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Design and Performance Evaluation of Overcurrent Protection Schemes for Silicon Carbide (SiC) Power MOSFETs.
- Source :
-
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics . Oct2014, Vol. 61 Issue 10, p5570-5581. 12p. - Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- Overcurrent protection of silicon carbide (SiC) metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) remains a challenge due to lack of practical knowledge. This paper presents three overcurrent protection methods to improve the reliability and overall cost of SiC MOSFET-based converters. First, a solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) composed primarily by a Si IGBT and a commercial gate driver IC is connected in series with the dc bus to detect and clear overcurrent faults. Second, the desaturation technique using a sensing diode to detect the drain-source voltage under overcurrent faults is implemented as well. Third, a novel active overcurrent protection scheme through dynamic evaluation of fault current level is proposed. The design considerations and potential issues of the protection methods are described and analyzed in detail. A phase-leg configuration-based step-down converter is built to evaluate the performance of the protection schemes under various conditions, considering variation of fault type, decoupling capacitance, protection circuit parameters, etc. Finally, a comparison is made in terms of fault response time, temperature-dependent characteristics, and applications to help designers select a proper protection method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02780046
- Volume :
- 61
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 95894637
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1109/TIE.2013.2297304