Snubbers

Exercise session 1 Power Electronics (H04A2A)

Snubbers
Reduce the electrical stresses placed on a device during switching to levels that are within the ratings of the device Reducing electrical stresses by:
Limiting:
Voltages and dv/dt during turn-off Currents and di/dt during turn-on

Shaping the switching trajectory

Instead of snubbers, electrical stresses can also be reduced by soft-switching techniques

Snubbers
RC(D)-snubbers
Shape the turn-off switching trajectory Clamp voltages during turn-off Limit dv/dt during turn-off
This exercise session

LR(D)-snubbers
Shape the turn-on switching trajectory Clamp currents during turn-on Limit di/dt during turn-on

Without snubber
Vc must be one diode-drop higher than Vcc before diode can conduct Power dissipiation Pmax = Vcc.IL

VCC IL

vce(t)

ice(t)
t1 (turn-on) t0 (turn-off)

time

Ton

Toff

Energy loss at turn-off = area of green triangle = Eoff =

Vcc I L Toff 2

Without snubber
Turn on:
VGE4 is the smallest gate-emittervoltage, necessary to let the IGBT conduct IL. Overdrive (i.e. VGE > VGE4) is done in order to decrease the losses during onstate of the IGBT. In this picture, the gate-emitter-voltage that is applied, is VGE5 (> VGE4).

Without snubber
Turn off:
The other way around is followed during turn-off.

RCD snubber
Turn-off:
T > Toff
VCC IL

large capacitor

ice

iC Without snubber ~t2 t0 Toff T

iFWD ~t

vce

vC vce

Free-wheeling diode still in circuit! Start turning off

time

At turn-on, energy of C is dissipated in R: R must be present to reset vC to 0 Volts; R in series with C = slow at turn-off, therefore D

RCD snubber
Turn-off
T < Toff
VCC IL

small capacitor

ice iFWD

iC vC vce ~t2 t0 T Toff

Free-wheeling diode still in circuit!

Start turning off

time At turn-on, energy of C is dissipated in R

RCD snubber
Analysis for the last case (T < Toff)

RCD snubber
Analysis for the last case (T < Toff)
VCC IL

Assume t0 = 0
ice vC vce t0 iC ~t2
Region I

For region I:

iFWD
t

t ice (t ) = I L 1 T off I iC (t ) = L t Toff

T Toff
Region II

1 1 IL t2 vce (t ) = ic (u )du + vce (0) = C0 C Toff 2

t Pswitch (t ) = vce (t )ice (t ) = I L 1 T off

T'

1 IL t2 C T 2 off

vce (T ') = VCC

T ' = 2CVCC

Toff IL

Eswitch , I

I = Pswitch (u )du = L 2CToff 0

T '3 T '4 3 4T off

RCD snubber
Analysis for the last case (T < Toff)
VCC IL

Assume t0 = 0
ice vC vce t0 iC ~t2
Region I

For region II:

iFWD

Pswitch , II
T Toff
Region II

t = VCC I L 1 T off

Eswitch, II =

Toff

T'

Pswitch, II ( u) du

Toff T '2 = VCC I L Toff T ' + 2 2Toff

RCD snubber
Analysis for the last case (T < Toff)
Total energy dissipation

= Etot,snubber = Eswitch + Econdensator with Eswitch = Eswitch,I + Eswitch,II Econdensator = CVCC2/2 T

T ' = 2CVCC
off

IL

Thus: Etot,snubber = function of CCopt = 0.222 Etot,snubber is minimized when

I LToff VCC

RCD snubber
Analysis for the last case (T < Toff)
Etot,snubber with C = Copt is:
Etot ,snubber ,opt = 1 Toff VCC I L ( 13 8Toff 18

With snubber is better than without, if

V I 0 1 Toff VCC I L (13 8Toff ) < CC L Toff 18 2
0 13 13 2 288Toff

Turn-off time without snubber

Toff <

16
Turn-off time with snubber

RCD snubber
Analysis for the first case (T > Toff)
Analogously:
Copt = 0.289 I LToff VCC