Development and Implementation of Algorithms for an Intelligent IGBT Gate Driver Using a Low-Cost Microcontroller

Abstract

High-power IGBTs are used in power electronic converters in a variety of applications: traction drives, renewable power converters, mining equipment, oil and water pumping, and so on. To control a transistor, a special gate driver board is required. This board converts the logical control signal into the appropriate voltage values necessary to turn the resistor on and off. Gate drivers can perform the protection functions of IGBTs using hardware and algorithmic approaches. Application-specific integrated circuits are often used in driver solutions to implement control and protection. The development of an application-specific integrated circuit is a time-consuming and expensive procedure, which increases the cost of the driver. This paper describes the control and protection algorithms implemented in an intelligent IGBT driver based on a low-cost microcontroller. The use of the microcontroller makes the gate driver design more flexible and allows for the accurate tuning of the protection thresholds. The gate driver protects the IGBT from short-circuiting, overcurrent, and overvoltage, monitors the voltage supply, and controls the switch on and switch off processes in the transistor. The performance of the protection algorithms was tested experimentally using a specialized test bench.