Integrated Design Approach for Medium Power Inverters Optimized for EMC and Thermal Performance

Abstract

Today’s stale of the an power electronics system require the design engineers ro employ an integrated approach, utilizing IGDTs. heat sink, capacitors and gate driver circuits at their peak performance. While functionality is of course alw ays important, the problem of manufacturahility, cost and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) are elements that have to he kept into account.In this paper the authors show how electromagnetic interference caused by power electronic circuits can be reduced by the minimization of the total inductance commutation loop of an inverter leg. At the same time special attention is due to the compactness of the inverter especially as regard to the heat sink and the thermal issues. The goal is a proper design and construction of the inverter so tackling EMI directly at the source where most EMI is generated. In this way application of expensive EMI filters can be avoided. Moreover the analysis of the thermal behavior is shown. In order to reach this goal a proper selection and design of the inverter parts have been made and implemented. Specifically, a prototype of converter has been developed to reach the maximum reduction of the stray inductance commutation loop and the maximum compactness using the actual available technology. Experimental results are given to show the validity of this approach.