JP2007028705A - Driver of voltage driven semiconductor element connected in series - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To turn elements on/off simultaneously with no variation by resetting energy used for exciting a core at high speed in a method for balancing the switching timing by magnetically coupling the gate lines of semiconductor elements connected in series through a core. <P>SOLUTION: In a semiconductor switch circuit comprising voltage driven semiconductor elements 3 and 4 connected in series, and gate drive circuits 1 and 2 for turning on/off these voltage driven semiconductor elements wherein the gate lines are magnetically coupled through a core 5 in order to tune the signals from respective gate drive circuits, the core is demagnetized in a short time by providing a means for switching the gate resistances 15, 17, 25 and 27 of the gate drive circuit when each voltage driven semiconductor element is turned on or off to use larger resistances 16, 18, 26 and 28 after they are settled to steady state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving method in the case where a gate has a magnetic coupling magnetic body in order to balance device voltages of a plurality of voltage-driven semiconductor devices (hereinafter abbreviated as devices) connected in series.

In a power conversion device including elements connected in series, there is a method of balancing switching timing by magnetically coupling the gate lines of these elements with a core in order to simultaneously turn on and off the elements (see Patent Document 1). ). The operation when this method is applied will be described by taking as an example a semiconductor switch circuit in which two elements are connected in series as shown in FIG.
In this circuit, 3 and 4 are IGBTs connected in series. Reference numerals 1A and 2A denote gate drive circuits for the IGBTs 3 and 4, respectively. The gate lines of the IGBTs 3 and 4 are magnetically coupled by the core 5. For magnetic coupling, a method of winding each gate line around the same core as in the example of FIG. 6 is known. Thereby, when the gate current Ig1 of the IGBT 3 flows, a magnetic flux of Φ1 is generated in the core 5, and this crosses the gate line between the gate drive circuit 2A and the IGBT 4. Similarly, when the gate current Ig2 flows, a magnetic flux of Φ2 is generated, which crosses the gate line between the gate drive circuit 1A and the IGBT 3. By these operations, the gate lines are magnetically coupled. At this time, the number of turns N1 and N2 of the gate line to the core 5 is made equal so that | Φ1 | = | Φ2 | when Ig1 = Ig2, and when Ig1 and Ig2 have the same polarity, Determine the winding direction so that

An example of circuit operation at turn-off in such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 8A shows operation waveforms when the IGBTs 3 and 4 are turned off at the same time. The voltage waveforms VGE (3) and VGE (4) between the gates (G) and the mitter (E) are substantially equal. Since the IGBT GE can be equivalently regarded as the capacitor Cies as shown in FIG. 7, a transient discharge current of Cies flows in the same waveform in Ig1 and Ig2 as shown in FIG. 8A. . At this time, the current Ig1 flowing through the winding N1 of the core 5 and the current Ig2 flowing through the winding N2 have the same polarity and level, and the magnetic fluxes Φ1 and Φ2 have the same level and opposite polarity, so the magnetic flux generated in the core is Φ1 Φ2 cancel each other and become zero. Therefore, magnetic coupling is not performed, and the currents Ig1 and Ig2 continue to flow as discharge currents from the respective Cies.
Next, as shown in FIG. 8B, when the turn-off timings of the IGBTs 3 and 4 are imbalanced (in this case, the element 3 is turned off first), that is, when the current Ig1 flows out before Ig2, | Φ1 Since |> | Φ2 |, a magnetic flux of | Φ1-Φ2 | is generated in the magnetic body, the core 5 is excited and the gate line is magnetically coupled, and the gap between the terminals of the core 5 is as shown in FIG. Voltages Vc1 and Vc2 are generated. This voltage is applied in a decreasing direction with respect to the gate current Ig1, and in an increasing direction with respect to Ig2, and operates so that Ig1 = Ig2.

By the above method, the core 5 operates in the direction in which the gate currents at the turn-off timings of the IGBTs 3 and 4 coincide with each other, and the switching timing can be balanced. This also works effectively for suppressing variations in turn-on timing.
JP 2002-204578 A

When the switching timing is balanced by the above method, the problem is how to reset the energy that excites the core 5 at high speed when the circuit modes of the gate drive circuits 1A and 2A are the same. That is, how to shorten the time required for the reset current to attenuate and the reset to end. Here, the circuit operation when the core is magnetically reset will be described.
FIG. 9 shows an equivalent circuit including the internal circuit of the gate drive circuit at the time of resetting the core during the turn-off operation, and FIG.
For simplicity, this circuit ignores the core leakage inductance. Here, 1A and 2A are gate drive circuits, 10A and 20A are pulse distribution circuits, 11 and 21 are forward bias transistors, 13 and 23 are reverse bias transistors, 15 and 25 are on gate resistors, Reference numerals 17 and 27 are off-gate resistors, 19F and 29F are forward bias power supplies, 19R and 29R are reverse bias power supplies, Lm is a core exciting inductance, and Cies1 and Cies2 are input capacitors of the IGBTs 3 and 4. When the gate drive circuit 1A is in the reverse bias state before 2A, that is, when the transistor 13 is turned on before the transistor 23, the exciting current Im flows and the core is excited as shown in FIG. 11, and the voltages Vc1 and Vc2 are applied. The
Next, when the gate drive circuit 2A is in a reverse bias state and the gate drive circuits 1A and 2A have the same circuit mode, the core enters a reset operation. At this time, as shown in FIG. 12, the path of the excitation current Im is divided into the path 1 and the path 2. The equivalent circuit is as shown in FIG. However, since the gate resistance is usually about several Ω, it takes a long time for the vibration to attenuate. That is, it takes a long time until the core is reset, and if the switching frequency of the element is increased, the core is excited before the reset, and there is a possibility that the voltage balance effect is lowered or the core is saturated.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to reset the energy excited in the core in a short time.

In order to solve the above-described problem, in the invention of claim 1, a plurality of voltage-driven semiconductor elements connected in series, a gate drive circuit for turning on and off these voltage-driven semiconductor elements, and each gate In a semiconductor switch circuit in which gate lines are magnetically coupled to each other at the core in order to tune the signal from the drive circuit, the gate resistance value when each voltage drive type semiconductor element is turned on or turned off is changed to the steady state. Further, a resistance value switching means for switching to a larger resistance value is provided, and the core is demagnetized in a short time.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the resistance value switching means is a system in which a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a resistor is connected in parallel and the semiconductor switch is alternately switched.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the resistance value switching means is a system in which a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a resistor is connected in parallel so that the semiconductor switch is simultaneously turned on and selectively turned on.

  According to the present invention, a large number of voltage-driven semiconductor elements are connected in series, and in order to suppress the voltage imbalance of these elements, the gate lines are magnetically connected to each other in the core in order to tune the signal from each gate drive circuit. In a coupled semiconductor switch circuit, a circuit that switches the gate resistance value after switching is added to reset the core in a short time, and even a conversion circuit with a high switching frequency can be operated without saturating the core. In addition, a series connection that does not cause voltage imbalance of series elements can be realized.

  The main point of the present invention is that a large number of voltage-driven semiconductor elements are connected in series, and in order to suppress voltage imbalance of these elements, the gate lines are magnetically connected to each other in the core in order to tune the signals from the respective gate drive circuits. In the coupled semiconductor switch circuit, the gate resistance value at the time of turn-on or turn-off is switched to a resistor having a large resistance value after the switching is completed, and the core is reset in a short time.

  A first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. The circuit configuration of FIG. 1 is obtained by adding a series circuit of a transistor and a resistor to the conventional gate driving circuit shown in FIG. That is, in the gate drive circuit 1, a series circuit of a transistor 12 and a resistor 16 is provided in parallel with a conventional series circuit of a transistor 11 and a resistor 15, and a transistor 14 and a resistor 18 are provided in parallel with a series circuit of a conventional transistor 13 and a resistor 17. In the gate drive circuit 2, the series circuit of the transistor 22 and the resistor 26 is connected in parallel with the conventional series circuit of the transistor 21 and the resistor 25, and the conventional series circuit of the transistor 23 and the resistor 27 is connected. In this circuit configuration, a series circuit of a transistor 24 and a resistor 28 is connected in parallel. Here, the resistance values of the resistors 16 and 26 are selected to be sufficiently larger than the resistance values of the resistors 15 and 25, respectively. The resistance values of the resistors 18 and 28 are selected to be sufficiently larger than the resistance values of the resistors 17 and 27, respectively.

The equivalent circuit of this circuit is shown in FIG. 2, and the operation of each part is shown in FIG. The circuit operation will be described using the gate drive circuit 1 by taking the IGBT off operation as an example. As shown in FIG. 3, the operation when the off transistors 13 and 14 are turned on will be described by dividing them into three modes (mode 1 to mode 3). Mode 1 is a period in which the timing of each gate signal is unbalanced, mode 2 is a period after mode 1 until each IGBT is in a steady state, and mode 3 is a period in which the gate resistance is switched to reset the core It is. In mode 1, voltages Vc1 and Vc2 are generated in the winding of the core 5 so as to synchronize the gate timing. Thereafter, when mode 2 is entered, the core starts a reset operation.
As described in the prior art, in this circuit state, the vibration continues in the reset path. Therefore, after the IGBT is in a steady state, the transistor 13 is turned off and the transistor 14 is turned on. By setting the resistance 18 to a sufficiently large resistance value so that vibration does not continue in the core reset path, the winding terminal voltages Vc1 and Vc2 of the core 5 are rapidly attenuated as shown by the solid line waveform in FIG. To reset the core. Similarly, in the ON operation, the core can be reset in a short time by switching the transistors 11 and 12. The gate drive circuit 2 also operates in the same way.

FIG. 4 is an operation waveform showing the second embodiment of the present invention. The circuit configuration is the same as in the first embodiment, but the transistor control operation is different.
FIG. 4 shows the circuit operation. In the first embodiment, when the resistance value is switched, the two transistors 13 and 14 are selectively operated. However, in this embodiment, a small resistance value can be obtained by selectively turning on the two transistors. A large resistance value is created. A resistor having a small resistance value is generally used for electric power, and there is a problem that a resistor having a small resistance value and a small resistance value is difficult to select from a manufacturer's standard series product, but this problem can be solved by applying this method.
The operation example of FIG. 4 is a system in which the transistors 13 and 14 are simultaneously turned on when shifting from the on operation to the off operation, and the transistor 13 is turned off after the IGBT is in a steady state. That is, the resistors 17 and 18 are connected in parallel to create a small resistance value.

  The present invention can be applied to a high-voltage converter or a large-capacity converter that constitutes a power converter circuit by connecting voltage-driven switching elements in series or in parallel.

Circuit configuration showing an embodiment of the present invention 1 equivalent circuit First operation example of FIG. Second operation example of FIG. Circuit diagram showing a conventional example Example of structure to realize magnetic coupling IGBT gate-emitter equivalent circuit Circuit operation example at turn-off Equivalent circuit of FIG. Operation waveform at core reset Circuit operation when the gate drive circuit 1A is in a reverse bias state Circuit operation when both gate drive circuits 1A and 2A are in a reverse bias state Equivalent circuit of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1, 2, 1A, 2A ... Gate drive circuit 3, 4 ... IGBT
5 ... Core 10, 20, 10A, 20A ... Pulse distribution circuit 11-14, 21-24 ... Transistors 15-18, 25-28 ... Resistors 19, 29 ... Gate drive power supply 19F , 29F: Forward bias power supply
19R, 29R ... Reverse bias power supply

Claims (3)

  A plurality of voltage-driven semiconductor elements connected in series, a gate drive circuit for turning on and off these voltage-driven semiconductor elements, and a gate line as a core to tune a signal from each gate drive circuit In the magnetically coupled semiconductor switch circuit, the gate resistance value when turning on or off each voltage-driven semiconductor element is provided with a resistance value switching means for switching to a larger resistance value after they are in a steady state, A drive circuit for voltage-driven semiconductor elements connected in series, wherein the demagnetization of the core is performed in a short time.   2. The series-connected voltage-driven semiconductor element according to claim 1, wherein the resistance value switching unit is a system in which a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a resistor is connected in parallel and the semiconductor switch is alternately switched. Driving circuit. The series-connected voltage according to claim 1, wherein the resistance value switching unit is a system in which a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a resistor is connected in parallel, and the semiconductor switch is switched between simultaneous ON and selective ON. A driving circuit for a driving semiconductor element.

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