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    Comparison of SiC-JFET and Si-IGBT Inverter Losses
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    Abstract:
    Because of the fixed chip size of available sample devices a comparison of SiC-JFET and silicon IGBT with another fixed chip size necessitates the regard to the active area of the chip. The paper presents measurement results considering the active area and shows a comparison of inverter losses depending on junction temperature and switching frequency.
    Keywords:
    JFET
    Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
    Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) failures are a major issue in modern power electronics applications. Two most dominated failure mechanisms of IGBTs are solder fatigue and bond wire wear-out. This paper proposes a new method to online monitor an IGBT's health condition by using the instantaneous junction temperature variation between present and the first operating cycles of the IGBT with the same operating current. In this work, the instantaneous junction temperature of an IGBT is estimated from a thermal network model. The proposed method is validated by experimental results obtained from accelerated aging tests for IGBTs.
    Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
    Power Electronics
    Power cycling
    Current injection technique
    Citations (35)
    Junction temperature is a key parameter that influences both the performance and the reliability of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module, while solder fatigue has a significant effect on the accuracy of junction temperature estimates using the electro-thermal model. In this paper, an improved electro-thermal model, which is independent of solder fatigue, is proposed to accurately estimate the junction temperature of IGBT module. Firstly, solder fatigue conditions are monitored in real time with the information of the case temperatures. Secondly, when solder fatigue is found, the update process of the electro-thermal model parameters is performed to match the model parameters with the fatigue device. With the above two-step process, the influence of solder fatigue on the accuracy of temperature estimates can be removed in good time. Experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
    Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
    Citations (16)
    Condition monitoring (CM) of insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules is significant for improving power converter reliability and reducing the loss caused by IGBT failure. In this paper, we present an advanced method to evaluate the aging condition of an IGBT based on the changes of thermal characteristics in the module, which can be described by the junction and case temperatures. The variation of the case temperature distribution is used to monitor the solder fatigue. The estimated level of solder fatigue is used to update the parameters in the electrical-thermal model. Then, the junction temperature can be accurately estimated by the updated electrical-thermal model. The difference between junction temperatures estimated from the updated model and temperature-sensitive electrical parameter (TSEP) is utilized to monitor the aging of bond wires. The proposed CM method permits both of health level evaluation and accurate junction temperature estimation of IGBT in real time to prevent catastrophic failure caused by defective modules. The experimental results on a commercialized IGBT product have validated the feasibility of the proposed method.
    Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
    Power cycling
    Citations (27)
    The paper deals with the problem of modelling and analyzing the dynamic properties of a Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) made of silicon carbide. An examination of the usefulness of the built-in JFET Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) model was performed. A modified model of silicon carbide JFET was proposed to increase modelling accuracy. An evaluation of the accuracy of the modified model was performed by comparison of the measured and calculated capacitance–voltage characteristics as well as the switching characteristics of JFETs.
    JFET
    Spice
    MESFET
    Citations (5)
    The junction temperature of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules is a vital parameter for the reliability of the power electronic system. For effective thermal management, it is necessary to estimate junction temperature in real time. However, existing thermal models have limitations to achieve fast temperature estimation for multichip IGBT modules. In this article, we investigate the real-time junction temperature estimation for multichip IGBT modules with low computational cost. According to the power module' structure, an average 2-D thermal model with physical significance is proposed to estimate the virtual junction temperature for multichip IGBT modules, which can be extracted from finite element model based on the least square method. To further improve the computational efficiency, a temperature estimator based on the staggered cycle-by-cycle calculation method is proposed and its estimation error under various extreme operation conditions is analyzed by enumeration method. Finally, the comprehensive experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed average thermal model and junction temperature estimation method.
    Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
    Citations (18)
    Abstract Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is one of the most used devices for high-power-density and high-voltage applications such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, and smart grids. However, the field of IGBT research is still in its infancy owing to the failures that can happen to the module due to its temperature rise. Hence, the junction temperature T j measurement of the active region is essential for analyzing and predicting the degradation state of the IGBT device. In this paper, an overall study, including uses of the governing thermal equation to estimate the junction temperature T j , experimental analysis of the IGBT component during operation, and a numerical finite element (FE) study, was conducted. The thermal management FE model is conducted to predict temperature variation along time and heat spreading inside the IGBT layers. To investigate the material’s properties and structure change during operation impacting the junction temperature, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy X-ray dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were performed on the IGBT power module. Results were used to interpret the difference between the experimental and the predicted temperature values. For effectiveness validation purposes, results obtained from the proposed FE model are compared with the results of the experimental thermo-sensitive electrical parameters (TSEP) method. Good agreement was found between the experiment and the proposed FE model.
    Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
    Citations (1)
    Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are widely used in new energy fields, such as wind power converters and electric vehicles. The junction temperature characteristics and junction temperature measurements greatly influence the reliability of the IGBT. During switching, the electrical parameters of the IGBT undergo considerable change. The thermo sensitive electrical parameter (TSEP) method has been commonly used to extract junction temperature. The TSEP method has the inherent advantages of being able to take measurements quickly and accurately, in a non-intrusive manner. The junction temperature estimate under the on-state condition cannot reflect the reliability of the IGBT during the dynamic switching process. The solution to this dilemma is to measure the junction temperature using the dynamic TSEP method during the IGBT turn-off process. The junction temperature is measured by the reverse voltage peak between the auxiliary emitter and power emitter, which forms during the IGBT turn-off process. The feasibility of the proposed method has been experimentally verified.
    Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
    Citations (23)