Low Inductive Fuses for protection of IGBT-based Inverters

摘要

The demand for protection of power electronic applications has during the last years increased concerning the high-power IGBT modules. Even with an active protection, a high-power IGBT still has a risk of exhibiting a violent rupture in the case of a fault if IGBT fuses do not protect it. By introducing fuses into the circuit this will increase the circuit inductance and slight increase the over-voltage during the turn-off of the diode and the IGBT. It is therefore important when using fuses that the added inductance is kept at a minimum. From the fault analysis into a three-phase IGBT-based inverter a DC-link location for fuses it might assure a protection against all faults. Experiments made with 400 A, 1200 V IGBT switches show that rupture can be avoided using a high-speed fuse protection. The problem of added inductance of existing High-Speed- and proposed Bussmann IGBT fuses in DC-link circuit is treated. Then, some considerations about current and temperature distribution in these fuses are shown when high frequency components are present in the DC-link current.