SLUAAY2 December 2024 ISO5451 , ISO5451-Q1 , ISO5452 , ISO5452-Q1 , ISO5851 , ISO5851-Q1 , ISO5852S , ISO5852S-EP , ISO5852S-Q1 , UCC21710 , UCC21710-Q1 , UCC21717-Q1 , UCC21732 , UCC21732-Q1 , UCC21736-Q1 , UCC21737-Q1 , UCC21738-Q1 , UCC21739-Q1 , UCC21750 , UCC21750-Q1 , UCC21755-Q1 , UCC21756-Q1 , UCC21759-Q1
Identifying and protecting short circuit (SC) and over current (OC) scenarios are critical for high power systems like HEV-EV traction inverters and EV charging and solar inverters system. In high-power systems, SiC FETs or IGBTs are generally used depending upon the power level and switching frequency. This application note discusses the key considerations and design approaches to implement the right protection circuit based on SiC FETs and IGBTs. It walks through the timings involved from detecting the SC/OC event to safe shut-down, the circuit implementation criteria and experiment data for both IGBT and SiC FETs. It summarizes the right protection driver for IGBTs and SiCs based on the released isolated gate drivers from TI.
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Isolated gate drivers are commonly used in automotive and industrial high-power systems such as HEV/EV traction inverters, solar inverters, and motor drives. In these applications, silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs and Si IGBTs are usually ideal candidates; their abilities to handle high voltage, high current are beneficial in high power systems in the hundreds of kW range. All the high-power applications use power modules with increased voltage and current capability.
This application note talks about some of the common failure modes of the SiC and IGBT power switches, characteristics, the best suitable protection approach based on the power module type and the protection circuit component design aspects.