Development of fast short-circuit protection system for advanced IGBT

The higher current density of IGBTs has made it difficult to achieve high short-circuit withstand capability as well as good conduction characteristics. Therefore, a fast and reliable protection system is required for the safe operation of IGBT. This paper determines the short-circuit safe protection area (SCSPA) for advanced IGBT that has no short-circuit withstand capability and proposes the protection system satisfied this SCSPA. The fast protection is brought by PCB Rogowski coil and digital gate driver using digital circuit (FPGA). Experimental results verify that short-circuit detection time is 70 ns, shut-down time is reduced by controlling the gate resistance at turn-off