Accurate Temperature-Dependent IGBT Model for Predicting Commutation Voltage Overshoot in MW-level Power Converters

Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) commutation voltage overshoot is a key design consideration for power stacks, especially in high-power applications. Conventionally, several double-pulse tests are required to map the over-voltage stress on the IGBT under different operating conditions, e.g., current loading and temperature, which is time- and resource-consuming. Thus, this paper proposes a physics-based IGBT model, which can be used for predicting the commutation voltage overshoot for MW-level power converters through simulation. The proposed IGBT model is based on a lumped-charge approach, where the temperature-dependent behavior of the IGBT is taken into consideration. A step-by-step model parameters identification process is also provided. The accuracy of the proposed IGBT model has been validated by comparing the predicted results with the experimental results under various operating conditions and achieving an error well below 2 %.