Power Integrations, a provider of gate driver technology for medium- and high-voltage inverter applications, has launched the SCALE-iFlex XLT family of dual-channel plug-and-play gate drivers for operation of single LV100 (Mitsubishi), XHP 2 (Infineon), HPnC (Fuji Electric) and equivalent semiconductor modules up to 2,300 V blocking voltage for wind, energy storage and solar renewable energy installations. This single-board driver enables active thermal management of inverter modules for improved system utilization and reduces the bill-of-material count for increased reliability.
Thorsten Schmidt, product marketing manager at Power Integrations, commented: “It’s a real challenge to build a single-board gate driver for these ‘new dual’ style IGBT [insulated gate bipolar transistor] modules.
Source: Power Integrations Our compact new SCALE-iFlex XLT gate drivers fit inside the outline of the module, allowing the drivers to be mounted on the module, which gives converter system designers a high degree of mechanical design freedom.”
SCALE-iFlex XLT dual-channel gate drivers feature negative temperature coefficient (NTC) data reporting — an isolated temperature measurement of the power module — which allows accurate thermal management of converter systems. This enables system designers to optimize thermal design and obtain a 25% to 30% converter power increase from the same hardware. The isolated NTC readout also reduces hardware complexity, eliminating multiple cables, connectors and additional isolation barrier crossing circuits.
The new gate drivers employ Power Integrations’ SCALE-2 chip set, which minimizes component count, enhancing reliability. The gate driver board also protects the power switches in the event of a short-circuit.
Availability
SCALE-iFlex XLT plug-and-play gate drivers are available for sampling now.
