Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Switching using IGBTs is common in motor drive and power inverter applications and the drive
electronics need to control a wide range of current depending on the size of the motor or power
system. Building a variety of drive control cards would be inefficient, and a motor drive system that
can be easily scaled to accommodate different size motors while remaining reliable and safe is a
much better scenario. This article will show how a gate drive optocoupler with MOSFET buffer driving
capability, optical isolation, and integrated safety features addresses the needs of motor drive and
inverter systems.
Introduction
Switching using IGBTs is common in motor drive and power inverter applications. The drive
electronics need to control current flow ranging from tens of amps to hundreds of amps depending on
the size of the motor or power system. Building a variety of drive control cards would be inefficient
and wastes design resources. A motor drive system that can be easily scaled to accommodate
different size motors while remaining reliable and safe is a much better scenario. This article will
show how a gate drive optocoupler with MOSFET buffer driving capability, optical isolation, and
integrated safety features addresses the needs of motor drive and inverter systems.
Figure 2 shows how different BIPOLAR buffers are used to drive different class of IGBTs from 50A to
600A. As the size of IGBT gets bigger, higher peak current is required at the gate of the IGBT to turn
it on efficiently. The magnitude of the BIPOLARs output current is a factor of its base current, IB and
the transistors current gain, . In other words, gate drivers with different peak output currents and
matching BIPOLAR buffers are needed to achieve the peak gate current required by different class of
IGBTs. MOSFET buffers, on the other hand, are voltage controlled devices and their current
amplifications are independent from the previous gate driver stage. Figure 3 shows MOSFET buffers
with different internal turn-on resistance, RDSON to deliver the peak gate current required by the
different classes of IGBTs. Although the ACPL-339J output is specified at 1A, the switching of the
MOSFET buffers will happen as long as the ACPL-339J output voltage crosses the input threshold of
the MOSFET buffers.
The ACPL-339J makes it easier to support different system power ratings using one gate drive
platform by interchanging the MOSFET buffers and power IGBT/MOSFET switches. All these
changes can be made without redesigning the critical circuit isolation and short circuit protection.
Summary
Building motor drive or inverter systems using the Avago Technologies ACPL-339J gate drive
optocoupler driving MOSFET buffers helps to maximize IGBT gate drive design scalability from low
power to high power systems. This helps to reduce design cycle time and allow a single design to be
utilized across a wider range of motor drive or inverter applications. Together with integrated short
circuit protection and feedback, the gate drive design is simplified with less PCB space and cost and
greater protection reliability.