Online estimation of IGBT junction temperature (Tj) using gate-emitter voltage (Vge) at turn-off

Abstract

The paper presents a novel method for online estimation of the junction temperature (Tj) of semiconductor chips in IGBT modules, based on evaluating the gate-emitter voltage (Vge) during the IGBT switch off process. It is shown that the Miller plateau width (in the Vge waveform) depend linearly on the junction temperature of the IGBT chips. Hence, a method can be proposed for estimating the junction temperature even during converter operation - without the need of additional thermal sensors or complex Rth network models. A measurement circuit was implemented at gate level to measure the involved time duration and its functionality was demonstrated for different types of IGBT modules.