New gate drivers provide advanced monitoring and protection

Texas Instruments has introduced several new isolated gate drivers that offer unparalleled levels of monitoring and protection for high-voltage systems. The UCC21710-Q1 and UCC21732-Q1 and UCC21750 allow designers to build smaller, more efficient and higher-performing designs in onboard chargers, traction inverters, solar inverters and motor drives. The devices are claimed to be the industry’s first to provide integrated sensing features for IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs to simplify designs and facilitate greater system reliability in applications operating up to 1.5KVRMS. With integrated components, the devices give fast detection time to protect against overcurrent events while ensuring safe system shutdown. Employing capacitive isolation technology, the devices maximise insulation barrier lifetimes while giving high reinforced isolation ratings, fast data speeds and high-density packaging. “System robustness is becoming an increasing challenge in high-voltage motor drive and power delivery applications,” said Steve Lambouses, vice president, TI High-Voltage Power. “These new gate drivers using TI’s isolation technology, combined with the other integrated features and support, can enable engineers to more quickly ramp to production reliable systems while minimising space and cost.”