Title :
Active control of series connected, voltage driven power devices using a single gate drive
Author :
Evans, Pete ; Teerakawanich, Nithiphat ; Johnson, C.M.
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
fDate :
Aug. 30 2011-Sept. 1 2011
Abstract :
A novel approach for controlling series strings of voltage driven devices (e.g. JFET, MOSFET, IGBT) is presented that allows high voltage switches to be constructed from lower voltage devices. The approach allows controlled voltage sharing under steady-state and transient conditions and is achieved using a simple passive gate-side control circuit of resistors, capacitors, diodes and Zener diodes. Once implemented, the control circuit requires only a single, standard gate-drive for operation. Furthermore, the dynamic voltage sharing and dV/dt during switching is determined by the choice of circuit parameters and not the device characteristics. The approach is validated both with simulation and experimental results.
Keywords :
MOSFET; high-voltage techniques; insulated gate bipolar transistors; junction gate field effect transistors; power control; power convertors; power semiconductor devices; active control; control circuit; dynamic voltage sharing; high voltage switches; series connected power devices; single gate drive; voltage driven power devices; Electric potential; Logic gates; Switches; Threshold voltage; Transient analysis; Voltage control; Device application; High voltage power converters; IGBT; JFET; MOSFET;
Conference_Titel :
Power Electronics and Applications (EPE 2011), Proceedings of the 2011-14th European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Birmingham
Print_ISBN :
978-1-61284-167-0
Electronic_ISBN :
978-90-75815-15-3