Gate driving of high power IGBT by wireless transmission

In high power high voltage conversion, the technology of IGBT's drivers is a very sensitive point due to the need of a high reliability and a high degree of insulation to transmit driving information and energy to the gate driver. Many techniques exist that allow an insulated transmission of the driving signal. Some, like the level-shifter or the optocoupler are commonly used in medium voltage range but are totally unsuited to high voltage. In this last case, a classical solution leads to use, for each IGBT, a DC supply with a high insulation transformer for energy transmission and an optic fiber for the transmission of information. This solution is reliable, fast, and not sensitive to disturbances. However, in the case of numerous switches to drive, this solution becomes costly and bulky. Thus, in this paper, we propose a driving system well suited to high voltage, which can be insensitive to high-level disturbances. A wireless solution coupled to an energy supply loop is proposed, in order to reduce the cost and bulkiness of high power converters. The advantage of this solution lies in a very low propagation time, a strong immunity to noise if signal coding is well studied and a simplified supply system to drivers