Universal Short-Circuit and Open-Circuit Fault Protection and Detection for a Power Converter's Power Device

Abstract

Short-circuit and open-circuit faults of a converter's power device often lead to catastrophic failure of the entire system if not detected and acted upon within a sub-microsecond time frame, particularly for emerging wide bandgap (WBG) power semiconductors. While much research has been done on the fast and accurate protection and detection of short-circuit faults, there has been less success corresponding to open-circuit faults. Common downfalls include protection and detection that are too application-specific, take longer than a couple of microseconds, and are not cost-efficient. This paper proposes a new open-circuit fault protection and detection system integrated with a pre-existing short-circuit system called desaturation protection. First, a literature review is conducted to confirm the necessity of the new protection and detection scheme. Second, the operation principle and design considerations of the newly proposed protection and detection circuitry are discussed. Third, a simulation and experiment are designed, conducted, and compared to showcase the new scheme's success, effectiveness, and adaptability in an actual inverter. The results of testing the proposed system illustrate the success and reliability of the new fault protection and detection scheme.