Complete loss and thermal model of power semiconductors including device rating information

Abstract

Thermal loading of power devices are closely related to the reliability performance of the whole converter system. The electrical loading and device rating are both important factors that determine the loss and thermal behaviors of power semiconductor devices. In the existing loss and thermal models, only the electrical loadings are focused and treated as design variables, while the device rating is normally predefined by experience with limited design flexibility. Consequently, a more complete loss and thermal model is proposed in this paper, which takes into account not only the electrical loading but also the device rating as input variables. The quantified correlation between the power loss, thermal impedance, and silicon area of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is mathematically established. By this new modeling approach, all factors that have impacts to the loss and thermal profiles of the power devices can accurately be mapped, enabling more design freedom to optimize the efficiency and thermal loading of the power converter. The proposed model can be further improved by experimental tests, and it is well agreed by both circuit and finite element method (FEM) simulation results.