Design and development of gate driver for short circuit fault detection in wide bandgap (WBG) devices

Abstract

In power converters, short-circuit faults are the most common cause of failure. Short-Circuit (SC) detection and protection methods have been developed for silicon (Si) devices, such as Si Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) or Si Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistors (MOSFET). The emergence of Wide Bandgap (WBG) devices such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs and Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMT) brought the need of new protection methods. The Rogowski coil is an old current measuring device. Over the course of a century, it has been tweaked and enhanced, and it is constantly being researched for new applications. Compared to ordinary magnetic current transformers (CTs), the Rogowski coil has several advantages. Rogowski Coils can readily replace traditional CTs in protection, metering, control applications and can be usable at any voltage. Rogowski Coils, on the other hand, produce output voltage that is a scaled time derivative di(t)/dt of the primary current, unlike CTs that produce secondary current proportional to the primary current. This paper seeks to explore the benefits of Printed Circuit Board (PCB)- embedded Rogowski switch- current sensors incorporated on the gate driver.