Single-board plug-and-play gate drivers offer 'new dual' IGBT modules

Power Integrations has launched the SCALE-iFlex XLT family of dual-channel plug-and-play gate drivers for operation of single LV100 (Mitsubishi), XHP 2 (Infineon), HPnC (Fuji Electric) and equivalent semiconductor modules up to 2300V blocking voltage for wind, energy storage and solar renewable energy installations. This single-board driver allows active thermal management of inverter modules for improved system utilisation and reduces the BoM count for increased reliability.

Thorsten Schmidt, product marketing manager at Power Integrations, commented: "It's a real challenge to build a single-board gate driver for these 'new dual' style IGBT modules. Our compact new SCALE-iFlex XLT gate drivers fit inside the outline of the module, allowing the drivers to be mounted on the module, which gives converter system designers a high degree of mechanical design freedom."

These dual-channel gate drivers feature NTC data reporting – an isolated temperature measurement of the power module – which enables accurate thermal management of converter systems. This allows system designers to optimise thermal design and obtain a 25% to 30% converter power increase from the same hardware. The isolated NTC readout also decreases hardware complexity, eradicating multiple cables, connectors and additional isolation barrier crossing circuits.

The new gate drivers employ the company's SCALE-2 chip set minimising component count, and enhancing reliability. The gate driver board also protects the power switches during a short circuit.

These plug-and-play gate drivers are available for sampling now.