IGBT series connection under Active Voltage Control with temporary clamp

This paper presents the use of an Active Voltage Control (AVC) technique for balancing the voltages in a series connection of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs). The AVC technique can control the switching trajectory of an IGBT according to a pre-set reference signal. In series connections, every series connected IGBT follows the reference and so that the dynamic voltage sharing is achieved. For the static voltage balancing, a temporary clamp technique is introduced. The temporary clamp technique clamps the collector-emitter voltage of all the series connected IGBTs at the ideal voltage so that the IGBTs will share the voltage evenly.

[1]  Y. Wang,et al.  An analysis of high power IGBT switching under cascade active voltage control , 2005, Fourtieth IAS Annual Meeting. Conference Record of the 2005 Industry Applications Conference, 2005..

[2]  Patrick R. Palmer,et al.  The series connection of IGBTs with active voltage sharing , 1997 .

[3]  Patrick R. Palmer,et al.  Active Voltage Control on series connection of IGBTs and diode recovery optimization , 2010, IECON 2010 - 36th Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

[4]  J. Saiz,et al.  Optimisation and integration of an active clamping circuit for IGBT series association , 2001, Conference Record of the 2001 IEEE Industry Applications Conference. 36th IAS Annual Meeting (Cat. No.01CH37248).

[5]  Patrick R. Palmer,et al.  Some scaling issues in the active voltage control of IGBT modules for high power applications , 1997, PESC97. Record 28th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference. Formerly Power Conditioning Specialists Conference 1970-71. Power Processing and Electronic Specialists Conference 1972.

[6]  P.R. Palmer,et al.  The series connection of IGBTs in a current source inverter , 2001, 2001 IEEE 32nd Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference (IEEE Cat. No.01CH37230).

[7]  H. Iwamoto,et al.  A newly structured high voltage diode highlighting oscillation free function in recovery process , 2000, 12th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices & ICs. Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37094).

[8]  N. Okada,et al.  Series Connection of Snubberless IGBTs for 6.6 kV Transformerless Converters , 2007, 2007 Power Conversion Conference - Nagoya.

[9]  P. Hofer,et al.  Gate-control strategies for snubberless operation of series connected IGBTs , 1996, PESC Record. 27th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.