Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03K—PULSE TECHNIQUE
  • H03K17/00—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking
  • H03K17/16—Modifications for eliminating interference voltages or currents
  • H03K17/161—Modifications for eliminating interference voltages or currents in field-effect transistor switches
  • H03K17/162—Modifications for eliminating interference voltages or currents in field-effect transistor switches without feedback from the output circuit to the control circuit
  • H03K17/163—Soft switching
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03K—PULSE TECHNIQUE
  • H03K17/00—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking
  • H03K17/16—Modifications for eliminating interference voltages or currents
  • H03K17/161—Modifications for eliminating interference voltages or currents in field-effect transistor switches
  • H03K17/162—Modifications for eliminating interference voltages or currents in field-effect transistor switches without feedback from the output circuit to the control circuit
  • H03K17/163—Soft switching
  • H03K17/164—Soft switching using parallel switching arrangements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03K—PULSE TECHNIQUE
  • H03K17/00—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking
  • H03K17/51—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking characterised by the components used
  • H03K17/56—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking characterised by the components used by the use, as active elements, of semiconductor devices
  • H03K17/687—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking characterised by the components used by the use, as active elements, of semiconductor devices the devices being field-effect transistors
  • H03K17/6877—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking characterised by the components used by the use, as active elements, of semiconductor devices the devices being field-effect transistors the control circuit comprising active elements different from those used in the output circuit
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03K—PULSE TECHNIQUE
  • H03K17/00—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking
  • H03K17/51—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking characterised by the components used
  • H03K17/74—Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking characterised by the components used by the use, as active elements, of diodes

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a driver circuit for
• driver circuits are sometimes referred to as gate drivers, MOSFET drivers, IGBT drivers or half-bridge drivers.
• gate drivers In electronics, especially power electronics, they serve to control a discrete or integrated electronic circuit, which includes power switches, such as MOSFET or IGBT. If a transistor is switched over, it does not suddenly change from the non-conductive to the conductive state (or vice versa). Rather, the transistor runs through a certain resistance range depending on the charging voltage of the gate capacitance.
• Rail vehicles / aircraft with voltages of, for example, 24 V /
• EMC electromagnetic miniaturization
• a driver circuit for switching edge modulation of a circuit breaker comprising:
• a charging path arranged between the input node and the first gate node and comprising a charging resistor
• a discharge path arranged between the input node and the first gate node and comprising a discharge resistor
• a gate path arranged between the input node and the first gate node and comprising a gate resistor
• a power switch transistor the gate of which is connected to the first gate node
• driver circuit is set up such that the gate path is temporarily short-circuited during the switching operation of the circuit breaker either via the charging path or the discharging path in order to increase the steepness of the switching behavior of the circuit breaker.
• Circuit breakers with a lower voltage class can be selected, whereby the on-resistance (RDSON) with the same chip area
• An important aspect of the invention is to short-circuit the
• Gate paths (especially the gate resistance) at certain switching times. As a result, the steepness of the switching edge of the circuit breaker can be temporarily increased and the losses reduced.
• the gate series resistor is to be understood here as the effective resistance (via one or more paths) between the driver circuit input and the gate of the circuit breaker. To reduce overvoltage, the charging path and the discharging path can be blocked in good time during a switching operation. In this way, the shape of the switching edges can be modulated and both avoid overvoltages and limit losses.
• Both the switch-off process and the switch-on process can be modulated with this type of modulation.
• the discharge path is used to modulate the switch-off process, while the charge path is used to modulate the
• the driver circuit (1, 20) is set up in such a way that the charging path and the discharging path lead to
• the discharge path between the input node and the first gate node comprises the following components in this order:
• a second discharge path diode which is arranged in the reverse direction.
• the second discharge path diode specifies that the discharge path can only be traversed during a discharge process.
• the discharge path transistor allows the discharge path to be selectively blocked during a switching operation.
• Input node and the first gate node in this order the following components:
• a first charging path diode which is arranged in the forward direction
• a charge path transistor which is arranged in parallel to a second charge path diode, which is arranged in the reverse direction.
• the first charging path diode specifies that the charging path can only be traversed during a charging process.
• the charge path transistor allows the charge path to be selectively blocked during a switching operation.
• the driver circuit comprises a second driver stage with a second driver circuit input, a second one between the first gate node and the gate of the power switch transistor
• Gate node is arranged, with which the second driver stage is connected.
• the low-impedance gate path can then be used for additional modulation of the upper switching-edge transition and the lower switching-on transition locked and current is impressed via a further driver stage, or current is dissipated when switched on.
• the start or end of the switching edge can be “rounded off” even further and the vibrations reduced.
• the following components are arranged in the second driver stage between the second driver circuit input and the second gate node in this order:
• Figure 1 is a circuit diagram of a first embodiment of a
• Figure 2 is a circuit diagram of a second embodiment of a
• FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram of the drain current
• FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram of the drain current
• FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of a first embodiment of a driver circuit 1 of a circuit breaker 2 according to the invention
• Driver circuit 1 comprises a first driver circuit input 3 with a downstream input node 4.
• the driver circuit 1 further comprises a power switch transistor 5 with an upstream first gate node 6.
• a charge path 7, an discharge path 8 and a gate path 9 are arranged between the input node 4 and the first gate node 6.
• a gate of the power switch transistor 5 of the power switch 2 is connected to the first gate node 6.
• the driver circuit 1 is set up such that the gate path 9 is temporarily short-circuited during the switching operation of the circuit breaker 2 either via the charging path 7 or the discharge path 8 in order to increase the steepness of the switching behavior of the circuit breaker 2.
• the charging path 7 and the discharging path 8 are blocked to reduce overvoltage at the beginning and end of a switching operation.
• the following components are arranged in the charging path 7 starting at the input node 4 in the direction of the first gate node 6:
• a first charging path diode 10 which is arranged in the forward direction
• a charge path transistor 12 which is arranged in parallel with a second charge path diode 13 which is arranged in the reverse direction.
• the following components are arranged in the discharge path 8 starting at the input node 4 in the direction of the first gate node 6:
• a discharge path transistor 14 which is arranged in parallel with a first discharge path diode 15 which is arranged in the forward direction
• a second discharge path diode 17 which is arranged in the reverse direction.
• a gate resistor 18 is arranged in the gate path 8 between the input node 4 and the gate node 6.
• Figure 2 is a second embodiment of an inventive
• the driver circuit 20 includes a second one
• Driver circuit input 3 and the first gate node 6 can be understood as the first driver stage. In this regard, reference is made to the description of FIG. 1.
• the second driver stage 21 comprises a second driver circuit input 22, a second gate node 23 to which the second driver stage 21 is connected is arranged between the first gate node 6 and the gate of the power switch transistor 5.
• the following components are arranged starting from the second driver circuit input 21 in the direction of the second gate node 23 in this order:
• the driver circuits 1, 20 allow the gate path 9 and in particular the gate resistor 18 to be short-circuited at certain switching times. The steepness of the switching edge of the circuit breaker can thus be temporarily increased and the losses reduced.
• the effective gate series resistor By varying the effective gate series resistor with the aid of the charging resistor 11 and the discharge resistor 16, the peak current in the circuit breaker 2 can be limited by the driver circuit 1, 20 despite a short circuit.
• the charging path 7 and the discharging path 8 can be blocked in time during a switching operation. In this way, the shape of the switching edges can be modulated and both avoid overvoltages and limit losses.
• the driver circuit 20 shown in FIG. 2 allows an additional one
• FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the main effect of the invention.
• a simplified diagram shows the drain current and the drain voltage
• Circuit breaker versus time t shown over two switching operations.
• FIG. 3 shows the drain current IDS and the drain voltage VDS one
• Circuit breaker with a driver circuit 1, 20 according to the invention.
• switching edges 27 of the drain voltage VDS are now flatter and no longer lead to overvoltages, even if the duration of the switching process in the middle of the switching process is right about the size of the effective gate series resistance of the gate of the circuit breaker 2 is selected briefly.
• the series resistor is the variable effective resistance between the first and second driver circuit inputs 3, 22 and the gate of the circuit breaker 2.
• the greater steepness of the switching edge in the middle of the switching process and the shorter switching time lead to lower switching losses with improved EMC emissions.
• Series resistance in the middle of the switching process can thus achieve improved performance by bridging at non-critical times.

Landscapes

• Electronic Switches (AREA)
• Power Conversion In General (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=67482924

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Families Citing this family (1)

Family Cites Families (13)

• 2018
  • 2018-07-17 DE DE102018211841.8A patent/DE102018211841B4/de active Active
• 2019
  • 2019-07-15 EP EP19746446.4A patent/EP3824552A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2019-07-15 WO PCT/EP2019/069003 patent/WO2020016178A1/de unknown
  • 2019-07-15 US US17/252,461 patent/US11646730B2/en active Active
  • 2019-07-15 JP JP2021502586A patent/JP7308259B2/ja active Active

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