A novel driving and protection circuit for reverse blocking IGBT used in matrix converter

Reverse blocking IGBT (RB-IGBT), with the capability of blocking both forward and reverse voltage, is now receiving widely attention in power converter applications. In this paper, by introducing two dynamical current sources, a three-stage driving circuit is designed for RB-IGBT to reduce the switching transition while limiting the turn-on di/dt and the turn-off dv/dt within the safe area. Furthermore, a novel v/sub ce/ sensing method is proposed. Using the detected v/sub ce/, over-current and short-circuit protection schemes are implemented respectively. The v/sub ce/ is also used as a sign of current direction, which is helpful for commutation between bidirectional switches.