Estimation of insulated-gate bipolar transistor operating temperature: Simulation and experiment

Abstract

Knowledge of a power semiconductor's operating temperature is important in circuit design and converter control. Designing appropriate circuitry that does not affect regular circuit operation during virtual junction temperature measurement at actual operating conditions is a demanding task for engineers. The proposed method enables virtual junction temperature estimation with a dedicated modified gate driver circuit based on real-time measurement of a semiconductor's quasi-threshold voltage. A simulation was conducted before the circuit was designed to verify the concept and to determine the basic properties and potential drawbacks of the proposed method.