Effect of asymmetric layout of IGBT modules on reliability of power inverters in motor drive system

An IGBT module has typically multiple power devices for some technical and cost advantages. This kind of configurations could have an asymmetric layout, which may lead to different thermal loadings and thereby lifetime difference of the power devices. Therefore, both the power rating and lifetime of inverters are limited by the most stressed devices. However, generally common data is provided for all devices and this may cause improper design of the inverters in terms of power rating and lifetime. In this paper, the effect of an asymmetric layout of IGBT modules on the reliability of power inverters is studied based on a 3-phase motor drive application with a 600 V 30 A, 3-phase transfer molded IGBT module. The thermal impedances of 6 IGBTs are investigated and its effect on the thermal loadings of power devices is studied under the given mission profile. Finally, their lifetimes are estimated and compared.