Method and system for online correction of junction temperatures of IGBT in photovoltaic inverter considering aging process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11579644-B2
Application number	US-202117503377-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2021
Priority date	Jan 22, 2021
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a system for correction of the junction temperatures of an IGBT module in a photovoltaic inverter. The method includes: constructing an electrothermal coupling model of an IGBT model based on a photovoltaic inverter topology, a light radiation intensity, and an ambient temperature; selecting an IGBT collector-emitter on-state voltage drop as an aging parameter and designing an on-state voltage drop sampling circuit to ensure measurement accuracy; constructing an aging database for IGBT modules in different aging stages based on large current and small current injection methods; comparing a junction temperature value output by the electrothermal coupling model with the calibrated junction temperature value and calibrating an aging process coefficient of an electrothermal coupling model correction formula; comparing an IGBT aging monitoring value with the aging threshold to determine the aging process and selecting a corresponding aging process coefficient to ensure accuracy of junction temperature data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for online correction of junction temperatures of an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) in a photovoltaic inverter considering an aging process, comprising:
(1) constructing an electrothermal coupling model of an IGBT model based on a photovoltaic inverter topology, the IGBT model, a light radiation intensity, and an ambient temperature;
(2) using an IGBT collector-emitter on-state voltage drop Vce_on as an aging parameter and designing a voltage sampling circuit according to working characteristics of the IGBT to collect the IGBT collector-emitter on-state voltage drop;
(3) constructing an aging database for IGBT modules in different aging stages based on large current and small current injection methods, wherein the aging database comprises a test current, an aging threshold, and a calibrated junction temperature value;
(4) comparing a junction temperature value output by the electrothermal coupling model with the calibrated junction temperature value and calibrating an aging process coefficient of an electrothermal coupling model correction formula; and
(5) comparing an IGBT aging monitoring value with the aging threshold to determine the aging process and selecting a corresponding aging process coefficient to ensure accuracy of junction temperature data.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (2) comprises:
(2.1) designing an upper arm IGBT collector-emitter on-state voltage drop measurement circuit for any one of U, V, and W three-phase circuits, wherein the measurement circuit comprises a self-driving MOSFET, an external driving MOSFET, a current limiting circuit, and a ground terminal GND, wherein a driving signal of the external driving MOSFET is a driving signal of a lower arm IGBT, and a turn-on threshold of the self-driving MOSFET is a negative value; when an upper arm IGBT is turned on, a current does not flow through a sampling branch, meanwhile a driving voltage of the self-driving MOSFET is 0 greater than the turn-on threshold, and a voltage at a measurement port is voltage drop Vce_on during conduction of the IGBT collector-emitter; when the upper arm IGBT is turned off, the current flows through the sampling branch, and a negative voltage drop generated across a current limiting resistor is less than the turn-on threshold of the self-driving MOSFET, so the self-driving MOSFET is turned off, meanwhile the driving signal of the external driving MOSFET in the lower arm IGBT is turned on, the voltage at the measurement port is set to 0; through the working process, voltage drop Vce_on during conduction of the IGBT collector-emitter of the upper arm IGBT can be collected, and a high voltage across a collector-emitter can be shielded when the IGBT is turned off; and
(2.2) designing a lower arm IGBT collector-emitter on-state voltage drop measurement circuit for any one of the U, V, and W three-phase circuits, wherein the measurement circuit comprises a self-driving MOSFET, an external driving MOSFET, a current limiting circuit, a negative voltage port V−, and a ground terminal GND, wherein a driving signal of the external driving MOSFET is a driving signal of an upper arm IGBT, and a turn-on threshold of the self-driving MOSFET is a negative value; when a lower arm IGBT is turned on, a current does not flow through a sampling branch, meanwhile a driving voltage of the self-driving MOSFET is 0 greater than the turn-on threshold, and a voltage at a measurement port is voltage drop Vce_on during conduction of the IGBT collector-emitter; when the lower arm IGBT is turned off, the current flows through the sampling branch, and a negative voltage drop generated across a current limiting resistor is less than the turn-on threshold of the self-driving MOSFET, so the self-driving MOSFET is turned off, meanwhile the driving signal of the external driving MOSFET in the lower arm IGBT is turned on, and the voltage at the measurement port is set to a voltage value of the negative voltage port; through the working process, voltage drop Vce_on during conduction of the IGBT collector-emitter of an U-phase lower arm IGBT can be collected, and a high voltage across a collector-emitter can be shielded when the IGBT is turned off.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein step (3) comprises:
(3.1) enabling a healthy IGBT module in the photovoltaic inverter to work at a small current Imin and measuring a corresponding relationship between a collector-emitter on-state voltage drop Vce_min and a junction temperature Tj, wherein when working at the small current, the collector-emitter on-state voltage drop of the healthy IGBT module has a linear relationship with the junction temperature and is not affected by the aging process;
(3.2) simulating different aging stages of an IGBT module by shearing bond lines of the IGBT module; and
(3.3) for IGBT modules in different aging stages, enabling the IGBT modules to work at a large current Imax and measuring a current collector-emitter on-state voltage drop Vce_max as a threshold value of a current aging stage, in a same switching signal cycle, injecting the small current Imin to measure the collector-emitter on-state voltage drop Vce_min, and accordingly measuring the junction temperature Tj as a calibrated junction temperature value of the current aging stage.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein step (4) comprises:
(4.1) keeping test conditions of operating parameters of the electrothermal coupling model consistent for each aging stage;
(4.2) calculating a difference ΔT between an output junction temperature value of the electrothermal coupling model and the calibrated junction temperature value; and
(4.3) adjusting an aging process coefficient β in an equivalent thermal network parameter correction formula of the electrothermal coupling model so that the difference ΔT is 0, and recording a current aging correction coefficient β, wherein C=C 0 (1+l·β m ), C represents corrected equivalent thermal network parameters, C 0 is original equivalent thermal network parameters, l is an aging characteristic value of the IGBT module, β is the aging process coefficient, and m is an accelerated aging factor.

5. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the steps of the method of claim 4 are implemented when a computer program is executed by a processor.

6. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the steps of the method of claim 3 are implemented when a computer program is executed by a processor.

7. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the steps of the method of claim 2 are implemented when a computer program is executed by a processor.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (3) comprises:
(5.1) enabling a healthy IGBT module in the photovoltaic inverter to work at a small current Imin and measuring a corresponding relationship between a collector-emitter on-state voltage drop Vce_min and a junction temperature Tj, wherein when working at the small current, the collector-emitter on-state voltage drop of the healthy IGBT module has a linear relationship with the junction temperature and is not affected by the aging process;
(5.2) simulating different aging stages of an IGBT module by shearing bond lines of the IGBT module; and
(5.3) for IGBT modules in different aging stages, enabling the IGBT modules to work at a large current Imax and measuring a current collector-emitter on-state voltage drop Vce_max as a threshold value of a current aging stage, in a same switching signal cycle, injecting the small current Imin to measure the collector-emitter on-state voltage drop Vce_min, and accordingly measuring the junction temperature

Assignees

• Univ Wuhan

Inventors

• He Yigang
• Wang Chuankun
• Zhang Weiwei
• Li Lie

Classifications

• G06F2119/08

  Thermal analysis or thermal optimisation · CPC title

• H02M7/5387 Primary

  in a bridge configuration · CPC title

• G01R31/003

  Environmental or reliability tests (of individual semiconductors G01R31/2642; of PCB's G01R31/2817; of IC's G01R31/2855; of other circuits G01R31/2849) · CPC title

• Y02E10/56

  Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers · CPC title

• H02M1/327

  against abnormal temperatures · CPC title