Active thermal control by controlled shoot-through of power devices

Active Thermal Control (ATC) consists in driving power switches in a less efficient way when low load conditions are present. The resulting wasted power is used to self-heat the device, reducing amplitude and occurrence of thermal cycles and hence improving the reliability. This paper presents a novel way to control losses, and hence temperature, of both positive- and negative-current devices in half-bridge topologies at various load conditions. The goal is achieved by means of a controlled shoot-through of the half-bridge leg.