Design and Development of an Integrated Power Module Used in Low Voltage DC/AC Hybrid Circuit Breaker

This paper reports on the design and development work of an Integrated Power Module (IPM) used in an Hybrid Circuit Breaker (HCB) application. Two previously characterized power insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and silicon diode bare dies, together with control electronics, are placed on both sides of an Al2O3 substrate. This allows the smallest footprint with the highest current density, and the fastest current commutation to be integrated into a standard miniature circuit breaker (MCB) housing. An experimental setup is developed to analyze the surge current capability of the technology and to design the most appropriate technology with the highest reliability and most compact power module.