Intelligent Gate Drivers for Future Power Converters

IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 37, pp. 3484–3503

Abstract

This article gives insights into recent developments in the field of power semiconductor gate drivers that exhibit intelligent features. Such features are active switching transient control and optimization of overshoots, electromagnetic interference, and switching losses. Additionally, these aspects are providing safe operation at fast and extreme switching instances and short-circuit events. Furthermore, integrated sensing capabilities that extract thermal response as well as state-of-health data constitute an intelligent gate driver. During the last decade, researchers transformed gate drivers from simple amplifiers to intelligent control units. Intelligent implies in this context that the driver can gather information and adapt its operation behavior to changing conditions. This includes detecting and clearing fault states, electrical and thermal management, and additionallyin situdetection of aging effects. Furthermore, this article identifies challenges and opportunities that arise with intelligent operation of wide-bandgap semiconductors. Future applications of semiconductor devices demand a high level of integration and utilization that can only be achieved by safe operation within but close to their electrical and thermal limits. Intelligent gate drivers provide a unique manipulability that enables high-performance and secure operation through extracting and using information about the switching process and the power module.

Authors 8

1. Jochen Henn Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

2. Christoph Lüdecke Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

3. Michael Laumen Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

4. Steffen Beushausen Aachen Institute for Power Generation and Storage Systems (PGS)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Generation and Storage Systems (PGS), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

5. Sven Kalker Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

6. Christoph H. van der Broeck Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA) FEV Europe GmbH

   FEV (Germany) · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   FEV Europe GmbH, Aachen, Germany

7. Georges Engelmann Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

8. Rik W. De Doncker Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany