Development of a series of optically isolated and fibre-optic coupled gate drivers for medium and high power IGBTs

In modern IGBT power converters, gate drivers are required to perform multiple essential functions such as electrical isolation, current amplification, control logic, over-current and under-voltage protections. This paper presents design considerations, working principles and performance waveforms of a series of self-contained gate driver modules for medium and high power IGBTs. A series of optically isolated and fibre-optic coupled IGBT gate drivers has been developed. These modules include isolated switching mode power supplies, current amplification circuits, logic protection functions, and IGBT short circuit protections. These modules have provided a flexible and convenient method for IGBT converter design. Users need only to provide standard TTL control signals or optical signals in addition to a nonisolated unregulated control power source to the driver modules in order to control the switching of IGBT devices. These driver modules have been applied in various power electronic converters and solid state switches ranging from 75 A to 600 A. These driver modules can also be used for high current MOSFET devices.