Patent Application
20140091627
This disclosure generally relates to power converters, and more particularly to, systems, methods and apparatus for providing a gate driver circuit for an alternative energy power supply.
A power system, such as, for instance, a power converter system, may include several power semiconductor devices, such as, for instance, multiple insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), integrated gate commutated thyristors (IGCTs or GCTs), metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), etc., which may coupled in parallel to generate a desired power output rating. However, when power semiconductor devices are operated in parallel, currently flowing to and from these devices may be uneven and flow on the outside branches, leading to stress to the device. This can cause limitation in total output current by the highest stressed device, and the lower stressed devices may not achieve their full capability, leading to reduced output capability and higher cost.
Some or all of the needs may be addressed by certain embodiments of the disclosure. Certain embodiments of the disclosure may include systems, methods, and apparatus for providing a gate driver circuit for an alternative energy power supply. In one embodiment, a gate drive circuit may include one or more switching device units, each including a first, a second, and a third set of power semiconductor devices. The gate driver circuit can be configured to selectively control each of the first, the second, and the third set of power semiconductor devices via a channel in order to balance currents in each of the first, the second, and the third sets of power semiconductor devices.
In another embodiment, a method may be provided. The method may include providing at least one power source. The method may further include providing at least one power semiconductor device including a first, a second and a third set of power semiconductors devices. The method may also include providing at least one gate drive circuit for selectively providing power from the power source to each of the first, the second and the third set of power semiconductor devices via the channel. Further, the method may include selectively providing power via the channel to the first set of power semiconductor devices to output power at a first phase, the second set of power semiconductor devices to output power at a second phase and a third set of power semiconductor devices to output power at a third phase.
In yet another embodiment, a system may be provided. The system may include a power source configured to provide power to one or more switching device units. Each of the switching device units can include a first, a second, and a third set of power semiconductor devices. The gate drive circuit can include at least one controller configured to control each of the first, the second, and the third set of power semiconductor devices via a channel in order to output power at a first, a second, and a third phase.
Other embodiments, features, and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claims. Other embodiments, features, and aspects can be understood with reference to the following detailed description, accompanying drawings, and claims.
Reference will now be made to the accompanying tables and drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Embodiments of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the disclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Like numbers and combinations of letters and numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Certain example embodiments described herein relate to providing one or more gate driver circuits for an alternative energy power supply. In one embodiment, systems, methods, and apparatus for controlling one or more IGBTs can be provided using a gate driver control circuit that provides for balanced current sharing between interconnected IGBTs. Various embodiments are described with reference to IGBTs, however, it will be appreciated that any suitable power semiconductor device including, but not limited to, a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), a bipolar junction transistor, a pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT), a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), may be implemented with various embodiments of the disclosure.
Referring now to
With continued reference to
To illustrate, shown in
In conventional gate drive technology, a control signal may be transmitted, via a switchable current path, to positive terminals in units 210, 220 to generate power phase A; to positive terminals to units 230, 240 to generate power phase B; and positive terminals in units 250, 260 to generate power phase C. However, as described above, in such configurations, there is a tendency of the current to flow on the outside branches of the parallel IGBTs, causing stress to the IGBTs. Additionally, due to propagation delays, a single date driver circuit may have command gate timing issues.
Accordingly, various embodiments are directed to providing balanced parallel current between multiple IGBTs being operated a power system. To do so, a control system 300 may incorporate six gate driver circuits 310, 320, 330, 340, 350 and 360, each connected in series, as shown in
For instance, referring to
Still referring to
Referring now to
Thereafter, in block 530, the method can include providing six or more gate drive circuits configured to control three blocks of multiple IGBTs for each phase of a system by, for instance, communicating control signals via at least one channel that transmits, for example, at the speed of light, a respective signal controlling the parallel IGBTs in a first, a second, and a third set to output power at a first, a second, and a third phase. The method 500 can end after block 530.
References are made to block diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products according to example embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that at least some of the blocks of the block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams, respectively, may be implemented at least partially by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, special purpose hardware-based computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functionality of at least some of the blocks of the block diagrams, or combinations of blocks in the block diagrams discussed.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the function specified in the block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the block or blocks.
One or more components of the systems and one or more elements of the methods described herein may be implemented through an application program running on an operating system of a computer. They also may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor based or programmable consumer electronics, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and so forth.
Application programs that are components of the systems and methods described herein may include routines, programs, components, data structures, and the like, that implement certain abstract data types and perform certain tasks or actions. In a distributed computing environment, the application program (in whole or in part) may be located in local memory or in other storage. In addition, or as an alternative, the application program (in whole or in part) may be located in remote memory or in storage to allow for circumstances where tasks are performed by remote processing devices linked through a communications network.
It will be appreciated that the technology described herein may be embodied in many forms and should not be limited to the example embodiments described above. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
