Energy Saving Products

DC to AC Inverter IGBT Demo Board

Devices: IRGB4062DPBF (600V/24A Trench IGBT) High Side IGBTs
IRG4BC20SD-PBF (600V/10A S-type Planar IGBT) Low Side IGBTs
IRS2106S (600V half bridge driver IC)

The purpose of a DC to AC inverter is to convert DC voltage to a pure sinusoidal output

voltage in applications such as UPS, solar inverter and frequency converter.

This demo board is designed to operate without fan up to 500W.

200V
DC
Supply

20V
DC 120V/
Supply 500W
Load

Figure 1. Connection diagram.

Equipment required:
200V, 3A DC power supply
20V, 100 mA DC power supply
120V/500W load bank such as resistors, light bulbs or a portable heater

Connection should be made according to the diagram shown on Figure 1.

Theory of operation:
A full bridge topology is used to implement the DC to AC inverter. During positive
output half cycle, Q1 is sine pulse width modulated (sine PWM) while Q4 is kept on.
During negative output half cycle, Q2 is sine pulse width modulated while Q3 is kept on.
The switching frequency of the high side and low side IGBTs are 20 kHz and 60 Hz,
respectively. This switching technique produces 60 Hz AC sine wave across the output
capacitor C4 after inductor L1.

WTC
June 27, 2008
 Energy Saving Products

Q1 and Q2 are chosen to be ultrafast trench IGBTs, IRGB4062DPBF which offers

balanced conduction and switching losses at 20 kHz. Q3 and Q4 are standard type (S-
type) planar IGBT since these IGBTs only switch at 60 Hz. Low conduction loss IGBT
is essential for Q3 and Q4 since conduction loss is the dominant factor while switching
loss is not at 60 Hz.

Each leg of the H-Bridge is driven using a high voltage gate driver IC, IRS2106SPBF,
with bootstrap power supply technique for the high side. Using IRS2106SPBF eliminates
the requirement for an isolated power supply for the high side drive. This translates into
increase efficiency and parts count reduction of the overall system.

Some benefits of the H bridge topology and switching technique on this demo board are :
1. High efficiency since Q1 and Q2 copack diodes are not subjected to the freewheeling
current and Q3 and Q4 have majority of conduction loss and very little switching loss.
2. No cross conduction possibility since switching is done on diagonal device pair only at
any time (Q1 and Q4 or Q2 and Q3).
3. Operate from single DC bus supply eliminating the need for a negative DC bus.
4. IGBTs are driven using high voltage gate driver IC with bootstrap technique. There is
no separate floating power supply required for the high side drive. Bootstrap capacitors
for these drivers get refreshed every switching cycle (50 usec) when current freewheels
on the low side IGBTs copackage diodes.
DCBUS

Q1 Q2

R1
IRGB4062DPBF IRGB4062DPBF
R2 R4 75K,1W
J1 10 10
L1 J2
1
INDUCTOR1 R7
2 C1 C4 2
100uf/450v 2.2uf/275VAC 1
CON2 75K,1W
CON2

LED1
Q3 Q4
LTL-16KE

IRG4BC20SD-PBF IRG4BC20SD-PBF
R3 R5
10 10
2

C2 C3 C5 15V U2 Comment: LM340T-5 5V

GND

1 3 1 3
GND

IN OUT Vin Vout

J3
2.2uf 2.2uf + + C6 + C9
1 C7 C8 10uf/16v
U1
2
2

47uf/25v NJM78M15FA 47uf/25v 0.1uf 0.1uf

CON2
8

5
LO

LO
HO

HO
VS

VS
VB

VB

MURS160 MURS160
D1
U4
D2 IR2106 5V
COM

COM
VCC

VCC
HIN

HIN
LIN

LIN

U3
IR2106
R12
1

10K
LIN1
C12
R8 R9 U5 XTAL1
0.1uF HIN1
100 100 R10 R11 1 18 1 2
RA0/AN0 RB3/CCP1/P1A
100 100 2 17
RA1/AN1/LVDIN RB2/P1B/INT2
3 16 10MHz
RA4/T0CKI OSC1/CLKI/RA7 HIN2
C10 C11 4 15
MCLR/VPP/RA5 OSC2/CLKO/RA6
5 14
VSS/AVSS VDD/AVDD
6 13
RA2/AN2/VREF- RB7/PGD/T1OSI/P1D/KBI3 C13
0.1uf 0.1uf 7 12
RA3/AN3/VREF+ RB6/PGC/T1OSO/T1CKI/P1C/KBI2 0.1uF
8 11
C14 C15 RB0/AN4/INT0 RB5/PGM/KBI1
9 10
RB1/AN5/TX/CK/INT1 RB4/AN6/RX/DT/KBI0
15V 47uf/25v 47uf/25v
PIC18F1320-I/P
HIN2

LIN2

LIN2
HIN1

LIN1

Figure 2. Schematic of the demo board

WTC
June 27, 2008
 Energy Saving Products

Figure 3. Output waveforms of gate driver ICs and sinusoidal output voltage.

Operation:
Always start the system by applying power to the +20V power supply prior to applying
+200V DC bus. With a 120V/500W resistive load connected, the output will be a
nominal 120V/60 Hz AC sinusoidal voltage as shown in Figure 3. This figure also shows
the output gate voltages across each IGBT showing 60 Hz commutation and 20 kHz sine
PWM signals for low and high side devices, respectively.

WARNING
The output voltage is taken from the legs of the full bridge inverter after the L-C filter. In
order to obtain the same sinusoidal output voltage waveform shown in Figure 3, an
appropriate high voltage differential voltage probe is necessary. If such probe is not
available, measure each output using a ground referenced oscilloscope probe and subtract
the resulting waveforms on the oscilloscope. Please consult with individual oscilloscope
manual on how to do this measurement.

Power Loss Comparisons:

Using the technique described in this demo board achieves the lowest power dissipation
on a typical full bridge solar inverter application. Figure 4 summarizes differences in
power dissipation based on different switching technique and IGBT combinations.

WTC
June 27, 2008
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Reduction in Power Dissipation Using Combination of

Trench and Standard Speed Planar IGBTs

40 W

Planar IGBTs - (All 20 kHz)

35 W Planar IGBTs (HS: 20kHz + LS: 50Hz)
Total Power Dissipation (Watts)

Trench and S-type IGBTs (HS: 20kHz + LS: 60Hz)

30 W

25 W

20 W

15 W

10 W

5W
4A 6A 8A 10 A 12 A 14 A
Output RMS current (Amps)

Figure 4. Power Dissipation Comparisons of Different Switching Technique and IGBT

Combinations.

WTC
June 27, 2008