Research on Continuous Operation of Active Gate Driver Combining Current Source and Active Gate Resistor

Active gate drivers (AGDs) improve the trade-off between switching losses and surge voltage by actively operating switching transitions. However, conventional AGDs, which actively change the gate resistance have limitations in achieving sufficiently high-speed drive. Therefore, a new AGD combining a current source and an active gate resistor was proposed. Double-pulse tests confirmed that the new AGD further reduces turn-on losses compared to conventional AGD. In this study, control of the new AGD with feedback of the load current was implemented. A six-pulse test verified the continuous operation of the new AGD and confirmed that the new AGD with the control reduces switching losses more than it without the control.