IGBT technology and applications in electric vehicle

Nowadays, more and more new knowledge and technologies are applied to electric cars, such as: what is an electric motor?What is a motor controller?What is an inverter?What is IGBT?Motor controller or inverter type, specification more and more.In order to truly understand its working principle, it is necessary to learn its basic theory. With the basic knowledge and the comparison with the actual products, you can basically master the working principle of the motor controller or inverter, and then scientifically match the design.IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) and its application are discussed below for the reference of junior engineers and technicians.

An IGBT(insulating Gate Polarizing Transistor), an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor, is a thoroughly controlled voltage-driven power semiconductor device consisting of a BJT(Bipolar Transistor) and a MOS(insulating Gate field-effect Transistor) that combines the advantages of a high input impedance in MOSFET with a low conduction voltage drop in GTR.GTR has lower saturation voltage and higher carrying current density, but higher driving current.MOSFET drive power is small, switching speed is fast, but the conduction voltage drop is large, carrying current density is small.IGBT combines the advantages of the above two devices, with low drive power and low saturation voltage.It is suitable for ac motor, inverter, switching power supply, lighting circuit, traction drive and other fields with DC voltage of 600V and above.

IGBT module is a modular semiconductor product made of IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor chip) and FWD (continuous flow diode chip) through a specific circuit bridge package.The packaged IGBT module is directly used in frequency converter, UPS uninterruptible power supply and other equipment.

IGBT module has the characteristics of energy saving, easy installation and maintenance, stable heat dissipation, etc.The current market for the sale of modular products, generally said IGBT also refers to IGBT module;With the advance of energy conservation and environmental protection, such products will be more and more in the market;

IGBT is the core device of energy transformation and transmission, commonly known as the "CPU" of power electronic devices. As a national strategic emerging industry, IGBT is widely used in rail transit, smart grid, aerospace, electric vehicles and new energy equipment and other fields.

Common understanding of "insulated gate bipolar transistor"

Insulated gate bipolar transistor is a technical term in Electrotechnics, so it is difficult to understand it correctly.Make up a popular interpretation of this term.

(1) Pipe: understand the function of the pipe.Water runs in at one end of the pipe and out at the other.Water is liquid, and a pipe to water is a conduit.

(2) transistor: water pipe material has cement, also useful rubber, etc.The material of the transistor is crystal structure. Electrons can flow in one "head" and out the other.Water pipe is "empty" cavity, water can flow, crystal structure materials in the crystal "tube" also has "empty" cavity, electrons can flow.But the "empty" cavity of a pipe is visible to the naked eye, while the "empty" cavity of a transistor is invisible to the naked eye.So instead of "head," we have "pole," which is to say, electrons can flow in from one pole and out from the other.The most typical is the crystal diode.The biggest characteristic of diodes is that they only allow electrons to flow in one direction (forward flow), and reverse flow is blocked.This property, in the case of diodes, is called single - guide performance.

(3) bipolar transistor: the switching characteristics of the two diodes are combined and controlled to realize the two-way flow of electrons in the transistor.Like water pipe in the middle of some tee, with some valves, water flow direction, flow can be controlled.A new combination on the base of the secondary tube provides switching characteristics for bipolar transistors.

Insulated gate bipolar transistor: Insulated gate is simply understood as a valve.Commonly understood as a transistor with a valve control that controls the two-way (multidirectional) flow of electrons.

IGBT is a switching device used in high voltage (high power) circuit variations.

The two (three) transistors of the past are basically used in control (change) circuits of radios, televisions, etc.At present, two (three) transistors (integrated blocks) and other electronic devices are still widely used in low-voltage circuits of automobiles. However, driven by new energy (electric vehicles), they are of high voltage (high power). In the past, two (three) transistors (integrated blocks) are basically useless.Hence IGBT, whose basic theory is electronic (analog, digital).IGBT is already a high-power, large-scale integrated electronic device.The development of new energy vehicles, in which a large number of IGBT application.Without the support of this device, there would be no electric drive module.

One serious shortcoming of China's current automotive development is that most IGBT devices are imported.Electric vehicle engineers must know the knowledge and application of IGBT.China has been using IGBT devices from foreign companies for a long time, so it is difficult to control the core technology and the cost advantage is not obvious.To this end, our company introduced German technology and produced  transistor induction heating power supply with intermediate frequency, high frequency and super audio frequency.IGBT transistors are used as inverters, which can completely replace vacuum tube super audio power supply, machine if power supply and thyristor if power supply, suitable for all kinds of metal induction heat treatment, induction welding, induction melting, diathermy and other thermal processing industries.

IGBT series power supply produced by our company is of high efficiency and energy saving, low operation cost, no life limit, extremely low maintenance cost, wide application range, and has greatly satisfied the demand of domestic and foreign markets, ranking the leading level in China.