A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs
To enhance the voltage-handling capability of a switch, the series connection of switching devices is a cost-effective method that preserves many advantages of mature low-voltage devices. Dynamic voltage imbalance and electrical isolation for the devices at the high voltage (HV) side are two importa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2025-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10812009/ |
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| author | Sohrab Ghafoor Mahesh Kulkarni Reza Mirzadarani Peter Vaessen Mohamad Ghaffarian Niasar |
| author_facet | Sohrab Ghafoor Mahesh Kulkarni Reza Mirzadarani Peter Vaessen Mohamad Ghaffarian Niasar |
| author_sort | Sohrab Ghafoor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To enhance the voltage-handling capability of a switch, the series connection of switching devices is a cost-effective method that preserves many advantages of mature low-voltage devices. Dynamic voltage imbalance and electrical isolation for the devices at the high voltage (HV) side are two important challenges associated with series connection topology. Transformer-coupled gate drivers are excellent for providing both dynamic voltage balance and high galvanic isolation. However, they can only provide the switching function at the transformer pulse frequency. To generate complex waveforms of future power-electronics-dominated grids, a switch with user-defined turn-<sc>on/off</sc> timing is required for testing grid assets under high-voltage conditions. This article presents a simple, cost-effective open-loop gate driver that overcomes this limitation by introducing two sets of complementary pulse transformers to initialize programmable frequency and duty cycle. Successful experimental verification of the series-connected SiC <sc>mosfet</sc>s prototype is performed at 3.2 kV at various frequencies and duty cycles. The article also demonstrates that the measurement probes placed across series-connected <sc>mosfet</sc>s significantly affect the voltage distribution and validate a compensation mechanism. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-264c1633d45142139a9a63fc4d93b839 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2644-1284 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society |
| spelling | doaj-art-264c1633d45142139a9a63fc4d93b8392025-01-30T00:03:57ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society2644-12842025-01-0169511410.1109/OJIES.2024.352132510812009A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETsSohrab Ghafoor0https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4671-3327Mahesh Kulkarni1https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9608-5243Reza Mirzadarani2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9491-1926Peter Vaessen3Mohamad Ghaffarian Niasar4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1766-8077Delft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsTo enhance the voltage-handling capability of a switch, the series connection of switching devices is a cost-effective method that preserves many advantages of mature low-voltage devices. Dynamic voltage imbalance and electrical isolation for the devices at the high voltage (HV) side are two important challenges associated with series connection topology. Transformer-coupled gate drivers are excellent for providing both dynamic voltage balance and high galvanic isolation. However, they can only provide the switching function at the transformer pulse frequency. To generate complex waveforms of future power-electronics-dominated grids, a switch with user-defined turn-<sc>on/off</sc> timing is required for testing grid assets under high-voltage conditions. This article presents a simple, cost-effective open-loop gate driver that overcomes this limitation by introducing two sets of complementary pulse transformers to initialize programmable frequency and duty cycle. Successful experimental verification of the series-connected SiC <sc>mosfet</sc>s prototype is performed at 3.2 kV at various frequencies and duty cycles. The article also demonstrates that the measurement probes placed across series-connected <sc>mosfet</sc>s significantly affect the voltage distribution and validate a compensation mechanism.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10812009/High-voltage switchhigh-voltage testingisolated gate drivermedium-voltage (MV) dc applicationsseries-connected SiC MOSFETsvoltage balancing |
| spellingShingle | Sohrab Ghafoor Mahesh Kulkarni Reza Mirzadarani Peter Vaessen Mohamad Ghaffarian Niasar A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs IEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society High-voltage switch high-voltage testing isolated gate driver medium-voltage (MV) dc applications series-connected SiC MOSFETs voltage balancing |
| title | A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs |
| title_full | A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs |
| title_fullStr | A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs |
| title_short | A Scalable Isolated Gate Driver With Programmable Frequency and Duty Cycle for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs |
| title_sort | scalable isolated gate driver with programmable frequency and duty cycle for series connected sic mosfets |
| topic | High-voltage switch high-voltage testing isolated gate driver medium-voltage (MV) dc applications series-connected SiC MOSFETs voltage balancing |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10812009/ |
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