Design and Selection of Optimal Inductor for Current Source Gate Drivers

The state-of-the-art power electronic converters demand for the switches with high switching frequency capability at low losses. The gate driver circuit plays an important role in driving such high frequency switches. In such applications, the losses in the gate driver is one of the major concerns. In such scenarios, current source gate-drivers (CSD) are preferred over the conventional drivers due to reduced losses and energy recovery capability. This paper focuses on the optimal deign and selection of inductor for the CSD in order to effectively drive the power MOSFET leading to reduced switching and conduction losses, along with the reduction of crosstalk effect due to high frequency operation. The switching performance and characteristics of the high frequency switching SiC MOSFET is obtained by performing the double pulse test (DPT) with different inductor values. From the obtained curves, the optimum value of the inductor is suggested. The prototype of the CSD is also constructed for the experimental verification