PCIM Europe 2016, 10 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

Protection Features of Intelligent Power Module against

Transient State

Taehyun Kim, Infineon Technologies Power Semitech, Korea, Taehyun.Kim@Infineon.com

Minsub Lee, Infineon Technologies Power Semitech, Korea, Minsub.Lee@Infineon.com
Junbae Lee, Infineon Technologies Power Semitech, Korea, Junbae.Lee@Infineon.com
Daewoong Chung, Infineon Technologies Power Semitech, Korea,
Daewoong.Chung@Infineon.com

Abstract
For motor drive applications, various protection functions are necessary to enable safe
operation of all motor drive systems under the conditions of the short circuit, over current,
and over temperature. This paper presents protective methods under the specific transient
states such as abnormal operation of micro controller, disconnection of 15V power supply
and short circuit between adjacent pins of Intelligent Power Module (IPM). They effectively
contribute to the enhancement of system reliability in low power motor drives.
In this paper, the specific transient states are described and remedial methods are provided
with actual experimental results.

1. Introduction
Energy-saving is being very important in the world these days. Therefore, inverter technology
with IPM is being increasingly accepted and used by a wide range of users such as
refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners [1]. In general, an IPM provides general
protection functions under the conditions of short circuit, over current and over temperature
[2]. The protection of IPM against failures caused by short circuit transients and over
temperature is of concern in many applications and especially in the low power motor drives,
where devices may be subject to several fault types [3].
In this paper, various transient states in the low power motor drive applications are
introduced. Input signals of one phase high side and another phase low side in inverter
topology have kept full turn-on state by abnormal operation of micro controller. For inverter
operation, 15V power supply is suddenly disconnected by weak control board condition. And
there can be short circuit condition between adjacent pins of IPM. These transient states
make a severe damage of IPM in case there are not proper protective methods. This paper
introduces detailed transient states and describes optimal protective methods with actual
experimental results.

2. Protective Features
2.1 Abnormal operation of micro controller
It is possible to have an unexpected and incorrect operation of the micro controller which
transfers input signal to the IPM. Figure 1 shows input signals of W phase high side and U
phase low side have kept full turn-on state by abnormal operation of micro controller. This
situation makes repetitive over current and fault output signal of IPM. When it is continue for
a long time, temperature of both IGBTs are extremely increased by over current, and then,

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 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

one or both IGBTs in IPM are damaged by extreme high temperature. The case temperature
of IPM is increased up to 142qC as displayed in Figure 2.

High side input of W phase

[5V/div.]

Low side input of U phase

[5V/div.]
Fully turn-on
Low side input of V phase
[5V/div.]

IPM damaged
by high
Over current temperature
DC link current
[5A/div.]

Time [0.5s/div.]

Fig. 1. Waveform of micro controller malfunction Fig. 2. IPM case temperature by over current

An optimized protection function of an IPM at overcurrent is the sleep function. As shown in

Figure 3, new edge input signal is mandatory to activate gate drives after fault duration time.

Input

Neglected On by Neglected On b y
new edge input new edge input
Gate
Output

Over
current
Itrip

VDD
Under-voltage

Fault
output

Fig. 3. Sleep function timing diagram

When over current is happened as shown in Figure 1, fault output is activated to shutdown all
gate drives. After the reset of fault output, full turn-on input signal is neglected by the sleep
function. Therefore, repetitive over current is blocked by the sleep function as shown in
Figure 5.

Fault output Fault output

[5V/div.] [5V/div.]

Input Input
[5V/div.] [5V/div.]

Repetitive over current No repetitive over current

DC link current DC link current

[5A/div.] [5A/div.]

Time [50s/div.] Time [50s/div.]

 

Fig. 4. Waveform without sleep function Fig. 5. Waveform with sleep function

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 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

2.2 Disconnection of 15V power supply

The integrated Driver IC in an IPM offers Under-Voltage Lock Out (UVLO) function to prevent
high conduction loss of the IGBT by low supply voltage. There are two kinds of UVLO for
high side (VBSUV) and low side (VDDUV). When the VDDUV is detected, driver IC is stopped with
fault output. However, when the VBSUV is detected, fault output is not generated. Normally,
driver IC has similar UVLO trigger level for both VBSUV and VDDUV.
High side supply voltage is slightly lower than low side caused by the forward voltage (VF) of
the bootstrap diode. One high side IGBT can be turned off earlier by VBSUV without any fault
output even under the operation of other 5 IGBTs in inverter topology.
Figure 6 shows an unbalance of operation of IPM under disconnection of 15V power supply.
In this case, IPM operates only with charged VDD capacitor. It is gradually discharged until
under-voltage level, and VBSUV is triggered earlier than VDDUV due to VF of bootstrap diode.
Then, IPM is operating under unbalance state due to suddenly turning off of one high side
IGBT by VBSUV. It happens that the loss of specific low side IGBT is increased, and eventually,
IPM is damaged by this unbalanced operation.

VDD [5V/div.] Time[10ms/div.]

Fault Output [2V/div.]

DC link current [10A/div.]

Unbalance
VBSUV triggered Operation

Load current [10A/div.]

Fig. 6. Unbalanced operation (VDDUV = VBSUV)

Condition: VDC=300V, VDD=15V, Ipeak=15A, Rshunt=20m, Tair=25qC, Output freq.=60Hz,
Power factor = 0.99, Switching freq.=5kHz

It is important that each of VBSUV and VDDUV has different value for preventing unbalanced
operation. When VDDUV has higher trigger level than VBSUV, VDDUV will be detected earlier than
VBSUV. It is strongly required to stop driver IC operation. In Figure 7, driver IC is stopped by
VDDUV triggered, and fault output is activated. Also, load current has stable sine wave. That
means IPM is safely turned off without any damages under normal operating. As a result,
higher trigger value of VDDUV than VBSUV is effective solution preventing unbalance operation.

VDD [5V/div.] Time[10ms/div.]

Fault Output [2V/div.]

VDDUV triggered
DC link current [10A/div.]

Stable
turn-off

Load current [10A/div.]

Fig. 7. Normal operation and stable turn-off (VDDUV > VBSUV)

Condition: VDC=300V, VDD=15V, Ipeak=15A, Rshunt=20m, Tair=25qC, Output freq.=60Hz,
Power factor = 0.99, Switching freq.=5kHz

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 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

2.3 Short circuit between adjacent pins of IPM

Short circuit test between adjacent pins during system operation is one of the product liability
tests in home appliances. Specially, short circuit case between Fault Output (VFO) and VDD
pins of IPM has possibility to cause malfunction of entire system. Normally, VDD (15V) is
used for IPM, and 5V bias is used for VFO and micro controller with pull up resistor.
In Figure 8, VFO is connected to 5V through pull-up resistor, and VDD is connected to 15V
directly. When VFO and VDD pins are shorted for the operation of inverter, 5V bias is
connected to 15V through pull-up resistor. Then, VFO is rising to 15V as shown in Figure 9.
IPM itself doesnt take a problem for internal clamp diode between VFO and VDD. It shows
maximum specification range to VDD+0.5V. However, 15V can make over-stress and
damage to micro controller. It is normally designed to use 5V or 3.3V bias. Therefore, there
can be abnormal operation of micro controller in Figure 9, and IPM can be damaged by it as
well.
VDD [5V/div.]
Regulator
VFO is rising SMPS
5V 15V
VDD
up to 15V protection
VFO [5V/div.]

DC link current
Pull-up [20A/div.]
Resistor
IPM
Micro VFO
controller Fa ult
DC link voltage
[100V/div.]
feedback

VSS Abnormal operation

Time[1s/div.]

Fig. 8. Diagram of short circuit test Fig. 9. Short circuit test waveform

In this short circuit test, zener diode in Figure 10 is effectively used for protecting micro
controller and IPM. When zener diode is connected with VFO and VSS, it prevents VFO from
15V rising by zener effect as shown in Figure 11. Therefore, VFO and micro controller
maintain stable voltage without abnormal operation, and also, 5V and 15V bias are fluctuated
by SMPS protection in Figure 11.
VDD [5V/div.]
Regulator Zener prevents SMPS
5V 15V 15V rising protection
VDD VFO [5V/div.]

DC link current
[20A/div.]
Pull-up
Resistor
IPM
Micro VFO
DC link voltage
controller Fa ult [100V/div.] No abnormal operation
feedback Ze ne r
Di ode
VSS Time[1s/div.]

Fig. 10. Zener diode for short circuit test Fig. 11. Waveform of short circuit test with zener
diode
It is required that zener voltage should be lower than VDDUV and higher than 5V. Then, 15V is
decreased below VDDUV by zener diode, and IPM is not operated by under voltage function of
driver IC without any damage.

ISBN 978-3-8007-4186-1 861 VDE VERLAG GMBH Berlin Offenbach

 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

3. Conclusion
There are various protection functions in low power motor drives under the specific transient
conditions. They are very important to guarantee safety of low power motor drive systems. In
this paper, three kinds of transient states are introduced and protection functions for stable
system operation are described. Most of protection features in this paper are constructed for
total system, which can be effectively used to enhance system reliability. Activities for the
improvement of entire system reliability will be kept continuously.

4. Reference
[1] J.Song. J.Lee, D.Chung, B.Suh, Wolfgang.F: A New Intelligent Power Module with
Reverse Conducting IGBTs for up to 2.5kW Motor Drives, IPEC2010, pp.156 158.
[2] EiceDRIVERTM, 6ED family, Application note, Infineon Technologies AG
[3] J.Lee, H.Hyun: Gate Voltage Pattern Analyzer for Short-Circuit Protection in IGBT
Inverters, IEEE PESC, 2007.

ISBN 978-3-8007-4186-1 862 VDE VERLAG GMBH Berlin Offenbach