Floating Gate Method to Protect IGBT Module from Explosion in Traction Converters

A method using floating gate is illustrated to avoid explosion of IGBT modules in converters by redirecting the fault current through good chips in the module and reducing the current concentration in the faulty chip. The proposed method was able to avoid explosion of various tested IGBT modules at a short circuit energy of 7.2 kJ and/or 16.2 kJ in a test set up.