Influence of the PWM Strategy
on the IGBTs Thermal Behavior in AC Drives
Mikhail Ilyin Fernando Briz
Ogarev Mordovia State University University of Oviedo
Saransk, Russia Oviedo, Spain
imikev@mail.ru fernando@isa.uniovi.es
Maxim Bobrov
Ogarev Mordovia State University
Saransk, Russia
Abstract — This article analyzes the effect of the modulation
strategy on the thermal behavior of the power devices in AC
drives. Excessive temperatures in the Silicon can be prevented by
adequate selection of the switching frequency and modulation
method. Continuous and discontinuous modulation methods will
be considered. The impact of the modulation strategy and
switching frequency on the total harmonic distortion (THD) of
the currents will also be considered, as increased values of the
THD will have adverse effects on the machine, as increased
losses, with the subsequent temperature increase. The
relationship between the semiconductor temperature (which is
not normally measured), and the heat sink temperature (which
can be easily measured) will also be analyzed for the different
modes of operation. Accurate estimation of the semiconductor
temperature will enable advanced, more reliable modes or
operation of the power converter.
Keywords — AC drives, IGBT, powe modules, thermal models,
continous PWM, discontinous PWM.
I. INTRODUCTION
AC electric drives are nowadays the most reliable and
cost-effective method for the bidirectional conversion between
electrical and mechanical energy. An adjustable speed electric
drive includes the electric machine and the frequency
converter, as well as a microcontroller based control system.
Reliable and efficient operation of the electric drives requires
therefore a careful selection of the control and modulation
strategies, considering both machine and power converter
characteristics and constraints, i.e.:
• Loss minimization in power switches by adequate
selection of the switching frequency and switching
strategy [1], [2]. This is needed both to obtain good
efficiency as well as to reduce the thermal stress in the
power devices, including the risk of failure due to
excessive temperature.
• Loss minimization in the electric motor. This involves the
use of adequate control laws, being also influenced by the
selection of the switching frequency and modulation
strategy [3], [4].Especially critical is both for the machine
and for the electronic power converter is the operation at low
speeds or even zero speeds with heavy loads. This mode of
operation produces low-frequency oscillations of the
semiconductor structure. The subsequent thermal cycling
978-1-5090-3474-1/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 4337
Viktoriya Lapshina
Ogarev Mordovia State University
Saransk, Russia
Aleсksey Anuchin
Moscow Power Engineering Institute
Moscow, Russia
stress shortens the lifetime of the IGBT-modules, eventually
reducing the reliability of the electronic power converter and
electric drive as a whole [5]. The use of adequate switching
strategies in this case can help to reduce losses in the power
switches and thereby the thermal stress of power devices.
This article analyzes the effect of the modulation strategy.
as well as the effects of the switching frequency and the
fundamental frequency, on the thermal behavior of the power
devices in AC drives. Both the maximum temperature as well
as the thermal cycles will be considered. The relationship
between the semiconductor temperature and the heat sink
temperature will be also analyzed. Since the semiconductor
temperature is not easy to measure and is not normally
available, its estimation from the (measured) heat sink
temperature can enable the use of more reliable and efficient
modes of operation for the electric drive. The mode of
operation of the power converter (fundamental frequency,
current and modulation strategy), needs to be considered for
this purpose.
The paper is organized as follow. Continuous and
discontinuous modes of operation of three-phase inverters are
briefly reviewed in Section II. Thermal models are presented
in Section III. Preliminary simulation results are presented in
Section IV. Integration of thermal monitoring in the drive
control is discussed in Section V. Conclusions are presented in
Section VI.
II. PULSE WITH MODULATION IN THREE-PHASE
DC/AC POWER CONVERTERS
Pulse width modulation (PWM) is widely used to control
the power switches in three-phase DC/AC frequency
converters. PWM methods can be divided into two major
groups: continuous PWM (CPWM) and discontinuous PWM
(DPWM) [4], [14]. CPWM and DPWM produce the same
fundamental voltage, the difference among the different
strategies being in the zero voltage component that is added to
the phase voltages. It is also noted that the same PWM pattern
applied to the inverter can be obtained using either sine-
triangle modulation and space vector modulation (SVM).
Sine-triangle modulation will be used hereafter.
 a) CPWM b) DPWM
Fig. 2. CPWM and DPWM simulation results. Phases currents (top) and
voltages (bottom) using a) CPWM and b) DPWM
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of a vector controlled AC drive

In CPWM methods, all the three phases have two 0

10
commutations every switching period, assumed that the

(A)
-2
inverter is not operating in the overmodulation region. 10

CPWM methods normally use zero voltage injection to fully -4

10
use the available DC link voltage. For the case of sinusoidal -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
voltage commands, the zero sequence voltage results in triplen
harmonics injection, and allows an increase the amplitude of 0
10
the fundament voltage harmonic of 13%.
(A)
-2
10
In DPWM methods, only two out of the three phases -4
commutate during each switching period. This is achieved by 10
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
clamping one of the phase voltage to either the positive or the frequency (kHz)
negative of the DC link [4]. The advantage of using DPWM is
Fig. 3. Frequency spectrum of the current vector for the case of CPWM (top)
that since only two out of the three phases switch, switching and DPWM (bottom), for a switching frequency of 2 kHz.
losses are reduced by 33% compared to CPWM. This results
in lower operating temperatures and increased efficiency of
the power devices. The main drawback of DPWM is the
increased current ripple, which can produce torque ripple,
acoustic noise and extra losses in the machine.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of an electric drive
using a permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM),
including the power devices, machine, PWM and current
regulation. Fig. 2 shows and example of the commanded
voltages and resulting currents in steady state for the case of
CPWM and DPWM. The differences in the phase voltages
due to the different strategies used for the selection of the zero
sequence voltage are evident. However, in both cases, the
fundamental component of the voltage is the same, the current
being controlled to be perfectly sinusoidal, which is required
by the vector control to produce smooth torque in the machine.
Differences in the high frequency ripple of the currents due to
the modulation strategy are however readily visible in Fig. 2- Fig. 4. Simulation model of the three-phase inverter
bottom. Fig. 3a shows the frequency spectrum of the current
complex vector for the case of CPWM and DPWM. The The effect of the mode of operation of the inverter on the
switching frequency was 2 kHz. The increase of the harmonic thermal behavior of the power devices in an AC electric drive
content of the currents is evident, which results in an increase using a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) will
of the total harmonic distortion (THD). As already mentioned, be studied using simulation software PSIM. Fig. 4 shows the
increase of the THD will result in an increased torque ripple, model of the three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) using
acoustic noise and extra losses, with the subsequent IGBTs. IGBT-module model was taken from PSIM «thermal
temperature increase in the machine. The following sections module» library, they are discussed in detail in Section III.
investigate the effect of the different modulation strategies and The VSI input voltage is supplied by a DC voltage source, the
switching frequency on the thermal behavior of the power DC link voltage being 500 V. The implemented control is as
switches, as well as on the current quality. shown in Fig. 1.

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Fig. 5. IGBT model from library «Thermal Module». Additional terminals are
as follows: Q1Pc – Conduction losses for the transistor; Q1Psw – switching
losses for the transistor; D1Pc – conduction losses of the diode; D1Psw –
switching losses for the diode.
Fig. 6. Thermal model of the power module. Resistors Rthjc_Q и Rthjc_D
account for the thermal resistance junction-case for the transistor and diode,
respectively. Capacitors CQ and CD account for to the heat capacity of the
transistor and diode crystals respectively
Fig. 7. Thermal model of the power module case and heat sink. Rthcs and
Rthsa are the thermal resistance between case and heat sink, and heat sink and
ambient respectively. Cc and C_hs are the heat capacity of the power module
base metal and heat sink respectively
III. THERMAL MODEL
Evaluation of the IGBTs thermal stress is a key aspect in
the development of electronic power converters, as the
reliability of the converter is largely determined by thermal
issues. In addition to the maximum temperature of the Silicon,
thermal cycles (i.e. periodic changes of the temperature)
produce thermal stress and must therefore be considered.
A number of temperature estimation methods have been
proposed [6]-[12]. A widely accepted approach to evaluate
the thermal behavior is the electro-thermal analogy method
[6]. The main advantage of this method is that it allows to
investigate the thermal behavior of the power devices in
parallel with their electrical operation and using the same
circuit simulation program. PSIM software will be used
therefore for this purpose. Circuit simulation software PSIM
has in its libraries a «thermal module» which can generate
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temperature-dependent elements based on data sheets of actual
components.
The power module that will be later used for the
experimental verification is the PS22A78-E IGBT-module. It
includes six IGBTs and six free-wheeling diodes, as well as
the corresponding drivers. The thermal model includes
separate models for each transistor-diode pair, being therefore
possible to analyze the thermal processes in each module
power device separately. Fig. 5 shows the schematic
representation of the power module model accounting for a
discrete IGBT and antiparallel diode. In addition to its
electrical terminals, the model provides four additional outputs
regarding the transistor and diode conduction and switching
losses (see Fig. 5 caption). According to the electro-thermal
analogy, power losses are represented as currents. IGBT
model output currents are then transmitted to a thermal model
of the power module structure and heat sink. The thermal
model of the power module is divided into two parts. The first
accounts for the power module semiconductor elements, the
second for the thermal model of the power module case and
heat sink. Fig. 6 shows thermal model of the power module
elements, which correspond to the transistor and diode chip
thermal analogues. Resistor and a capacitor for each model
account for the chip thermal resistance in the direction of heat
flow and its heat-sink capacity respectively. Rthjc_Q and
Rthjc_D correspond to the junction-to-case thermal resistance
for transistor and diode respectively, which are provided by
the power module manufacturer in the datasheet. The values
of the capacitors are determined based on the geometric
dimensions of the diode and transistor chips and their thermal
properties.
A thermal model as the one shown in Fig. 6 is used for
each transistor-diode set in the power module. The output
from this set is connected to the terminal Tc, through which
the current flows to the next element of the thermal model,
which accounts for the properties of the power module and
heat sink. This is shown in Fig. 7. Currents in Fig. 6 and 7
account for power losses, while voltages account for the
temperature of each element.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
Preliminary analysis of the influence of the modulation
strategy on the thermal behavior of the power devices has
been realized using the models described in the previous
section. In all the cases the motor operates with a constant
torque of 10 Nm. Both CPWM and DPWM have been tested
for the comparative analysis. Three different switching
frequencies of 2 kHz, 5 kHz and 10 kHz have been used, the
fundamental frequency being varied from 0.1 Hz (vey low
speed) up to 50 Hz (rated speed).
Fig. 8 and 9 shows the results of the electro-thermal
simulation using both CPWM and DPWM strategies, for the
case of a fundamental frequency of 0.1 Hz and 50 Hz
respectively. In both cases, the PWM frequency was 10 kHz.
The phase voltage command, phase current and transistors and
diodes temperatures are shown in all the cases.
 As can be seen from Fig. 8 and 9, the thermal behavior for
the case of DPWM shows a significant improvement
compared to the CPWM, with a decrease of the maximum
temperature of the crystal of ≈20%.
The time scales in Fig. 8 and 9 where chosen to visualize
the temperature oscillations due to the AC nature of the phase
currents. It is noted however that a significantly larger time
span is needed to evaluate the long term thermal behavior
associated with the heat sink. Fig. 10 shows the temperature of
the crystal, case and heat sink, using continuous and
discontinuous modulation, when the simulation spans over 300
s. Table I shows the maximum, average and peak-to-peak
temperatures in the transistors for the different operating modes.
Though not shown in the table, the thermal behavior of the
a) CPWM b) DPWM diodes is similar as for the transistors. Large values of the
Fig. 8. Simulation results. Phase voltage command (top), phase current (mid) maximum temperature can damage the crystal. On the other
and semiconductors temperature (bottom) for the case of a) continuous hand, large peak-to-peak temperatures can reduce the lifetime
modulation and b) discontinuous modulation, for a fundamental frequency of due to thermal cycling stress. It is concluded from Fig. 10 and
0.1 Hz. Tj_Q1, Tj_Q2 and Tj_D1, Tj_D2 are the top and bottom transistors Table I that DPWM is advantageous from a thermal
and diodes temperature for phase A respectively.
perspective. However, DPWM will have an adverse impact on
the current harmonic content, as shown in Fig. 3. The THD
provides a reliable metric of the current quality. Fig. 11 shows
the THD of the current, as well as the maximum, peak-to-peak
and average temperatures, as a function of the switching
frequency. The results comprise both CPWM and DPWM for
different values of the fundamental frequency. The following
conclusions are reached from Table I and Fig. 8 to Fig. 11:
1. It is readily seen comparing Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 (bottom), as
well as from the results shown in Fig. 11, that the peak-to-
peak temperature increases as the fundamental frequency
decreases. This is true both for CPWM and DPWM.
Thermal cycling stress of the power devices can be
therefore a major concern for electric drives which
operate at very low speed or zero speed with heavy loads
a) CPWM b) DPWM for long periods of time.
Fig. 9. Same results as in Fig. 8 for a fundamental frequency of 50 Hz. 2. It is observed from Fig. 11 that using the DPWM strategy,
the temperatures are in all the cases lower than for
CPWM. This result was expected due to the reduced the
switching losses with this strategy.
3. Increasing the switching frequency improves the quality
of the output current for both PWM strategies. A quite
rapid decline of the THD is observed (see Fig. 11) when
the frequency increases up to 5 kHz, the improvement for
frequencies above 5 kHz being modest. The THD is seen
to increase with the fundamental frequency. In all the
cases, the THD is larger for DPWM compared to CPWM.
a) CPWM b) DPWM Larger values of the THD will have an adverse impact in
Fig. 10. Crystal temperature Tj_Q1, case temperature Tc and heat sink
the machine, which need to be considered.
temperature T_hs for the case of a) CPWM and b) DPWM. 4. It is also observed from Fig. 11 that for both PWM
methods, all temperature indicators increase nearly
TABLE I. SEMICONDUCTOR TEMPERATURE
linearly with the switching frequency. In all the cases, the
PWM CPWM DPWM temperature is smaller for DPWM compared to CPWM.
Tj max, Tj p-p, Tj AV, Tj max, Tj p-p, Tj AV, 5. The variation of temperature with the fundamental
fi load, Hz 0
C 0
C 0
C 0
C 0
C 0
C frequency in Fig. 11 does not follow a well defined pattern.
0.1 50.4 14.2 40.3 42.7 10.3 35.1 Tjmax and Tjp-p decreases as the fundamental frequency
50 40 1.8 39.1 35 1.2 34.3
increases, while the opposite behavior is observed for

4340
 a)
va ref
φ = 0°

b)
va ref
φ = 15°

c)
va ref
φ = 30°

d)
va ref
φ = 45°

e)
va ref
φ = 60°

f)
ia

a) CPWM b) DPWM
Fig. 11. Phase current THD and thermal behavior of the crystal for different
values of the fundamental frequency, as a function of the switching frequency
for the case of a) CPWM and b) DPWM. Tjmax, Tjp-p, TjAV account for the
maximum, peak-to-peak and average value of the crystal temperature
TjAV. Overall, however, Tjmax and TjAV are less
affected by the fundamental frequency than by the
switching frequency. On the contrary, Tjp-p strongly
depends on the fundamental frequency, showing a weak
dependence with the switching frequency.
All the results shown so far used a constant angle for
DPWM. DPWM methods clamp each phase voltage to the DC
link voltage over 60 electrical degrees. However, it is up to the
designer to decide the location of those 60º during the 120º in
which each phase voltage has the largest or the smallest value
[4]. Fig. 12-a to e show the phase voltage command for
different values of the angle φ. Minimizing the switching losses
advises to select φ such that each the phase voltage is clamped
when the current in that phase is at its maximum or minimum.
Fig. 12-f shows the current, clamping the phase carrying the
largest current will be achieved by selecting φ=30º (Fig. 12-c).
Fig. 13 shows the THD, as well as the maximum, peak-
to-peak and average temperature of the silicon, as a function
of the angle φ. As expected, all the temperature indicators are
minimized for φ=30º. It is interesting to in this regard that the
Fig. 12. Reference voltage with DPWM for different values of the angle φ.
φ=0 corresponds to the angle at which each phase voltage becomes selectable
to be clamped.
THD of the currents also reaches its minimum for the same
value of φ. This result is important, as it implies that adequate
selection of the angle φ to clamp the phase carrying the larges
current, simultaneously minimizes all the temperature
indicators and THD of the currents, i.e. it is beneficial both for
the power converter and for the machine.
V. VECTOR CONTROL WITH INTEGRATED
TEMPERATURE MONITORING
The results shown in the previous sections have illustrated
the effects of the modulation strategy and the operating point
of the machine on the silicon temperature and on the currents
quality. Unfortunately, direct measurement of silicon
temperature [13] is not advisable or even viable in industrial
drives, estimation methods must be used instead [15], [16].
The results shown in Fig. 10 indicate a good correlation
between the (non-measurable) silicon and the (measurable)
heat sink temperature. It is also seen in Fig. 11 that precise
estimation of the silicon temperature requires to consider the
mode of operation of the inverter.

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 a)
THD
b)
Tj MAX
c)
Tj P-P
d)
Tj AVE
Fig. 13. a) Current THD, b) maximum, c) peak-to-peak and c) average
temperature of the silicon, as a function of the angle φ
Fig. 14. Vector control with integrated temperature monitoring.
It is finally noted that in electric drives, not only the silicon
temperature, but also the machine temperature needs to be
monitored. E.g. excessive losses in PM machines due to an
increased THD in the currents can produce demagnetization of
the magnets [17]. Therefore, combined use of silicon and
machine temperature estimations would be highly desirable to
improve the reliability and life expectance of the drive. A
potential implementation is shown in Fig. 14. The motor frame
and heat sink temperatures are measured, which combined
with the information of the operating mode of the machine,
allows the estimation of silicon and magnets temperatures.
The estimated temperatures can be used then to reconfigure
the control if excessive heating is detected. The control
strategy shown in Fig. 14 is currently under development.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The effect of the modulation strategy in three-phase AC
drives on the thermal behavior of the power devices has been
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analyzed in this paper. DPWM reduce the switching losses
compared to CPWM methods, semiconductor temperature can
be decreased using DPWM by more than 10ºC. However,
DPWM results in an increased THD of the currents, adversely
impacting the machine temperature. The influence of the
switching frequency and the fundamental frequency on the
thermal behavior of the Silicon has also been analyzed, the
first mainly affecting to the maximum temperature, the second
to the thermal cycling temperature. The temperature
oscillation of the semiconductor for AC drives operating a low
speeds can reach peak-to-peak values >15ºC, thermal cycling
stress being a concern in this case. Combined use of the
silicon and machine temperature monitoring will be key to
improve the reliability and life expectance of the electric drive.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research was performed with the support of the
Russian Science Foundation grant (project 15-19-20057).
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