Lifetime Extension by Varying Switching Frequency

of Inverters Based on Junction Temperature

Estimation

Araz Saleki Saman Rezazade

Department of Electrical Engineering, K.N.Toosi University Department of Electrical Engineering, Shahid Beheshti
of Technology University
Tehran, Iran Tehran, Iran
[email protected] [email protected]

Mahmudreza Changizian Mohammad Tavakoli Bina

Department of Electrical Engineering, K.N.Toosi University Department of Electrical Engineering, K.N.Toosi University
of Technology of Technology
Tehran, Iran Tehran, Iran
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— In this paper, a new variable switching frequency prevent over-temperature of the IGBT modules in a power
algorithm is proposed in which the switching frequency is varied converter, especially when the power converter experiences a
in response to the variation in the operating conditions. The transient load [6],[7]. Research has shown that more than 50%
proposed algorithm is based on online junction temperature of power device malfunctions are due to the excessive junction
estimation. The proposed estimation model is based on Foster- temperature (Tj), and the rate of malfunction doubles for every
type and power loss calculations for PWM IGBT inverter system. 10°C Tj rises [8]. If this temperature limitation is exceeded, the
The proposed variable switching frequency algorithm can semiconductor device will suffer from thermal instability or
decrease power losses and so increase the efficiency of the wire bond deterioration. In order to restrict junction
inverter without deteriorating the harmonic performance
temperature within its limitation, it is necessary to monitor the
Moreover, the lifetime of the inverter can be increased due to the
junction temperature during semiconductor devices operations.
narrower junction temperature profile that can be achieved by
this algorithm when compared to the fixed switching frequency Since junction temperature responds to fault current, the proper
counterpart. protection can be made with the estimated junction
temperature. For estimation junction temperature are many
Keywords—Power Loss, Junction Temperature, Variable models, such as Foster-type, Cauer-type, sensor contact-based,
Switching Frequency, Foster Algorithm, Thermal Modeling optical-based, Numerical methods and etc [9].
A commonly used thermal model is the Foster-type whose
I. INTRODUCTION total complex impedance is a sum of the first-order transfer
Power converter is important component in the many functions of all thermal resistor-capacitor pairs. The values of
applications such as renewable energy, hybrid electric vehicle, the thermal resistor-capacitor pairs are typically determined by
drive traction and etc. however, one of the most vulnerable fitting a Foster-type to the thermal impedance curves of an
components is power converter. Power converters have many IGBT module [10]. Another frequently used thermal model is
types switches. Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are the Cauer-type in which the impedances (resistors and
now the main components in most power electronic systems, capacitors) can have physical meanings. The Cauer-type is
playing a key role in delivering flexible control of electric usually built based on the lumped capacitance model, in which
energy and efficient power conversion [1]. Meanwhile each layer of the IGBT module is treated as a lump with
temperature is the predominant source of stresses causing uniformly distributed temperature [10]. Thermocouple,
module fatigue and has the most significant impact on thermistor and built-in diode are classical sensor contact-based
reliability [2]. Most of the applications are required to operate solutions. Thermocouple and thermistor are limited because
at high junction temperature due to the challenging thermal direct contact to dies is blocked by module package and
environment and the aggressive power density [3],[4]. insulated material. They are also limited because of small
Estimation junction temperature is the crucial information for dynamic range and slow response time [11],[12]. The optical-
effective thermal management of IGBT modules to ensure their based method cannot obtain satisfied accuracy unless remove
safe operation [5]. In such a circumstance, accurate real-time the case of IGBT module and paint the open module with a low
junction temperature estimation is of substantial importance to heat conductivity black material.
 Numerical methods, such as 3D finite element analysis In the above equations, RCE (on) is the on state resistance of
(FEA), could have good transient performance. However, they the IGBT.
are computationally intensive and, therefore, are not suitable
for real-time temperature estimation [12]. It is known that the Switching losses depends the DC link voltage, the junction
junction temperature, which describes the temperature inside temperature, the switching frequency, the load current and
the switches, is closely related to the lifetime of power electric load type. To calculate switching losses should be used
switching devices. the following equations and turn off and turn on curves. (Fig. 2
and Fig. 3). In Fig. 4, Eon represents the energy dissipation of
In this paper, junction temperature estimation of IGBT the switch during turn on, Eoff indicates the energy dissipation
module is proposed. Based on this study, Tj is important for of the switch during turn off and Err also indicates the energy
IGBT lifetime. For estimation is used from Foster-type technic. dissipation at diode [13].
Power losses of IGBT Module include power loss of IGBT and
Eon  Eoff
Power loss of Diode that it is used in the Foster-type Technique Psw   fsw .  E on  E off  (2)
until Tj is reached. Tj is compared with Tjmax at specific t diss
frequency. If Tj is larger than Tjmax, switching frequency
changes until Tj is lower than Tjmax. This algorithm presented as The total losses are obtained from (3).
flowchart for selected switching frequency. Power loss
TJ  TC
calculation is presented in section II. Power loss of two level PTtotal  Psw  PCond  (3)
inverter is presented in section III. Thermal modeling is R JC
presented in section IV. Maximum junction temperature
calculation is presented in section V. Variable switching B. Power Dissipation in Diode
frequency is presented section VI. Finally, result of simulation
Since it only accounts for a minor share of the total power
is presented in section VII.
dissipation, reverse blocking power dissipation may also be
neglected in this case. The same constraints apply as for IGBT.
II. CALCULATION OF POWER LOSSES Schottky diodes might be an exception here owing to their
In power electronics, both IGBT and diodes are operated as high-temperature blocking currents. Turn-on power dissipation
switches, taking on various static and dynamic states in cycles. is caused by the forward recovery process.
In the operation of the switch, two dynamic and static modes Total Power
can be considered that each of the above states has a power loss Losses
and therefore increases the temperature of the semiconductor,
which increases the temperature causing an increase in losses. Static Losses Driving Losses Switching Losses
As illustrated in Fig. 1 Power losses are divided into three
categories, each of which is divided into two sections, called
static and switching losses. According to this flowchart, static On-State Losses Blocking Losses Turn-on Losses Turn-off Losses
power losses are divided into two categories of on-state losses
and blocking losses. Switching losses are also related to turn- Fig. 1. Individual Powe Losses of Power Modules used as switches
on losses and turn-off losses. The losses not only depend on the
device technology but also varies with modulation technique
employed, be it either pulse width modulation or space vector
modulation. In order to estimate the conduction losses in the
IGBT and diode accurately, individual IGBT and diode
currents and turn on voltages must be determined [8],[14].

A. Power Dissipation in IGBT

In normal applications, the driver losses and forward
blocking losses can be neglected. But in high voltage
applications (>1kV) and high operating temperatures (>150°C),
blocking losses are of particular importance and cannot be
neglected. IGBT losses are divided into two types of Fig. 2. Power losses during Turning on times
conductivity losses (Pcond(T)) and switching losses (Pon and Poff).
Each of them depends on: On-state power dissipation (Pcond(T))
is dependent on the load current, the junction temperature and
the duty cycles. According to the collector current
characteristic (IC) to the on state voltage dropping (VCE(on)), for
conducting losses calculation, the following equations can be
used [13].
VCE(on)  IC .R CE(on)  VCE0
(1)
PCond  VCE(on) .IC  IC2 .R CE(on)  VCE0 .I C
Fig. 3. Power losses during Turning off times
 IV. THERMAL MODELING
When operating the power device contained in IGBT and
intelligent power modules will have conduction and switching
power losses. The heat generated as a result of these losses
must be conducted away from the power chips and in to the
environment using a heat sink [16]. If an appropriate thermal
system is not used the power device will overheat which could
result in failure. In many applications the maximum useable
power output of module will be limited by the system thermal
design. So it is very important to design very accurate system
for getting maximum output from the device [16],[17].
The Foster model is used in this paper, which describes the
Fig. 4. Energy Disipation of Switches
thermal behavior as “black box”.(Fig. 5) The calculation of
junction temperatures is based on simplified thermal equivalent
On-state power dissipation (Pcond(D)) is dependent on the
circuit diagrams in which three-dimensional structures are
load current, the junction temperature and the duty cycles.
mapped to one-dimensional models. This will inevitably result
Reverse recovery power losses (Prr) is dependent on the DC
in errors, since thermal connections between different
link voltage, the junction temperature, the duty cycles [9],[15].
components inside one housing or on one heatsink are
The total losses are obtained from (4). dependent on time as well as on the electric operating point of
the components.
Ptot(D)  Pcond(D)  Prr (4)
After losses have been calculated, temperatures during
stationary operation can be calculated with the aid of the
C. Power Dissipation in Module thermal resistances Rth (= final value of the Zth curves).
The total losses of a module Ptot(M) are obtained by Temperature calculation is performed starting with the ambient
multiplying the individual losses with the number of switches n temperature from the outside to the inside [18].
integrated in the module [10].
Flowcharts of estimation junction temperature as shown in

Ptot(M)  n. Ptot(T)  Ptot(D)  (5) Fig. 6 that it has four steps. At first, Parameters required are
obtained and so Ta is calculated. Then Ta is used to compute T s
as well as Tc is obtained by Ts. Finally, Tj and P(Tj) are
III. POWER LOSS IN TWO LEVEL INVERTER calculated. These steps are repeated continuously for estimate
junction temperature because user needs to realize Tj [19],[20].
According to the conventional approach, a Vref sinusoidal
voltage is compared with a triangular voltage Vh. As can be
seen, the reference voltage frequency is the same as the output +
voltage and the frequency of the triangular wave is equal to the P
switching frequency. On the inverter, unlike DC converters
with fixed duty cycle, switching losses vary with time and are
not constant. Hence, power losses are calculated as the
following process variable with time. Zth(j-c) Rth(j-c) Cth(j-c) Tj= Rth(j-c).P + TC
Transistor Power losses:

 1 m.cos    1 m.cos  
^ ^ 2
Pcond(T)     .VCE0 (Tj ).I1   8  3  .R CE (Tj ).I1
 2 8    Zth(c-s) Rth(c-s) Cth(c-s) TC= Rth(c-s).P + TS
Kv
2 Iout  Vcc  (6)
PSW(T)  fsw .E on  off . . . 
 Iref  Vref 

. 1  TCEsw .(Tj  Tref ) 
Ptot(T)  n .(Pcond(T)  PSW(T) )
Zth(s-a) Rth(s-a) Cth(s-a) TS= Rth(s-a).P + Ta
Diode Power losses:
+
 1 m.cos    1 m.cos  
^ ^ 2
Pcond(D)     .VF0 (Tj ).I1     .R F (Tj ).I1
 2 8  8 3 
K Kv
2  Iout   Vcc 
i
(7)
PSW(D)  fsw .E rr . .  . 
  Iref   Vref 

. 1  TCErr .(Tj  Tref )  0ºC

Ptot(D)  n .(Pcond(D)  PSW(D) )

Fig. 5. Thermal Modeling of IGBT Module
 V. MAXIMUM JUNCTION TEMPERATURE CALCULATION
The loss calculation yields average losses over one output
cycle. In fact, the losses per switch only occur during one half-
period and during the alternate half period. It is the
complementary switch which produces losses.
The maximum junction temperature Tjmax, as a function of the
phase output-current frequency fO, can be calculated if the
transient thermal resistance is known:
1
n 2.fo . i
1 e
Tjmax  2.Pav . Ri 1
i 1
 Tref (8)
Fig. 7. Junction temperature as a function of f O

fo . i
1 e
With Tref as the reference heat sink temperature, Th for
base-less modules or case temperature Tc for based modules.
As can be seen in Fig. 7, as the inverter output frequency
decreases, the maximum junction temperature increases as
shown in formula (8) the rise of junction temperature is due to
the fact that with output frequency decreasing, junction
temperature will increase, and the current passing through the
switching period is much higher than the low frequency. The
difference in switching signals at two frequencies of 2Hz and
50Hz at the same switching frequency is given in Fig. 7.
Fig. 8. Diffrence of duty cycle of different output frequency (Up 2Hz , down
VI. VARIABLE SWITCHING FREQUENCY 50Hz)

The switching frequency of the PWM inverter is usually

selected at the rated operating conditions. In this section a Start
variable switching frequency is proposed in which the
switching frequency is varying in response to the variation in
the operating conditions [21]. At each operating condition, the Initial Value for Switching
Frequency (maximum)
value of the junction temperature varies. For grid-connected
inverters the main concern is the quality of the injected current
which is indicated by the THD. When the value of the junction
temperature is low, there is a space to increase the switching Initial Value for Junction
Temperature
frequency in order to reduce the THD. Also, when the value of
the junction temperature is high the switching frequency can be
reduced on the expense of increasing the THD in such a way For i=1:n No
that a tradeoff between junction temperature and THD is Calculation of Value for Power loss & Junction
achieved. This process is shown in Fig. 9 . Temperature

k = k+1
Ts = Rth(s-a)
.∑Px(Tj(k-1)) + Ta
Tj < Tjmax

P(Tj(k)) =
Tc(k) = Rth(c-s) Yes
Pcond(Tj(k)) +
.P(Tc(k-1)) + Ts
Psw(Tj(k))
Optimum Switching Frequency is
Set to fsw
Tj(k) = Rth(j-c)
.P(Tj(k-1)) + Tc

End

Fig. 6. Flowchart of Junction Temperature Estimation Method

Fig. 9. Variable Switching Frequency Algorithm
 VII. SIMULATIONS
In this section, simulation study is performed for an IGBT
module. The characteristic of each module in the calculation of
losses and as a result is directly affected by the junction
temperature. Therefore, with the procedure suggested in this
paper, the junction temperature of each module can be
estimated in the two-level inverter. Also, with the change of the
modules, the optimal switching frequency changes at any point.
Therefore, selecting the switch according to the need for a
suitable choice should be made so that the converter operates in
the best possible way. The converter studied in this paper is a
100kW two-level inverter that switches characteristics are
given in TABLE I. Simulations are performed for different
load currents. This simulation is done in the MATLAB Fig. 10. Optimal Switching Frequency
software. In this study, the current value rises from 10A to
350A. Also, the power factor in this scenario is 0.85.
According to the modulation index 0.9 losses are calculated
online with the instantaneous feedback of the voltage and
current passing through the switches, and then the Foster
algorithm calculates the junction temperature of the switches.
By calculating junction temperature of the switches and
considering that the maximum tolerated temperature of the
selected switch is 150°C, the permissible limit in this
simulation is determined with regard to the reliability assumed
120°C. Also, the dc link voltage is considered 650V in this
converter, and with a reliability of 0.8, the selected switch is
within 900V and hence, given that the 1200V switches in this
voltage range are generally Therefore, these switches are used. Fig. 11. Relation of Switching frequency vs Power loss at (Vdc = 650V, I =
300A)
As shown in Fig. 10, the switching frequency is set to a
maximum value for currents less than 170A. With increasing
load current, the switching frequency is set to its maximum
value at any operating point. This maximum value is set with
respect to the junction temperature limitation of the switch so
that at this frequency the switch temperature does not exceed
120°C. Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 show the variation of the power
losses and junction temperature of the switches at different
switching frequency at 300A load current. As shown in Fig. 11,
with increasing switching frequency, the conductive power
losses remain constant and switching losses increase. Fig. 13
shows the variation of the junction temperature of the switch at
the 4 kHz switching frequency. As can be seen, with increasing
load current at a constant switching frequency, the temperature
Fig. 12. Relation of Switching frequency vs Junction Temperature (Vdc =
of the switches exceeds 150°C, which is the permissible limit, 650V, I = 300A)
and causes the IGBT module to destroyed. In Fig. 14, this
scenario is applied to variable switching frequency algorithm.
Also, with increasing the load current, the temperature is not
exceeded by 120°C and the operation of the IGBT module is
suitable for different load currents.

TABLE I. CHARCTERISTICS OF IGBT [22]

Symbol Values Unit
VCES 1200 V
ICnom 450 A
TJ -40 … 150 °C
VCE(sat) 1.9 V
RCE 2.4 mΩ
Eon 32 mJ
Eoff 68 mJ Fig. 13. Junction Temperature vs Current without variable switching
frequency
Err 60 mJ
Rth(j-c) 0.061 K/W
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