Application of Active Gate Driver in Variable Frequency Drives

This paper presents the results of an investigation into using a commercially available active gate driver integrated circuit (IC) in variable frequency drive (VFD) applications. The gate driver provides multiple steps of gate current levels to control the gate charge of insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) during turn-on transitions to adjust dVce/dt, dic/dt and turn-on energy loss. This provides a means for optimizing switching losses, reverse recovery current of the freewheeling diode, and EMI emissions. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate the advantages over a conventional fixed-resistance gate driver. Preliminary simulation results are provided to illustrate the benefits for IGBT junction temperature reduction.