IGBT｜Basic
Advantages of IGBT IPMs
2023.06.07
Points of this article
・Relative to discrete designs, IPMs offer numerous advantages, among them ease of design, safety, reliability, and compactness.
・IPMs lack customizability, but the key to using IPMs is essentially to select the appropriate product for a given application.
Advantages of IGBT IPMs
In addition to IGBTs themselves, IGBT IPMs incorporate driving circuits, protection circuits, and the like, and so offer the following advantages.
- ・In circuit design from the discrete level, the engineer must know about the power devices, but IPMs, which include power devices together with circuitry that incorporates driving know-how, can be operated more simply and easily.
- ・The power devices and driving circuits in an IPM are optimized so that operation and characteristics are ensured. Hence peripheral circuits in an application can easily be designed, saving time.
- ・The protection functions deemed necessary are incorporated, so that applications that handle large amounts of power can be safely constructed.
- ・In addition to electrical characteristics, thermal and EMC properties are also taken into consideration, so that various problems relating to board design and component mounting in discrete design can be avoided, and higher reliability can be achieved.
- ・In a discrete configuration, IGBTs and ICs are each in individual packages, and so board space corresponding to this is necessary. In an IPM, however, in essence bare chips are mounted directly on a mounting board inside the module, for a smaller product with less space requirements. Boards are more compact, and board wiring can be simpler and more efficient.
- ・Because the product is a module, the component count is one, contributing to improved system reliability.
In essence, IPMs have many advantages over discrete design; on the other hand, their greatest disadvantage is the fact that their specifications and characteristics are fixed and unchanging. Consequently they are not suited to customized applications in which individual devices must be adjusted and the like. However, IPMs adopt specifications that assume major applications and similar uses, and they should be selected so as to match a given application.
【Download Documents】 Basics of IGBTs
IGBTs are one of the typical power devices and are used in a wide range of applications including motor drives. This handbook provides a basic understanding of IGBTs, including their application scope and application picture based on their features, their structure and principle of operation, and how they compare with and use other power devices.
IGBT
Basic
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About IGBTs
- Applications Using IGBTs
- IGBT Structure
- Principles of Operation of IGBTs
- Range of Application of IGBTs
- IGBT Features: Comparisons with MOSFETs and Bipolar Transistors
- Selective Use of Power Devices in Motor Applications
- Short Circuit Withstand Time (SCWT) of IGBTs
- IGBTs Incorporating Fast Recovery Diodes (FRDs)
- About IGBT IPMs （Intelligent Power Modules）
Application
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IGBT IPM: Protection Functions and Operation Sequences
- Short Circuit Current Protection (SCP) Function of IGBT IPMs
- Control Power Supply Undervoltage Lockout（UVLO) Function of IGBT IPMs
- Thermal shutdown（TSD） Function of IGBT IPMs
- Analog Temperature Output（VOT）of IGBT IPMs
- Fault Output（FO）of IGBT IPMs
- Control inputs （HINU, HINV, HINW, LINU, LINV, LINW）of IGBT IPMs
- Protection Functions and Operation Sequences －Summary－
Product Information