
www.dynexsemi.com
AN5505 Application Note
2/5
Example 1:
Suppose we have two IGBT modules with a dc current rating of
800A, and that when operated in parallel one of the devices
conducts 800A and the other 640A. We can calculate the
derating factor from
[1]
thus:
I
T
= 800 + 640 = 1440A
I
M
= 800A
n
p
= 2
Hence,
δ
= 1
–
1440 / (2 x 800)
= (1
–
0.9) x 100%
= 10%
Rearranging equation
[1]
we obtain:
[2]
Knowing the derating factor for a number of modules in parallel,
one can determine the total current that can be sustained by the
parallel system. For a system of n
parallel connected modules
where none of them is to exceed the rated current, the worst case
situation is when one of the devices is conducting the maximum
rated current I
and the remaining (n
- 1) devices are each
conducting some minimum current Imin. In this case the total
current is given by:
[3]
WHAT IS THE MIS-SHARING FACTOR
Following on from the derating factor, it is possible to define in a
similar way the amount of mis-sharing between devices when
connected in parallel. In this analysis the mis-sharing factor is
a measure of the maximum current compared to the minimum
current:
[4]
Where
m = mis-sharing factor
I
M
= maximum allowable current for a single module operating
alone.
I
min
=minimum current for a single module operating in a parallel
connection.
We can express
[4]
as follows:
[5]
From
[1]
,
[3]
and
[5]
we have
[6]
Example 2:
What is the derating factor for 4 devices in parallel with a mis-
sharing factor of 20%
Using equation
[6]
, we have
δ
% = 1
–
((4
–
1)(1
–
0.2) +1)/4 = 0.15 x 100% = 15%.
The mis-sharing factor m is an important device characteristic for
parallel connected IGBTs and it is related to the spread in IGBT
output characteristics for a given device type. It is a function of
M
p
T
I
n
I
)
1
δ
=
min
)
(
I
n
I
I
p
M
T
+
=
M
M
I
I
I
m
min
=
)
1
min
I
M
m
I
=
p
p
n
m
n
1
)
1
)(
1
(
1
+
=
δ
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
D
1
2
3
4
5
Number of modules in parallel
T
j
= 125
C
T
j
= 25
C
Fig. 2 Static derating factor vs number of
DIM800DDM17-A000 IGBT modules in parallel