System and Method for Operating Inverters

摘要

There is provided a control system and method related to the use of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) devices in vehicles. An exemplary control method includes applying a voltage to a gate of an IGBT device to turn the IGBT on, measuring the collector-to-emitter voltage of the IGBT, and comparing the measured collector-to-emitter voltage to a voltage reference. The exemplary method also includes generating a fault condition if the measured collector-to-emitter voltage exceeds the voltage reference. The exemplary method additionally includes initiating a soft turn-off in response to the fault condition by reducing the voltage applied to the gate of the IGBT to a voltage slightly greater than a rated threshold voltage of the IGBT. The exemplary method further includes initiating a hard turn-off after a specified time period beyond the initiation of the soft turn-off, by reducing the voltage applied to the gate of the IGBT below the rated threshold voltage to a negative value, thus providing a negative voltage bias to the IGBT.