
Sep.1998
6.4.5 Short Circuit Protection
If a load short circuit occurs or the
system controller malfunctions
causing a shoot through, the IPMs
built in short circuit protection will
prevent the IGBTs from being dam-
aged. When the current, through
the IGBT exceeds the short circuit
trip level (SC), an immediate con-
trolled shutdown is initiated and a
fault output is generated. The same
controlled shutdown techniques
used in the over current protection
are used to help control transient
voltages during short circuit shut
down. The short circuit protection
provided by the IPM uses actual
current measurement to detect
dangerous conditions. This type of
protection is faster and more reli-
able than conventional out-of-satu-
ration protection schemes. Figure
6.17 is a timing diagram showing
the operation of the short circuit
protection.
To reduce the response time be-
tween SC detection and SC shut-
down, a real time current control
circuit (RTC) has been adopted.
The RTC bypasses all but the final
stage of the IGBT driver in SC op-
eration thereby reducing the re-
sponse time to less than 100ns.
The oscillographs in Figure 6.19 il-
lustrate the effectiveness of the
RTC technique by comparing short
circuit operation of second genera-
tion IPM (without RTC) and third
generation IPM (with RTC).
A significant improvement can be
seen as the power stress is much
lower as the time in short circuit
and the magnitude of the short cir-
cuit current are substantially re-
duced.
Note:
The short circuit protection in
V-Series IPMs has a delay similar
to the third generation over current
protection function described in
6.4.4. The need for a quick trip has
been eliminated through the use of
a new advanced RTC circuit.
Caution:
1.
Tripping of the over current
and short circuit protection indi-
cates stressful operation of the
IGBT. Repetitive tripping must
be avoided.
2.
High surge voltages can occur
during emergency shutdown.
Low inductance buswork and
snubbers are recommended.
6.5 IPM Selection
There are two key areas that must
be coordinated for proper selection
of an IPM for a particular inverter
application. These are peak
current coordination to the IPM
overcurrent trip level and proper
thermal design to ensure that
peak junction temperature is al-
ways less than the maximum junc-
tion temperature rating
(150
°
C) and that the baseplate
temperature remains below the
over-temperature trip level.
6.5.1 Coordination of OC Trip
Peak current is addressed by refer-
ence to the power rating of the mo-
tor. Tables 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4 give
recommended IPM types derived
from the OC trip level and the peak
motor current requirement based
on several assumptions for the in-
verter and motor operation regard-
ing efficiency, power factor, maxi-
mum overload, and current ripple.
For the purposes of this table, the
maximum motor current is taken
from the NEC table. This already
includes the motor efficiency and
power factor appropriate to the par-
ticular motor size. Peak inverter
current is then calculated using this
RMS current, a 200% overload re-
quirement, and a 20% ripple factor.
An IPM is then selected which has
a minimum overcurrent trip level
that is above this calculated peak
operating requirement.
Figure 6.19
Waveforms
Showing the Effect
of the RTC Circuit
SHORT CIRCUIT OPERATION WITHOUT RTC CIRCUIT
100A, 600V, IPM
SHORT CIRCUIT OPERATION WITH RTC CIRCUIT
100A, 600V, IPM
800A
V
CE
I
C
I
C
=200A/div,
V
CE
=100V/div, t=1μs/div
V
CE
T
I
C
T
410A
I
C
=200A/div,
V
CE
=100V/div, t=1μs/div
T
T
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USING INTELLIGENT POWER MODULES