Self-Powering High Frequency Modulated SiC Power MOSFET Isolated Gate Driver

Journal Article · Thu Apr 11 04:00:00 EDT 2019 · IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TIA.2019.2910789· OSTI ID:1531248

Garcia, Jorge ^[1]; Saeed, Sara ^[1]; Gurpinar, Emre ^[2]; Castellazzi, Alberto ^[3]; Garcia, Pablo ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Oviedo, Gijon (Spain)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
3. The Univ. of Nottingham, Nottingham (United Kingdom)

A novel implementation of an isolated gate driver for power switches is proposed in this study. The driver is bespoke designed for SiC power mosfet s. The proposal achieves the main driver characteristics—isolation capability, gate switching command, and power transfer to the secondary side by using a unique magnetic transformer. The resulting simple circuitry enables the integration of the driver into the power cell, achieving theoretical higher power density values of the final system. The principle of operation of the driver is described in detail. The original pulsewidth modulation signal is modulated with a pure ac square waveform under a two-level modulation scheme, that guarantees no saturation of the magnetic core. Here, the signal is then magnetically coupled to the secondary side, where it is rectified and reconstructed to effectively drive the target device. In addition, the steps needed to provide a suitable design taking into account the parameters of the target power switch are also detailed. The resulting driver is characterized and a prototype of the driver is built and tested. The main results of the driver performance on a SiC mosfet -based prototype are presented. Based on the analysis of these results, this study experimentally demonstrates the feasibility of the proposal.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1531248
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 55; ISSN 0093-9994
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
SiC mosfet
gate driver
wide bandgap devices