A Single Channel IGBT Gate Drivers for Medium Voltage Converters

Abstract

This article treats the gate driver system for IGBT modules in Medium-Voltage (MV) applications. The study focuses principally on two functions of an IGBT gate driver: an impulse signal transmission and a power transmission. For each function, the suitable topology is proposed. Then, for safety and device's protection reason, all gate driver functions must sustain the high and very high galvanic insulation voltage capabilities. For low-cost design, the insulation system can be achieved with the help of the insulating material in a pot core planar transformer. Therefore, for each function, the optimized design of a pot-core transformer and its associated electronics components is performed with the help of a virtual prototyping tool (a genetic algorithm: GA code in MATLABTM). The first section focuses on optimization design of a selected topology for an impulse signal transmission function. A bi-objective (maximize the output voltage vout and minimize the input current imos) problem of this function that leads to a Pareto front is presented. Several Pareto fronts’ results are obtained assuming different insulation layers thickness. The second part focuses on optimization design of a selected topology for a power transmission function. Maximize the converter efficiency (ηcon) and minimize the output power (Pout) are considered as a bi-objective. Thus, numerous Pareto fronts’ results are achieved for a few different insulation thicknesses. Finally, the prototype of a single channel IGBT gate driver is invented to validate the proposed design.