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3/5
AN5505 Application Note
www.dynexsemi.com
saturation voltage V
, junction temperature, device design
and technology. Figure 2 (which is a plot of equation
[6]
) shows
the derating factors for the Dynex DIM800DDM17 IGBT module
for up to 5 modules in parallel.
Note that de-rating is more severe at lower temperatures. For a
worst case design it is advisable to use derating factors applicable
at 25
°
C junction temperature. The total system current can be
estimated for up to 5 modules in parallel by reading off a derating
factor from figure 2 and using equation
[2]
.
Example 3:
Estimate total current for a system of four
DIM800DDM17 connected in parallel.
From figure 2 the derating factor at 25
°
C for 4 devices in parallel
is 30%. From equation
[2]
,
I
T
= (1
–
0.3) x 4 x 800 = 2240A
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR
The static rating a system of parallel connected IGBT modules
assumes that none of the devices in parallel combination carries
current more than its rated value. A similar approach can be
applied to parallel connected-IGBT modules in dynamic
conditions. The main reason for current imbalance during
switching (turn-on and turn-off) assuming ideal gate drive
conditions and circuit layout is the difference in the transfer
characteristics (collector current vs. gate-emitter voltage (V
))
of the individual modules. Referring to figure 3, if the V
applied
to each of the parallel modules is identical during the switching
transistions, the current divides dynamically according to the
transfer characteristics. The IGBT module with the largest value
of transconductance (i.e. the
“
steeper
”
transfer characteristic)
carries the greater portion of the current and incurs the highest
switching losses. The dynamic current rating (I
) is related to
the IGBT rated junction temperature and hence to the total device
losses. Thus the dynamic current rating depends on the specific
application conditions.
If we define I
as the maximum allowable peak current for
a single module operating alone in a specific appication and
I
as the minimum peak current for a single module
operating in a parallel connection, then we can define the partial
current
I
as I
C(PK)(max)
–
I
C(PK)(min)
and the dynamic current mis-
sharing factor by
=
I
C(PK)
/ I
C(PK)(max)
[7]
Thus we can obtain the dynamic derating factor:
δ
(dynamic) = 1
–
[(n
p
–
1)(1
–
) + 1]/n
p
[8]
I
C(max)
I
C(min)
I
C
V
GE
V
TH(max)
V
TH(min)
V
GE(max)
V
GE(min)
V
GE
g
(max)
g
(min)
I
C
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
D
1
2
3
4
5
Number of modules in parallel
Dynamic
Static
Operating conditions:
I
C(PK)
= 1300A, f
sw
= 4kHz
T
j
= 25
C
Fig. 4 Comparison of static and dynamic derating factors
for DIM800DDM17-A000
Fig. 3 IGBT module transfer characteristics