Power Electronics

Dr. Attique Ur Rehman

Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology
Recap MOSFET and IGBT
 Power level requirements and switching frequency are increasing in the power electronics
industry. The metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and insulated gate
bipolar transistor (IGBT) are two of the most popular and efficient semiconductor devices for
medium to high power switching power supplies in most applications.
 To operate a MOSFET/IGBT, typically a voltage has to be applied to the gate that is relative to the
source/emitter of the device. In order to drive these switching devices into conduction, the gate
terminal must be made positive with respect to its source/emitter.
 The power device switching behavior is affected by the parasitic capacitances between the three
terminals, i.e., gate-to-source (CGS), gate-to-drain (CGD) and drain-to-source (CDS) which are usually non-
linear and a function of bias voltage. Charging the gate capacitor turns the power device ON and allows
current flow between its drain and source terminals, while discharging it turns the device OFF and a
large voltage is blocked across the drain and source terminals.
 The gate voltage of a power device does not increase unless its gate input capacitance is charged, and
the power device does not turn on until its gate voltage reaches the gate threshold voltage (Vth). The Vth
of a power device is defined as the minimum gate bias required for creating a conduction path between
its source and drain regions. For operating a power device as a switch, a voltage sufficiently larger than
Vth should be applied between the gate and source/emitter terminal.
Gate Driver
 In high power applications, the gate of a power switch can never be driven by the output of a
logic IC (PWM controller). Because of the low current capabilities of these logic outputs, charging
the gate capacitance would require an excessive amount of time, most likely longer than the
duration of a switching period. Hence dedicated drivers must be used to apply a voltage and
provide drive current to the gate of the power device.
 This can be a driver circuit and it may be implemented as dedicated ICs, discrete transistors or
transformers. It can also be integrated within a PWM controller IC.

 A gate driver is a power amplifier that accepts a low power input from a controller IC and
produces the appropriate high current gate drive for a power device.
 It is used when a PWM controller cannot provide the output current required to drive the gate
capacitance of the associated power device.
Gate Driver
 The gate driver circuit is an integral part of power electronics systems.
 Gate drivers form an important interface between the high-power electronics and the control
circuit and are used to drive power semiconductor devices.
 The output of DC-DC converters or SMPS mainly depends on the behavior of gate driver circuits,
which means if the gate driver circuit doesn’t drive the gate of a power device properly, the DC-
DC converter output will not be according to the design requirement. Therefore, the design of the
gate driver circuit is critically important in the designing of power electronic converters.
Gate Driver Classification
 Depends on the Power Switch
 BJT
 MOSFET/IGBT
 Depends on the location of the Power Switch

Buck Boost
Types of Gate Driver
 High-side gate drivers are used to drive power-MOSFETs or IGBTs that are connected to a positive
supply and not ground referenced (floating). Low-side gate drivers are used to drive power-
MOSFETs and IGBTs that are connected to a negative supply.
 A high side driver is one in which the switching element is between V cc and the load.
 A low side driver is one in which the switching element is between the load and common

 Dual gate or half-bridge gate drivers have both low-side and high-side gates. Three-phase drivers
derive their name from the fact that they are used in three-phase applications.
Types of Gate Driver
 Low-Side Drivers - Used to drive ground referenced switches (low side switches).
 High-Side-Low-Side Drivers - Used to drive two switches connected in the bridge arrangement
(both floating & ground referenced switches).
Gate Driver Isolation
 Gate drive circuits for power inverters and converters often require electrical isolation for both
functional and safety purposes.
 Isolation is mandated by regulatory and safety certification agencies to prevent shock hazards. It also
protects low voltage electronics from any damage due to faults on the high power side circuit and from
human error on the control side.
 Two popular techniques available to implement isolated gate drivers
 Magnetic (using gate drive transformers)
 Optical (using an optocoupler)

The electrical separation between various functional circuits in a system prevents a direct conduction path between them
and allows individual circuits to possess different ground potentials. Signal and power can still pass between isolated
circuits using inductive, capacitive or optical methods.
Low-side Gate Driver for BJT
 The BJT has largely been replaced by MOSFETs and IGBTs. However, BJTs can still be used in many
applications.
 The BJT is a current controlled device, requiring a base current to maintain the transistor in the
conducting state.
 The turn-on time depends on how rapidly the required stored charge can be delivered to the base
region. Turn-on switching speeds can be decreased by initially applying a large spike of base current and
then reducing the current to that required to keep the transistor on.
 Similarly, a negative current spike at turnoff is desirable to remove the stored charge, decreasing
transition time from on to off.
Low-side Gate Driver for BJT

 When the input signal goes high, R2 is initially bypassed

by the uncharged capacitor. The initial base current is

 As the capacitor charges, the base current is reduced and

reaches a final value of

 The desired charging time of the capacitor determines its

value.
 Three to five time constants are required to charge or
discharge the capacitor. The charging time constant is
The input signal goes low at turnoff, and the
charged capacitor provides a negative current
spike as the base charge is removed.
Low-side Gate Driver for MOSFET
Numerical Problem #1
 Design a BJT base drive circuit with the configuration of given figure that has a spike of 1 A at
turn-on and maintains a base current of 0.2 A in the on state. The voltage vi is a pulse of 0 to 15 V
with a 50 percent duty ratio, and the switching frequency is 100 kHz. Assume that vBE is 0.9 V
when the transistor is on.
Numerical Problem #1
Rectifiers
 Rectifier is an electronic device that converts an alternating current into a direct current by using
one or more P-N junction diodes
 A diode behaves as a one-way valve that allows current to flow in a single direction. This process is
known as rectification

 Uncontrolled and Controlled Rectifiers

 A type of rectifier whose output voltage can be varied or changed is called controlled rectifier
 The type of rectifier whose output voltage cannot be controlled is called an uncontrolled rectifier
 Half and Full Wave Rectifiers
 Half wave rectifier only converts half of the AC wave into DC signal whereas full wave rectifier converts
complete AC signal into DC
Half Wave Rectifier
 A basic half-wave rectifier with a resistive load
 The source is ac, and the objective is to create a load voltage that has a nonzero dc component
 The diode is a basic electronic switch that allows current in one direction only
 For the positive half-cycle of the source in this circuit, the diode is on (forward-biased). Considering the
diode to be ideal, the voltage across a forward-biased diode is zero and the current is positive
 For the negative half-cycle of the source, the diode is reverse-biased, making the current zero. The
voltage across the reverse-biased diode is the source voltage, which has a negative value
Half Wave Rectifier
 The voltage waveforms across the source, load, and diode

Note that the units on the

horizontal axis are in terms of
angle (t). This representation is
useful because the values are
independent of frequency.
Half Wave Rectifier

 The dc component Vo of the output voltage is the average value of a half-wave rectified sinusoid

 The dc component of the current for the purely resistive load is

 Average power absorbed by the resistor

Half Wave Rectifier Resistive-Inductive Load
 Industrial loads typically contain inductance as well as resistance
 As the source voltage goes through zero, becoming positive in the
circuit, the diode becomes forward-biased.
 KVL describing the current in the circuit for the forward-biased
ideal diode is

 The solution can be obtained by expressing the current as the sum

of the forced response and the natural response:
Half Wave Rectifier Resistive-Inductive Load
 The natural response is the transient that occurs when the load is energized.
 For this first-order circuit, the natural response has the form

 where τ is the time constant L/R and A is a constant that is determined from the initial condition.

 The forced response for this circuit is the current that exists after the natural response has
decayed to zero. In this case, the forced response is the steady-state sinusoidal current that would
exist in the circuit if the diode were not present. This steady-state current can be found from
phasor analysis, resulting in
Half Wave Rectifier Resistive-Inductive Load
 Adding the forced and natural responses gets the complete solution

 The constant A is evaluated by using the initial condition for current. The initial condition of
current in the inductor is zero because it was zero before the diode started conducting and it
cannot change instantaneously.

It is often convenient to write

 Substituting for A the function in terms of the
angle t rather than time.
Half Wave Rectifier Resistive-Inductive Load

Note that the diode remains forward-

biased longer than π rad and that the
source is negative for the last part of the
conduction interval.
Half Wave Rectifier Resistive-Inductive Load
 The point when the current reaches zero occurs when the diode turns off.
 The first positive value of ωt that results in zero current is called the extinction angle β.
 Substituting ωt = β

 To summarize, the current in the half-wave rectifier circuit with RL load is expressed as
Half Wave Rectifier Resistive-Inductive Load

 The average power absorbed by the load is I2rmsR, since the average power absorbed by the
inductor is zero.
 The rms value of the current is determined from the current function

 Average current is
Numerical Problem #2
 For the given half-wave rectifier, the source is a sinusoid of 120 V rms at a frequency of 60 Hz. The
load resistor is 5 Ω. Determine (a) the average load current, (b) the average power absorbed by
the load and (c) the power factor of the circuit.
Numerical Problem #2
Half Wave Rectifier RL-Source Load
 Another variation of the half-wave rectifier, i.e., the load consists of a resistance, an inductance,
and a dc voltage.
 Starting the analysis at ωt = 0 and assuming the initial current is zero, recognize that the diode
will remain off as long as the voltage of the ac source is less than the dc voltage.
 Letting α be the value of ωt that causes the source voltage to be equal to Vdc

 The diode starts to conduct at ωt = α .

 With the diode conducting, KVL for the circuit yields the equation
Half Wave Rectifier RL-Source Load
 Total current is determined by summing the forced and natural responses

 The current if(t) is determined using superposition for the two sources
 The forced response from the ac source is (Vm/Z) sin(ωt - θ)
 The forced response due to the dc source is -Vdc/R
 The entire forced response is

 The natural response

Half Wave Rectifier RL-Source Load
 Adding the forced and natural responses gives the complete response

 The extinction angle β is defined as the angle at which the current reaches zero.
 Using the initial condition of i(α) = 0 and solving for A
Half Wave Rectifier RL-Source Load

 The average power absorbed by the resistor is I2rmsR

 The average power absorbed by the dc source is Pdc = IoVdc

Half Wave Rectifier RL-Source Load
 Assuming the diode and the inductor to be ideal, there is no average power absorbed by either.
The power supplied by the ac source is equal to the sum of the power absorbed by the resistor
and the dc source