Thermal Stress Reduction of Power MOSFET with Dynamic Gate Voltage Control and Circulation Current Injection in Electric Drive Application

Abstract

While operating an electric drive under different load conditions, power switch devices experience thermal stress which provokes wear-out failures and compromises lifetime. In this paper, a model-based dynamic gate voltage control strategy is proposed to reduce the thermal stress by shaping the profile of conduction losses. Thermal stability criteria are investigated, which limit the gate voltage operating range; thus, current focalization and associated local heat up are avoided. After that, simulations and lifetime estimation are conducted for performance evaluation in two different operation scenarios, which show promising results at high speed operation conditions. Furthermore, a current injection method is applied for low-speed operating conditions to improve the compensation effort. This method is experimentally verified by using a custom proof-of-concept gate driver that supplies an adjustable three-level gate voltage. A three-phase electric drive is prototyped, on which power cycling tests are conducted. The junction temperature is measured and the results confirm the thermal control method.

FFC-NMR Power Supply with Hybrid Control of the Semiconductor Devices

“…Appl. 2023, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 10 mixed with their operation in the active region [19,[23][24][25][26]. Merging the non-conventional ON/OFF and linear control modes constitutes a technical novelty in the FFC-NMR field that led to a low power solution with a single-power semiconductor for a ferro-electromagnet.…”

“…The optimized solution proposed in this work is hybrid and considers an ON/OFF operation of semiconductors The control solutions that will determine the operation of the semiconductors, S and S aux , must consider the dynamic nature of the magnet current. The optimized solution proposed in this work is hybrid and considers an ON/OFF operation of semiconductors mixed with their operation in the active region [19,[23][24][25][26]. Merging the non-conventional ON/OFF and linear control modes constitutes a technical novelty in the FFC-NMR field that led to a low power solution with a single-power semiconductor for a ferro-electromagnet.…”

A Review of DC Fast Chargers with BESS for Electric Vehicles: Topology, Battery, Reliability Oriented Control and Cooling Perspectives

“…Moreover, it was shown that the proposed approach has impacts on conduction losses in case the switching transition exceeds a certain duration. In [193][194][195][196], Wang et al proposed an ATC method that can impact conduction losses by manipulating gate voltage and consequently drain-source resistance. However, in low gate voltage, the switch might get damaged because of a thermal runaway that can limit its applicability in a vast range of gate voltage.…”