Voltage balancing method for IGBTs connected in series

This paper presents a new method to balance the voltages of the series connected IGBTs. This method can be realized only by adding simple circuits to the gate drive system of the IGBTs, and its effect of balancing the IGBT's collector-Emitter voltages during the switching transients is remarkable. Principal of this strategy and experimental results with series connected two IGBTs are described firstly. After that, further experimental results are set forth, which are switching tests with four 2.5 kV flat-packaged IGBTs connected in series. Through the switching tests, superior characteristics of the proposed method have been confirmed.

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