device with little effect on the NPT device. The study is validated by an experimental study of short circuit failure of PT IGBTs     

Zero-voltage and zero-current switching energy-recovery circuit for plasma display panel

A new zero-voltage and zero-current switching (ZVZCS) energy-recovery circuit (ERC) for a plasma display panel (PDP) is proposed. The external current source ensures the zero-voltage turn-on of all MOSFETs, zero-current turn-off of all IGBTs, and fully charged/discharged PDP, which desirably reduce the sustaining voltage. Moreover, it features simpler structure, fewer devices, lower cost, lower electromagnetic interference noise, and lower current stress.     

Zero-Voltage and Zero-Current Switching Full-Bridge DC–DC Converter With Auxiliary Transformer

A novel zero-voltage and zero-current switching (ZVZCS) full-bridge phase-shifted pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter using insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) with auxiliary transformer is proposed to improve the properties of the previously presented converters. ZVZCS for all power switches is achieved for full load range from no-load to short circuit by adding active energy recovery snubber and auxiliary circuits. The principle of operation is explained and analyzed and experimental results are presented. The features and design considerations of the converter are verified on a 3-kW, 50-kHz IGBT based experimental circuit.     

Zero-Current Soft-Switching Performance of 1200-V PT Clustered Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor

Zero-current soft-switching performance of a 1200-V, 20-A punch-through (PT) clustered insulated gate bipolar transistor (CIGBT) is evaluated in this paper. Turn-on over-voltage transients have been witnessed in 2D numerical simulations and experimental results. These have been shown to be influenced by circuit parameters and internal device structure. Conductivity modulation lag within the device is found to be dependant upon dI/dt; however, this alone does not explain the significant over-voltages at turn-on. The device structure is found to influence the magnitude of such voltage peaks. By optimization of the structure, over-voltages can be minimized, resulting in a significant improvement in losses compared to an IGBT. The current bump associated with zero-current turn-off has been analyzed under various dV/dt values and is influenced by circuit capacitance, switching timings, and carrier lifetime. Internal dynamics of the CIGBT have been analyzed to give an insight into the performance under zero-current switching (ZCS). ZCS tests at 600 V, 20 A have shown that the CIGBT performs well with respect to a commercial IGBT of the same rating. Dynamic saturation voltage of the CIGBT has been shown to be 15% lower at room temperatures to that of an equivalent IGBT.     

采用辅助变压器的零电压零电流开关全桥直-直变换器

本文给出了一种新型的零电压零电流开关全桥移相脉宽调制变换器,该变换器采用IGBT为功率开关管,在传统变换器的基础上通过增加辅助变压器的方式提高了变换器的性能,通过增加正激能量恢复缓冲器和辅助电路,使变换器在各种负载以及短路工作状态下都能够保证所有开关管实现零电压零电流开关工作模式。介绍了变换器的工作原理并通过试验得到了较好的结果。     

Electrothermal simulation of an IGBT PWM inverter

An electrothermal network simulation methodology is used to analyze the behavior of a full-bridge, pulse-width-modulated (PWM), voltage-source inverter, which uses insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) as the switching devices. The electrothermal simulations are performed using the Saber circuit simulator and include control logic circuitry, IGBT gate drivers, the physics-based IGBT electrothermal model, and thermal network component models for the power-device silicon chips, packages, and heat sinks. It is shown that the thermal response of the silicon chip determines the IGBT temperature rise during the device switching cycle. The thermal response of the device TO247 package and silicon chip determines the device temperature rise during a single phase of the 60-Hz sinusoidal output. Also, the thermal response of the heat sink determines the device temperature rise during the system startup and after load-impedance changes. It is also shown that the full electrothermal analysis is required to accurately describe the power losses and circuit efficiency     

A novel zero-voltage and zero-current switching PWM DC-DC converterwith reduced conduction losses

A novel zero-voltage and zero-current switching PWM DC-DC converter with low conduction losses is presented in this paper. A new interleaved two-switch forward soft-switching converter topology is developed to minimize circulating current with no additional auxiliary circuits. This converter has many advantages such as less components, better efficiency, high power density and cost efficiency for high power applications. The principle of operation is illustrated together with steady-state analysis. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed converter topology is verified by implementing a 500 W-100 kHz breadboard using IGBTs     

Real-time system for monitoring the electro-thermal behaviour of power electronic devices used in boost converters

Reliability of power electronic devices (PEDs) is a key issue to secure power supplies in modern word, especially, those generated from renewable energy sources. Thermal stress due to switching frequency and environmental conditions are commonest cause of currently unsatisfactory PEDs reliability scores.In this paper, the electro thermal performance of PEDs and related parameters are critically investigated using three types of differently manufactured insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). Namely, punch through (PT), non-punch through (NPT) and field stop (FS) silicon trench gate technologies.First, currents and voltages of the examined IGBTs were measured under different operating temperatures, switching frequencies and electrical loading conditions.Second, power losses of the examined devices were calculated, in real time, based on their measured currents and voltages using realistic mathematical model embedded in a dSPACE system. Subsequently, the power losses for each device were used as an input to a finite element model to graphically predict heat distributions for each of the monitored devices.Compared to expensive measurements taken by high-resolution thermal imaging cameras, the accuracy of the developed system achieved 97%. The obtained results demonstrate the developed model would serve as an inexpensive and powerful tool for monitoring PEDs thermal conditions.     

IGBT-Based Cost-Effective Energy-Recovery Circuit for Plasma Display Panel

A new insulated-gate-bipolar-transistor (IGBT)-based cost-effective energy-recovery circuit (ERC) for a plasma display panel (PDP) is proposed. Since it is composed of two small resonant inductors and four power diodes instead of the conventional large auxiliary circuit, it features a simpler structure, less mass, fewer power devices, higher efficiency, and lower cost. Since all its power switches are turned off under the zero-current switching operation, IGBTs can be employed as power switches. Moreover, the very stable and uniform light emitted from a PDP proves the high quality of screen. Therefore, it is well suitable for the consumer-affordable hang-on-the-wall TVs which have the desirable features such as thinness, lightness, high efficiency, low price, etc. To confirm the validity of the proposed ERC, a comparative analysis and experimental results based on a whole ac PDP driver equipped with the proposed circuit for the 42-in PDP are presented     

System simulation and realization of a resonant inverter with afield-controlled thyristor

The design, simulation, and realization of a single-ended quasi-resonant inverter (SEQRI) for induction heating applications are described. A novel power device, the field-controller thyristor (FCT), is used as a switching device. Full understanding and a proper realization of the circuit is obtained by accurate simulation with a software tool combining circuit and two-dimensional device simulation. With the use of combined circuit/device simulation, the operation of the system is predicted accurately. Comparison with experimental data showed excellent agreement. It is verified that a 15 A/1700 V FCT is an appropriate switching device for a SEQRI fed from a 220 V mains and delivering an output power of 1 kW     

1300 V, 2 ms pulse inductive load switching test circuit with 20 ns selectable crowbar intervention

A non destructive inductive load switching (ILS) test apparatus with the capability of delivering high current pulses with a maximum 2 ms duration under a 1300 V supply is presented in this work. The system is also provided with a fast crowbar whose intervention is programmable with a 20 ns resolution and is intended to perform tests on power devices driving generic inductive loads. This kind of test is commonly used for quality control and prototype verification in power devices industry [Busatto G, Cascone B, Fratelli L, Balsamo M, Iannuzzo F, Velardi F. Non-destructive high temperature characterization of high-voltage IGBTs. Microelectron Reliab 2002;42(9–11):1635–40]. The high resolution crowbar intervention allows an immediate steering of the current away from the Device Under Test (DUT) after the failure event. In this way device damage is minimized so as to have a better understanding of the exact position of the failure, an essential parameter to infer the reasons that caused it [Trivedi M, Shenai K. Failure mechanisms of IGBTs under short-circuit and clamped inductive switching stress. IEEE Trans Power Electron 1999;14(1):108–16; Breglio G, Irace A, Riccio M, Spirito P, Hamada K, Nishijima T, et al. Detection of localized UIS failure on IGBTs with the aid of lock-in thermography. Microelectron Reliab 2008;48(8–9):1432–4].     

Modeling buffer layer IGBTs for circuit simulation

The dynamic behavior of commercially available buffer layer IGBTs is described. It is shown that buffer layer IGBTs become much faster at high voltages than nonbuffer layer IGBTs with similar low voltage characteristics. Because the fall times specified in manufacturers' data sheets do not reflect the voltage dependence of switching speed, a new method of selecting devices for different circuit applications is suggested. A buffer layer IGBT model is developed and implemented into the Saber circuit simulator, and a procedure is developed to extract the model parameters for buffer layer IGBTs. It is shown that the new buffer layer IGBT model can be used to describe the dynamic behavior and power dissipation of buffer layer IGBTs in user-defined application circuits. The results of the buffer layer IGBT model are verified using commercially available IGBTs     

Turn-Off Behavior of 1.2 kV/25 A NPT-CIGBT Under Clamped Inductive Load Switching

For the first time, this paper analyzes the turn-off behavior of the planar 1.2 kV/25, A nonpunch-through clustered insulated gate bipolar transistor (NPT-CIGBT) under clamped inductive load switching, in detail and through experiment simulation. Turn-off behavior of the CIGBT involves strong interaction between device and circuit parameters. The circuit parameter such as gate resistance was varied in order to observe the dlldt, dV/dt, and turn-off energy loss of the device. Experimental results are shown at 25degC and 125degC. In addition, numerical simulation results are used to enhance understanding of the internal physics of the NPT-CIGBT turn-off process.     

A new two-quadrant zero-current transition converter for DC motor drives

A new two-quadrant (2Q) zero-current-transition (ZCT) converter with the capabilities of 2Q power flow and ZCT switching profile for DC motor drives is presented. It possesses the advantages that both the main and auxiliary switches can operate with zero-current switching (ZCS), reduced switching losses and stresses, minimum voltage and current stresses as well as minimum circulating energy during both the motoring and regenerating modes. It also offers simple circuit topology, minimum component count and low cost. This converter is particularly useful for DC traction systems in which both motoring and regenerative braking are desired to have high efficiency. The corresponding theoretical analysis and its high-efficiency performance are supported by both simulation and experimental results.     

一个快速高压固态开关的设计及实现

大多数固态功率开关中，开关速度会随着电源的增加而降低。基于这种原因，有很多方法在高功率下可获得合适速度。其方法之一是中压和额定电流大功率开关串联或并联的开关结构。这篇文章研究了不同型号的快速固态功率开关并选择IGBT作为开关单元。为了模拟，设计了IGBT的微观工作模型。最后，采用了8个IGBT串联的原型固态开关结构并且在7KV和600A下测试，其开通时间少于150纳秒。     

Design considerations of IGBT's in resonant converter applications

The switching dynamics of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT's) in zero voltage switching (ZVS) resonant converter applications is studied and optimized using an advanced mixed device and circuit simulator. It is shown that bipolar and MOS device parameters must be carefully optimized to obtain the lowest total power loss. A simple circuit simulation model was used in an advanced behavioral circuit simulator where the model parameters were extracted from mixed device and circuit simulations. Performance analysis of a typical series resonant converter (SRC) shows that ZVS condition is more favorable than the zero current switching (ZCS) condition from the standpoint of obtaining efficient power conversion. It is shown that IGBT's with narrower source result in lower total switching power loss     

Comparison of temperature limits for Trench silicon IGBT technologies for medium power applications

This work focuses on determining the switching limits in temperature for Reverse Conducting IGBTs and compares them to “conventional” IGBTs based on Trench technologies, all them belonging to 600 V–50 A application scenario. After, their leakage current under blocking state is tested at several working temperatures, in order to study the leakage current that limits the blocking safe operating area with temperature. Next, overcurrent tests have been performed. This investigation deals with understanding the overcurrent induced failures due to thermal effects using short circuit tests adapted to our needs. As a result, we observe that RC-IGBTs integrating a free-wheeling diode show the highest leakage losses in blocking state, whereas it presents the best ruggedness under short circuit tests.     

为电流探头分析设计的60ns上升时间的1kA脉冲电流源

在电力电子应用方面，大电流和高带宽电流探头的运用是必须的，以便分析现代快速开关功率半导体器件的开关特性。目前普通的电流探头基本上可以达到每微秒10KA或更高。为了检测电流探头的可用性，象取样电阻、电流变换器或者Rogowski传感器，设计了电流源，它能产生以60纳秒上升的平顶为1KA脉冲。