An Extended Model of Power Losses in Hard-switched I

Frede Blaabjerg, John K. Pedersen, Sigurdur Sigurj6nssonT, Alexander Elkjaer'

Aalborg University, Institute of Energy Technology
Department of Electrical Energy Conversion
Pontoppidanstraede 101, DK - 9220 Aalborg East, DENMARK
Phone +45 98158522 Fax +45 98151411

%anfysik AIS
DK-4040Jyllinge, DENMARK
Phone +45 46788150 Fax +45 46731551

Abstract: This paper proposes a new improved method to and gate-drive voltage in order to design it optimized. Ref.
describe the power losses in hard-switched IGBT-inverters. The [12] discusses this problem for four different voltage levels
method includes dependencyof voltage, current and temperature but each voltage level is modelled by the proposals in [7].
which enables the user to simulate thermal effects very fast. The This paper will for the first time present a model of the losses
model is used on both a PT and NPT IGBT-module includingthe in an inverter-bridge which takes into account both tem-
freewheeling diode. Methods to extract the parameters to the
perature, voltage level and current.
models are proposed and they are verified by measurements and
simulation. It is concluded the proposed model can describe the This paper will first present the standard loss model for an
losses in IGBT-inverters accurate and a tool for simulating inverter and step by step include different effects to obtain an
thermal effects is obtained. extended model. A characterization of both a PT and a NPT
IGBT-module is done including the freewheeling diode. The
I. INTRODUCTION parameters to the models are extracted and verified by
different experiments. Finally, different possible applications
The applications of power electronic devices are extended of the model are discussed.
every year due to the development of the devices [l], [2].
Many efforts are done to obtain fast switching devices with a 11. LOSS MODEL
minimum drive power requirement and to reduce the on-state
voltage. A key-parameter for all those elements is the power An equivalent, simplified hard-switched IGBT-inverter is
losses in the on-state, the off-state and in the switching tran- shown in Fig. 1 where a load current I, flows.
sitions. In a final product the main concerns are the highest
temperature (hot-spot) which tells the manufacturer about the
I T1 h D 1
expected life-time of the product and reduction of the overall
volume. Therefore it is important to model the losses in the
power semiconductor devices with the highest accuracy and
m I W
with a number of changeable parameters.
One approach to determine the losses is to simulate the
circuit by the use of device models [3]-[5]. Dependent on the
level of the models [6] the accuracy can be different and in
many cases if longer simulation runs have to be done, a Fig. 1. Hard-switched PWM-VS inverter.
determination of the losses can be very time-consuming. An
alternative way is to characterize the devices in their different In many applications the load current is controlled by a
operating states and then model each kind of losses from the relatively high inductance, so it can be equivalent to a current
characterisations. A very often used method proposed by [7] source. Two kinds of losses are of interest in such a con-
and later used by [8]-[lo]. Common for this method is that it figuration which are conduction losses and switching losses.
describes the losses as a function of load current and only The losses are both in the diodes and in the IGBT's.
that. The temperature effect has been included in [ll].
Different parameters are extracted from a lot of measure-
ments. However, in a practical design it can be important to
include parameters like voltage, temperature, gate-resistances
0-7803-3544-9196 $5.00 0 1996 IEEE
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 Conduction losses 111. EXTENDED LOSS MODEL
The conduction losses ,P in an IGBT or a diode can be
expressed as: An extended loss model is proposed where both tempera-
T
ture and DC-link voltage are taken into account.
P,n, =
1
/ U, ( t ) i,(t) dt (1)
The conduction losses will only be dependent on the
temperature and (2) is then extended to [13]
T
where
P-, = conduction losses in device x
(4)
T = fundamental period = l/c
u,(t) = on-state voltage drop
iL(t) = load current
where
The on-state voltage drop can be characterized by a C-,, Cq2 = constants for variable temperature
dynamical resistance r, and a constant voltage drop U,. It can TJ = junction temperature
be transformed to the expression [7]
The extra constants C q l , CWz can be determined by a

pcm, = T
1
[ (9,+ro, i,(t)”*) iL(t) dt (2)
number of measurements.
The switching losses in the diode or the IGBT can be
described as shown in (3) or extended to include the variation
where of the DC-link voltage U., The switching losses are
U,,, = bias voltage for device x
r,,, = dynamical resistance for device x
BmX = curve fitted constant for device x

switching losses where

It 4s possible to calculate the switching losses by means of
collector-emittervoltage U,, and collector current E,but this
is not a very accurate method due to the need of approxima-
tions ;and because the switching characteristics are different
and dependent on the IGBT type. It is more powerful and
more accurate to measure the switching energy directly as a
function of load current and then to describe the relationship
by a simple equation. It is chosen to describe tbe relationship
as [71
EW, = A,,, i(t)”-* (3)
U, = base DC-link voltage
U, = DC-linkvoltage
C,,,+ = constant for variable DC-link voltage
The constants A,,,, B,, are determined on the base of
DC-link voltage (e.g. 500 V), and on the basis of measure-
ments at different DC-link levels the constant C,, is deter-
mined.
The next parameter is the junction temperature where a
base-temperature is selected. The switching losses are then

where
E,, = switching energy loss for device x
b,,,,B,, = curve fitting constants for device x where
T,- = base-temperature of junction
Eq. (3) can be used for turn-on and turn-off losses of the D,, = constant for variable junction temperature
IGBT as well as reverse recovery losses for the diode. The
forward recovery losses of the diode are neglected. The constant D,,,, is detennined after the constants bWJ,
The constants U,,,, r,,,, Bqx, $,,,, B,, are determined B,, and C,,,, are known. The base-temperature of the
by applying a curve fitting of the measured on-state voltage junction can e.g. be chosen to 75°C.
characteristics and the switching energy losses which are
dependent on the load current. Common for (1)-(3) is that
they only describe the losses at one temperature and at one
DC-link voltage U.,

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 IV. CHARACTERIZATION

To obtain the necessary measurements for the proposed

extended loss model a measuring system is used. Fig. 2
shows an overview of the system.

HARDWARE:

X HEATSINK
Heater/
Cooler + X Lcadl
Switch
crcuit
Acquisi- '

tlon -f-
Control
80535 X

D.U.T.
x
- x

Function
Generator
Tabor
8201
........... ~

4 LEM Coaxial
Shunt

2 x HP54510A

RS-232 PC-486

x Measurements of temperatwe '--I-d-NETWORI:

I HP-735

Fig. 2. Hardware in measuring system for power electronic >'

components and circuits.
@>
The measuring system has two 1 Gsah oscilloscopes, a
LEM coaxial shunt for current measurement, a temperature
controlled heatsink, loadkwitch circuits, a power supply, a
function generator, a network analyzer and fmally, a com-
puter to control the instruments.
All measurements are done as non-thermal stress tests
which means only a small amount of energy is dissipated in
the device during one test. This is realized by double pulse
test.
Special software is developed to calculate switching losses
and to extract different parameters. An accurate definition of
the extracted parameters during turn-on and turn-off for the
IGBT and the diode is presented. Fig. 3 shows an illustration
of turn-on and turn-off IGBT and turn-off diode.

(c)
Fig. 3 Waveforms during test and different definitions.
a) Tum-on IGBT
b) Turn-off IGBT
c) Turn-off diode

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 All1 the shown parameters in Fig. 3 are determined but the
most important in this paper is the switching losses at
different currents or voltages.
Two dual-pack modules are chosen for characterization
and nbodelling. Those are SEMIKRON SKh4-200-GAR-123D
and EUJI 2MBI 2OOL-120 where the first is a Non-Punch
Through (NPT) type and the latter is a Punch-Through (PT)
type. Both are rated 1200 V and 200 A.
To determine the parameters to the loss model a couple of
measurements have been performed. Table I specifies the
conditions.
Table I Test conditions for characterization of losses in IGBT
and diode
Parame- Test points
ter
Fig. 4 shows the losses in the PT-device are almost
temperature independent while the losses in the NPT-device
are more temperature dependent. The diodes in the modules
are both dependent on the temperature.
Dynamic characteristic
The diodes are characterized at different load currents,
DC-link voltages and temperatures. The gate-resistance is
kept fixed in the measurements. The gate-resistance for the
NPT- device is 5.6 D while it is 10 D for the PT-device. The
last gate-resistance is higher than specified from the manufac-
turer which means the losses are not comparable. Fig. 6
shows the switching losses in the diode at three different
temperatures and different voltages for the NPT-module while
Fig. 7 shows it for the PT-module.
D lode turn-off

U,[V] 200,300,400,500,600,700,800

IJAI 20,50,100,150,200,250

T,["C] 25,75,125 0 00 100 150 200 250 300

$ [AI

About 750 measurements have been taken. (a)

%,E [mJl Diode turn-off G=75.C
14 I I
Static characteristic 12
Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 show the conduction losses for the two 10
modules for both IGBT and diode at three different tempera- 8

tures. 6

Pcon * CW l .__
PT -"PT
4
800, I I I I I 4
,
2

-7 0
0 50 100 150
1, [AI

(b)
200 260 300

Ear.1O% [mJ] Diode turn-off TJ= 125°C

,4 1 1 I
v -
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 1 2 . . . . ~ ,~. . . . . I . . . . . . L~ ..... ..a......<.. .....

1, [AI

Fig. 4. Static characteristic for IGBT. ...........

r*oo pcam,D f W 1 ___ PT

I I I I I
-NPT
I ...... - ..............
I I I
300 0 125'C 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
IL [AI
800

li 00 (4
Fig. 6. Switching losses in diode for the NFT module at different
n temperatures.
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
I. [AI
I - ~
a) T, = 25°C
b) T, = 75OC
c ) T, = 125OC
Fig. 5. Static characteristic for diode.

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 Diode turn-off '&=25 '
C Eaa,lO% [mJl Turn-on T1=75 "C

1 ;;:::;
16 r I I I I I I I
I eoov
I I I
....................................................
I ;/;
A

12
l4 ....6.0.0.~. . . . . . . . . . . . . .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
......
....

4 .....

I I I I I I I 0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
IL [AI IL [AI

(a) (b)
16
E.W.lO% [mJ1 Diode turn-off Tj=75 "C
24
Esw.lO% ImJl
I
Turn-on
I I
T1=125 ' C
I
I I I I I 4
A 800: v :
20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . , .................... ......

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175

I, [AI I, [AI

(b) (c)
[mJl Diode turn-off' Tj=125 Fig. 8. Turn-on switching losses for N I T IGBT at different
2o E S W . l O %
OC
I I
temperatures.
a) T, = 25°C
b) T, = 75°C
c) T, = 125°C

0 I I I I I I ... ....... . . . . . . . .:. ....../...; 2

.......
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
1, [AI

(c)
Fig. 7. Switching losses in diode for €Tmodule.
a) T, = 25°C
b) T, = 75°C 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
c) T, = 125°C
I, [AI

Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show that the losses in the diode for the (a)
NPT module increase at increasing temperature and voltage. Turn-on
Fig. 8 shows the turn-on switching losses for the NPT
IGBT at three different temperatures while Fig. 9 shows it for
the PT IGBT.
12
E*W,lO% [mJlI I I
Turn-on
I I
T,,=25 'C
I

10 .II
A e o o.v ~. . .. . .:. . . . . . . . j
. 7oo ...... I .... /! .......

.sp.9:.Y. . . . . .:. . . . . . : ... /, --

.... .......

l-:.
500: V
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175

4 .e- 1, [AI

(b)
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
1, [AI

(4

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 Turn-on

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175

I, [AI IL [AI

(cl (c)
Fig. 10. Turn-off switching losses for NFT IGBT at different
Fig. 9. Tum-on switchinglosses for PT IGBT at different tempera- temperatures.
tures. a) Tj = 25OC
a) TJ = 25°C b) TJ = 75°C
b) Tj = 75°C c) T, = 125°C
c) Tj = 125°C
2o Esw,lO% [mJl
The turn-on switching losses also increase when the I ,Turn- off Tj=25 'C
A 800V ! PI I
temperature, voltage and current increase for both devices.
The current level in the test was reduced for the modules
because of some instability problems.
Fig. 10 shows the turn-off switching losses for the NPT
IGBT at three different temperatures and Fig. 11 shows it for
the F T ILGBT.
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175

20
t i
. m. . y o 0 .v ...............
0 6oo;v /
/
:. ................................
j
a.. ......

---I
? - ,

c... ;-. . . . . . :.......

I I I I
~
I
0 25 50 '75 100 125 150 175
I, [AI

@)

10 ...
..........................
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
1, cAi
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
@)
I, [AI

(4
Fig. 11. Turn-off switching losses for PT IGBT at different
temperatures.
a) T, = 25°C
b) TJ = 75°C
c) TJ = 125°C

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 Fig. 10 shows that the turn-off switching losses are almost also the temperature is taken into account.
independent on the temperature but they are dependent on o TJ=25"C v TJ=75T 0 TJ=125"C

voltage and load current. Only small increases can be seen in

Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 for different temperatures.

V. MODEL OF PT AND NPT IGBT

On the basis of the previously presented measurements,

the parameters in the loss model can be determined. The se-
0 50 100 150 200 250
quence to do this determination is:
I L CAI
Fig. 14. Diode losses as a function of temperature and load current
1. Determine AwW.,, B,, at U, and T,
for the NIT-module.
2. Determine C,,,, at T,
3. Determine Daw,x
Fig. 14 shows it is possible with a good accuracy to deter-
To illustrate this, Fig. 12 shows the measured and mine and to characterize the losses as a function of tempera-
modelled diode losses at base U, (U- = 500 V) and base ture, and it can be concluded an advanced model of the losses
T, (T,, = 75°C) but at different load currents. is developed. Most accuracy is obtained at higher tempera-
tures. The same procedure is used for the diode in the PT
*E [mJl 0 E,,.,,, -Aa;(IL)B- UDc=50O[V] TJ=75"C
module and Fig. 15 shows a comparison between measured
6 ..................... and calculated losses.
......... 12 %,lo% [mJl D i o d e turn-off
I
3 -

01 I
0 50 100 150 200 250
*L [AI

Fig. 12. Measured and determined diode losses at base voltage and n
0 I I I I
base junction temperature for NIT-module. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 180
IL [AI

Fig. 12 shows it is possible to model the switching losses Fig. 15. Diode losses as a function of temperature and load current
for the IT-module. The voltage is 500 V.
according to (3). The constants Aaw,Dand Baw,Dare now
determined, and Fig. 13 shows the factor which has to be
multiplied to (3) if the DC-link voltage variation should also Again the model can describe the losses in the devices as
be taken into account. The load current is also fixed. a function of temperature.
2.0 0 E,,& -(UDc/ub)c" TJ=75T The same procedure is used for the turn-on and the turn-
I off switching losses. Fig. 16 shows the model of the NPT-
device during turn-on, while Fig. 17 shows it for the PT-
device.
E E,,.,,, [mJ] Turn-on
1

0.0
100 200 300 400 500 800 700 800
UDC[VI

Fig. 13. Multiplication factor for diode losses as a function of DC-

link voltage for NIT-module.
0 20 40 60 EO 100 120 140 160

Fig. 13 shows it is possible to take into account the IL [AI

switching losses variation at different DC-link voltages. The Fig. 16. Turn-on losses for NIT-device at different temperatures.
The voltage is 500 V.
characteristic gives the constant Caw.The final parameter to
be determined according to (6) is the temperature variation
and Fig. 14 shows the switching losses in the diode where

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 Turn-on
Table 111 Determined constants for conduction loss
, . . . . . . ,.............................. -
model of NFT- and FT-module.

NFT-module I PT-module

Diode
0.0018
0 ZO 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
1.48
IL [AI
0.005 -0.008 -0.0025 -0.003
Fig. 17. Turn-on losses for PT-device at different temperatures. 0.046 0.040 0.0187 0.0018
1
Fig. 16 and Fig. 17 show it is possible to model the losses
very accurate on the basis of (6). A big difference exists
between the two devices, but it is not important for the 20
model.
The same method is used for the turn-off losses for the 16

devices anid the results are shown in Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 for 12
the two devices.
8
Turn-off
4
......................................................
n
0: 7 5 'C . I

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

D: 125 ' C : 1, [AI
.................... Fig. 19. Turn-off losses for FTdevice at different temperatures.
. . . . .,. . . . . . . L . . ........... __

I I I VI. APPLICATIONS
0 20 40 BO 80 100 120 140 160
IL [AI
The developed expressions can be used in almost all
Fig. 18. Turn-off losses for "-device at different temperatures. possible applications of an inverter, and it is possible to use
different design parameters in a concept. The temperature can
Again, the model is very acceptable, and it can be be simulated extremely fast on-line and in some cases it can
concluded the proposed loss model describes the losses in the be used for an on-line calculation of the temperature.
devices. One application where the inverter shown in Fig. 1 is
Table I1 and Table I11 show the determined parameters for the simplified is a DC-DC converter and the circuit topology is
switching and the conduction losses. shown in Fig. 20.

Table I1 Determined constants for switching loss model of NPT- and PT-module T, = 75°C.,U = 500 V

Turn-off diode

0.15296
NPT-module

0.18890 0.00507
Turn-off diode

0.22069
Turn-on IGBT

0.2210
7 Turn-off IGBT

0.00758

0.70332 0.67807 I 1.46751 0.70910 0.9254 1.517

1.25 1.93693 1.02081 1.244 1.283 1.047

0.85722 0.51614 0.83 0.6459 0.3

I
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 VII. CONCLUSION

A new method to express the power losses in an inverter-

Lad bridge is developed. The method takes into account both the
load current, the DC-link voltage and the temperature. A step
by step procedure is proposed and it is demonstrated on two
I I I I
different IGBT-modules (NPT and PT) which are also charac-
terized very detailed. The loss model shows only small devia-
tions from the measured characteristics, and it can be con-
cluded the model will have a number of applications. The loss
Fig. 20. DC-DCconverter for high current power supply. model is finally demonstrated on a DC/DC converter.
The loss model can further on be improved by taken into
This DC-DC converter is used for control of magnets and account gate drive supply and gate-resistances but the risk of
it has a current rating up to lo00 A. A number of expressions a decreased accuracy then exists.
to describe the losses in such a converter are developed for
the NPT-module.
If a thermal model of the devices and a heatsink are
included, accurate simulations of the converter can be done.
The model can also be used to choose a correct DC-link
level. Other applications are complete three-phase converters,
DC/DC converters and other power converter systems where
the goals are to control the thermal behaviour and to reduce
the total power losses.

Pcms = D * ZL[ 1.56 TJ + 1.55 +ZL(T, 46 +9

] [w]
(7)

r 1

r 1

I .25 0.8.57p

31
75

where
d = duty cycle of DC/DC converter
few= switching frequency

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r131 Selmikron data-book 1996 for IGBT's.

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