A simple technique to measure the semiconductor switching and conduction losses of inverters at specified chip temperatures

A simple technique to measure the switching and conduction losses in modern semiconductor switching devices of inverters at specified chip temperatures has been developed. The proposed method achieves accurate results even with low-cost measurement equipment and does not require the modification of the inverter circuit by implementation of current and voltage sensing devices or heat flux sensors. It combines the advantages of short-term measurement techniques, such as the double pulse measurement technique with negligible increase of the chip temperatures and highly accurate long-term measurement techniques based on steady-state operation with severe increase of the chip temperatures. Experimental results in the paper will demonstrate the suitability of the technique to determine the switching and the conduction losses of the semiconductor devices in inverter circuits at defined operating temperatures with low-cost measurement equipment and without cooling.