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Circuit Diagram/ Block Diagram of IGBT tester

R

raju

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am a student of Electrical & Electronics Engg. I have been given
"IGBT Tester" as my final year project at SIEMENS. I needed some
information on how to exactly an IGBT is tested. It would be of great
help if anyone could explain me the working of an "IGBT tester"
preferably with a block diagram.
 
F

Frank Bemelman

Jan 1, 1970
0
raju said:
I am a student of Electrical & Electronics Engg. I have been given
"IGBT Tester" as my final year project at SIEMENS. I needed some
information on how to exactly an IGBT is tested. It would be of great
help if anyone could explain me the working of an "IGBT tester"
preferably with a block diagram.

Depends on what you want to test. It could be as simple as a 9V battery,
a pushbutton, two resistors and a led.

I would start looking at various datasheets, see what looks as the
most interesting aspects of a IGBT, and then decide what needs to
be tested/measured/verified and estimate what can be done in the
time available for this project.

If you need inspiration, here's what seems a nice tester:

http://www.lemsys.com/FicheTRD2030-2.html

;-)
 
T

Tim Auton

Jan 1, 1970
0
Dr. Anton Squeegee said:
I don't know how they do education in India, but the usual process
in the States is that students are expected to do their own homework.

Without ever asking anybody for help? Do they even let you read books?

He said it was a final year project, he's going to have to do a whole
lot more work whatever help he gets here. A few usenet posts don't
make a final year project.


Tim
 
W

Watson A.Name - Watt Sun, Dark Remover

Jan 1, 1970
0
Depends on what you want to test. It could be as simple as a 9V battery,
a pushbutton, two resistors and a led.

Yeah, but let's be fair. These IGBTs are usually heavy duty, high
current devices. A serious test is going to need a bit more current
than a 9V battery can supply. OTOH, if the pulse duty cycle is very
low, it might be possible. But the gate driving circuitry is probably
going to need more than a 9V battery.
I would start looking at various datasheets, see what looks as the
most interesting aspects of a IGBT, and then decide what needs to
be tested/measured/verified and estimate what can be done in the
time available for this project.

If you need inspiration, here's what seems a nice tester:

http://www.lemsys.com/FicheTRD2030-2.html

Jeez, 3000V at 2000 A (cough-cough!) Requires 230VAC at 16A! Just
the shipping alone will cost a whole lotta money! Whew!

Like, here's a piece of equipment that takes more juice than the whole
average home uses. Nice to plan ahead to make sure you can afford the
electric bill. Remember those Startrek episodes where they had to
make a choice between weapons and life support? Cap'n says Fire! and
we hear the 'PLOINK!' in the background and all the lights go dim.
COOL! Just testing another IGBT..


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W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover wrote...
bemelmanx mentioned...

Yeah, but let's be fair. These IGBTs are usually heavy duty, high
current devices. A serious test is going to need a bit more current
than a 9V battery can supply. OTOH, if the pulse duty cycle is very
low, it might be possible. But the gate driving circuitry is probably
going to need more than a 9V battery.


Jeez, 3000V at 2000 A (cough-cough!) Requires 230VAC at 16A! Just
the shipping alone will cost a whole lotta money! Whew!

Like, here's a piece of equipment that takes more juice than the whole
average home uses. Nice to plan ahead to make sure you can afford the
electric bill. Remember those Startrek episodes where they had to
make a choice between weapons and life support? Cap'n says Fire! and
we hear the 'PLOINK!' in the background and all the lights go dim.
COOL! Just testing another IGBT..

Yes, an enjoyable scene to contemplate. But reality is a bit more
prosaic for these devices: banks of electrolytic capacitors charged
at leisure (230Vac at 16A is under 4kW - probably on the order of my
home HVAC), then operate at the rated voltage and current (6MW) for
a few milliseconds for the measurements. I made a 1.2kV 200A pulse
generator (0.25MW, 5ms) in a 7" relay-rack box, and it was half empty.
Although Lemsys' 6MW capability is 25x higher, it's not necessary for
Raju to get into that territory. He could make something on the same
size order as my box, big enough to test IGBTs up to TO-247 case size.

Thanks,
- Win

whill_at_picovolt-dot-com
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
Winfield Hill wrote...
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover wrote...

Yes, an enjoyable scene to contemplate. But reality is a bit more
prosaic for these devices: banks of electrolytic capacitors charged
at leisure (230Vac at 16A is under 4kW - probably on the order of my
home HVAC), then operate at the rated voltage and current (6MW) for
a few milliseconds for the measurements. I made a 1.2kV 200A pulse
generator (0.25MW, 5ms) in a 7" relay-rack box, and it was half empty.
Although Lemsys' 6MW capability is 25x higher, it's not necessary for
Raju to get into that territory. He could make something on the same
size order as my box, big enough to test IGBTs up to TO-247 case size.

Just an added thought. One must pick an reasonable scale and then be
satisfied with that. In the high-power engineering field someone,
someplace is always making, or already has made something bigger.

For example, consider the impressive 6MW rating of the Lemsys tester
mentioned above. Yet it's a real wimp, completely unable to handle
the 400MW capability of a single Dynix PT85QWx45 5" SCR puck (4.5kV
90kA peak), http://www.dynexsemi.com/products/pulse_power/index.htm
And if one were to design a tester capable handling the PT85QWx45,
then how about testing an array of these beasts, say as required for
a STATCOM (static reactive comnpensation) installation in a typical
utility transmission line? Should such a tester be devised, it'd be
completely unable to handle the serious testing requirements of DC
high-voltage transmission-line converters. So on and so forth.

Hmm, perhaps Raju can satisfy himself with testing small IGBTs, say
up to 600V 5A (130A max) parts; thaht's a more managable 80kW max.
There's quite a selection of cute little so-8 guys with this rating
intended for the huge flourescent ballast market, like Fairchild's
FGS15N40L, see http://www.fairchildsemi.com/pf/FG/FGS15N40L.html

Thanks,
- Win

whill_at_picovolt-dot-com
 
C

CWatters

Jan 1, 1970
0
Try contacting an IGBT manufacturer. Ask if you can come and see them test
some IGBT. Tell them you are a keen student and they might even fund the
trip!
 
C

CWatters

Jan 1, 1970
0
I don't know how they do education in India, but the usual process
in the States is that students are expected to do their own homework.

Oh you've got it all wrong. These days nobody can know everything and it's
more important to show you know where and how to get answers quickly than to
re-invent the wheel.

When I was in the air cadets (20 years ago) we stayed on an airbase for a
week. The staff decided to set us an exercise.... we had to make a map of
the base, then pretend we were terrorists and mark on it where we would
place 3 devices to best "take out the base". Not wishing to walk miles in
the rain our team went to the guard house and asked for a map. The person on
duty gave us a photocopy that showed just the outlines of the buildings and
not what was in them... so we told him we were "terrorists" and he helped
fill in the blanks and told us where to place our devices.... "Those three
blocks are the hangers" he said "..but only that one has any aircraft in
it". We were job done in 10 mins while the other groups got a soaking.
 
C

Colin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello,

You could do some reading at IXYS website, look them up. They have PDF
files on IGBTs' and MOSFET's and how to drive them, it could be useful to
you.

A "curve tracer" has been traditionally used to test semiconductors in
operation. they have selectable voltages and currents for the gate circuit
and the power supply, I'm sure a curve tracer could drive a low powered
IGBT with the proper gate voltage. They do a dynamic test where the gate is
stepped with increasing voltage or current and the CRT display shows the
response of the device under test. There have been projects and even kits
at one time to build one of these. The simple ones uses an oscilloscope,
ch1 and ch2 inputs are set to X-Y mode and the curve tracer plugs into them,
then connect the component to test and set the dials. The master power dial
is a power supply voltage control, usually up to 80 volts I've seen.

I've also seen a light dimmer modified with test leads brought out from the
triac connections to test different triacs. This simple tester tests triacs
in all polarities. A full dynamic test.

I hope these help,

Shaun
 
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