Description: After more than four decades of development, Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) are widely used in many high-power industrial applications. However, the complex and harsh working conditions are demanding higher and higher reliability, reaching up to 30-year expected operating life. In parallel with IGBT modules, gate drivers have been also improved dramatically over the years, significantly contributing to reliability improvement. In fact, as an important interface between IGBT modules and controllers, modern gate drivers do not only provide optimal switching signals but also monitor the operation status of IGBT modules themselves. In particular, benefiting from the understanding of semiconductor behavior matured over the years, both wear status and abnormal events can be monitored and detected, respectively, thanks to modern IGBT gate driver technologies. This course presented an overview of state-of-the-art advanced gate driver techniques for enhancing the reliability of IGBT modules, hence power converters. The course contents can be summarized in general switching theory, modern gate driving strategies, active thermal control, detection, and protection methods.
The course will cover the following lectures:
Day 1 (F. Iannuzzo, 6 h)
L1: Basic IGBT gate driving concepts
(a) Voltage-source gate drivers
(b) Current-source gate drivers
(c) Optimization and protection principles
L2: Fault detection and protection methods
(a) Voltage and current overshoot
(b) Overload and short circuit
(c) Gate voltage limitation
Day 2 (F. Iannuzzo, 6 h)
L3: Active gating methods for enhancing switching characteristics
(a) Closed-loop control methodology
(b) Closed-loop control implementations
L4: Active thermal control methods using IGBT gate driver
(a) Principles for thermal mitigation method
(b) Thermal mitigation methods
(c) Junction temperature estimation methods
Prerequisites: basic knowledge of power device and power converter operation
Form of evaluation: the participants will be grouped in teams of 4-5 people and asked to design an original gate driver for a given application. Students will be asked to give a brief presentation at the end of the course, with a final evaluation of the individual contribution.
Course literature: slides from the lecturers
Organizer: Prof. Francesco Iannuzzo, fia@energy.aau.dk
Lecturers: Prof. Francesco Iannuzzo, Aalborg University
ECTS: 2
Date/time: 2 days, 13-14 September, 2023, all days 8:30 – 16:30
Deadline August 23
Price: 6000 DKK for PhD students outside of Denmark and 8000 DKK for the Industry excl. VAT
The Danish universities have entered into an agreement that allows PhD students at a Danish university (except Copenhagen Business School) the opportunity to free of charge take a subject-specific course at another Danish university. Guests at AAU Energy can free attend the course. .
Payment: A Online link will be annonced after deadline for registration
Place: AAU Energy, Aalborg
Max. no. of participants: 15
Important information concerning PhD courses: We have over some time experienced problems with no-show for both project and general courses. It has now reached a point where we are forced to take action. Therefore, the Doctoral School has decided to introduce a no-show fee of DKK 3.000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start. This can hopefully also provide new students a chance to register for courses during the year. We look forward to your registrations.
- Teacher: Francesco Iannuzzo