Modeling aging effects of IGBTs in power drives by ringing characterization

Abstract

This paper presents two types of aging modeling for IGBTs. The physical modeling allows a better understanding of the physical mechanics of failures while the functional model represents a more general approach that can be easily extended to model more complex systems. The latter also allows a better characterization of the ringing signal phenomenon, which was found to be characteristic of aged IGBTs. Based on the effects of aging on the ringing, a feature is proposed to capture these changes in real-time and use them as a diagnostic tool for components health state. A real power drive platform is implemented to experimentally verify the ringing characterization modeled and to demonstrate the repeatability of the ringing effects observed at high frequencies in the voltage and current of electrical components.