Design and Performance Evaluation of Overcurrent Protection Schemes for Silicon Carbide (SiC) Power MOSFETs
Top Cited Papers
- 2 January 2014
- journal article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
- Vol. 61 (10), 5570-5581
- https://doi.org/10.1109/tie.2013.2297304
Abstract
Overcurrent protection of silicon carbide (SiC) metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) remains a challenge due to lack of practical knowledge. This paper presents three overcurrent protection methods to improve the reliability and overall cost of SiC MOSFET-based converters. First, a solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) composed primarily by a Si IGBT and a commercial gate driver IC is connected in series with the dc bus to detect and clear overcurrent faults. Second, the desaturation technique using a sensing diode to detect the drain-source voltage under overcurrent faults is implemented as well. Third, a novel active overcurrent protection scheme through dynamic evaluation of fault current level is proposed. The design considerations and potential issues of the protection methods are described and analyzed in detail. A phase-leg configuration-based step-down converter is built to evaluate the performance of the protection schemes under various conditions, considering variation of fault type, decoupling capacitance, protection circuit parameters, etc. Finally, a comparison is made in terms of fault response time, temperature-dependent characteristics, and applications to help designers select a proper protection method.Keywords
Funding Information
- II-VI Foundation and Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Program
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