IGBT Overcurrent Capabilities in Resonant Circuits

The control of IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) and MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) is of great interest nowadays as they are widely used in electric vehicles, photovoltaic applications, and a multitude of systems. The field of power electronics and their correct activation ensures that the transistors are operated without being destroyed. In this work, a double resonant transformer was built and used to produce very high currents. These currents are switched by a full bridge of resonant IGBT transistors to demonstrate the feasibility of exceeding the maximum permissible transistor currents in a resonant system. The system is controlled by the feedback from two current sensors. In this case the currents exceed in a 170% the peak current of the transistor without problems. In this way, resonant circuits with IGBT transistors can be designed with currents lower than the maximum currents of the resonant circuit, therefore reducing the cost of the circuit and reducing the switching losses to nearly zero.