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US 10,071,634 B2Granted
Dynamic IGBT gate drive to reduce switching loss
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsZhuxian Xu, Chingchi Chen, Xi Lu, Ke Zou
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle powertrain includes an IGBT that conducts current between a supply and load. The vehicle powertrain also includes a controller that applies voltage to a gate of the IGBT at a first level for a first duration that depends on a capacitance of the gate, and increases the voltage over a second duration based on a rate of change of the current falling below a threshold defined by a supply voltage for the load.
Claims10
A vehicle powertrain comprising:
- an IGBT configured to conduct current between a supply and load;
- and
- a controller configured to cause voltage to be applied to a gate of the IGBT at a first level for a first duration, and to cause the voltage to increase over a second duration based on a detected rate of change of a magnitude of the current falling below a threshold defined by a supply voltage for the load.
A method of controlling an IGBT of a powertrain inverter comprising:
- by a gate driver, causing a voltage to be applied at a first level onto a gate of an IGBT for a predetermined time;
- causing, by the IGBT in response to the voltage, a current to flow through a collector of the IGBT;
- and
- in response to a detected rate of change of a magnitude of the current through the IGBT exceeding a predetermined threshold defined by a supply voltage of the inverter, causing the voltage to increase from the first level to a second level greater than the first level.
1 more element
A vehicle comprising:
- an IGBT configured to selectively conduct current between a supply and load;
- and
- a controller configured to cause voltage to be applied to a gate of the IGBT at a first level for a duration, and after the duration expires, control a rate of increase of the voltage based on a detected rate of change of a magnitude of the current being less than a threshold corresponding to a supply voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.