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LAB 5-PE-Lab

This document describes an experiment to analyze the switching characteristics of a power IGBT. The objectives are to study the IGBT's basic properties, demonstrate its cutoff, saturation and active regions, and plot its output characteristics. The procedure involves constructing a circuit with an IGBT, power supply and resistor. Threshold voltage is measured by varying gate voltage until conduction begins. Output characteristics are obtained by recording collector current and voltage values at different supply voltages and fixed gate voltages in the active and saturation regions.

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Lovely Jutt
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292 views7 pages

LAB 5-PE-Lab

This document describes an experiment to analyze the switching characteristics of a power IGBT. The objectives are to study the IGBT's basic properties, demonstrate its cutoff, saturation and active regions, and plot its output characteristics. The procedure involves constructing a circuit with an IGBT, power supply and resistor. Threshold voltage is measured by varying gate voltage until conduction begins. Output characteristics are obtained by recording collector current and voltage values at different supply voltages and fixed gate voltages in the active and saturation regions.

Uploaded by

Lovely Jutt
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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International Islamic University Islamabad

Faculty of Engineering & Technology


Department of Electrical Engineering

POWER ELECTRONICS LAB (EE421L)

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT

Name of Student: ……………………………………

Registration No.: ……………………………………..

Date of Experiment: …………………………………

Submitted To: ………………………………………,..

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT Page 1


Objectives:
 To study the basic properties of the power IGBT.
 To demonstrate the cutoff, saturation and active region of the power IGBT.
 To plot the output characteristics of the power IGBT.
Equipment Required:
 DMM
 DC Power Supply: +24V(variable); +12V (fixed);
 Power IGBT: IRG4BC20UD [Qty=1];
 Potentiometer: 5-kΩ [Qty=1];
 Power Resistor: 100-Ω /10W [Qty=1];
 Connecting wires
Theory:
An Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) combines the advantages of both BJTs
and MOSFETs. MOSFETs have advantages of high switching speed with high input
impedance. On the other side, BJTs have advantages of high gain and low ON-state
conduction losses, both are present in IGBT transistor. An IGBT has three terminals
(Collector, Emitter and Gate). It is a voltage-controlled semiconductor device that enables
large collector emitter currents with almost zero gate current drive. The equivalent circuit of
IGBT along with symbolic diagram is given in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1
An IGBT is simply turned “ON” or “OFF” by activating and deactivating its gate
terminal. Applying a positive input voltage signal between gate and emitter (VGE) will keep
the device in its “ON” state, while making the input gate signal zero or slightly negative will
cause it to turn “OFF”. The main advantages of using the IGBTs over other types of transistor

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT Page 2


devices are its high voltage capability, low ON-resistance, ease of drive, relatively fast
switching speeds and combined with zero gate drive current makes it a good choice for
moderate speed, high voltage applications such as in pulse-width modulated (PWM), variable
speed control, switch-mode power supplies or solar powered DC-AC inverter and frequency
converter applications operating in the hundreds of kilo-hertz range. A general comparison
between BJTs, MOSFETs and IGBTs is shown in Table 5.1.
Table 5.1

Device Power Power Power


Characteristics BJT MOSFET IGBT

Voltage Rating High <1kV High <1kV Very High >1kV

Current Rating High <500A Low <200A High >500A

Current, hFE Voltage, VGS Voltage, VGE


Input Drive
20-200 3-10V 4-8V

Input Impedance Low High High

Output Impedance Low Medium Low

Switching Speed Slow (us) Fast (ns) Medium

Cost Low Medium High

Operation of an IGBT:
There are also three regions of operation of an IGBT.
i. Cutoff Region (when VGS ≤ VT): When the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) is less than the
threshold voltage (VT), the collector to emitter voltage is equal to supply voltage and it is
called as cut off region. The forward voltage between collector to emitter which an IGBT
can withstand during cutoff mode is known as forward breaker over voltage
(VBO). There is only leakage current that flow through the device in this region.
ii. Active Region: When the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) is greater than the threshold voltage
(VT), the IGBT operates in the active region. The collector current depends upon transfer
characteristics of the IGBT. As the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) increases, the collector
current also increases. The characteristics become linear for higher value of collector

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT Page 3


current. The ratio of collector current to the gate-emitter voltage is known as forward
transconductance (gm).
iii. Saturation Region: When the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) increases, the collector current
also increases as shown in transfer characteristics of the IGBT. The collector to emitter
voltage (VCE) decreases for a given load resistance (RL). The collector-emitter voltage
(VCE) becomes less than the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) for a given specific collector
current. The voltage drop across device becomes constant in this region and this voltage
drop decreases as the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) increases, this is known as the saturation
region of IGBT.
Figure 5.2 shows the expected output characteristics of a power IGBT to demonstrate its
different regions of operation.

Figure 5.2: Expected Output Characteristics of an IGBT


Key Points:
i. If VGE is less than or equal to VT, very small leakage current flows from collector to
emitter which means that IGBT is OFF condition.
ii. If VGE is greater than VT, IGBT will be turned ON; and the collector current will
depend upon the magnitude of VCE.
iii. IGBT is always operated in saturation and cut off region for switching actions.
iv. Power IGBT has controlled turn-ON and turn-OFF characteristics.

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT Page 4


Procedure:
a. Identify the collector, emitter and gate terminal of the power IGBT (IRG4BC20UD).
b. Construct the circuit of Figure 5.3 on the breadboard. Measure and record the value of
collector resistance using DMM.
RC (measured) =__________________

Figure 5.3
c. Apply VCC = 12V to the circuit of Figure 5.3, and start varying the potentiometer (Pot-1)
to increase the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) until the IGBT starts conduction, with the
indication that collector-emitter (VCE) voltage decreases a little bit from 12V. Record the
value of VGE at this instant. This is the minimum value of VGE to turn ON the IGBT, and
it is known as threshold gate voltage (VT).
VT =__________________

d. Now, vary the supply voltage (VCC) in steps as mentioned in Table 5.2 and record the
𝐕𝐑𝐂
values of collector-emitter voltage (VCE) and the collector current (IC = ) at each step
𝐑𝐂

to fill the Table 5.2.


Note that the scale of voltmeter should be set to minimum level, when you will
measure the voltage across the collector resistor (RC). Because, IGBT will be in
cutoff region, when VGE ≤ VT, and very minimum current will flow through the
collector resistor (RC).

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT Page 5


Table 5.2 (For VGE = VT = ________ )

VCC
0V 2V 4V 6V 8V 10V 12V 14V 16V 18V 20V
(measured)
VCE
(measured)
VRC
(measured)
𝐕𝐑𝐂
IC =
𝐑𝐂
(measured)

e. Set the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) to 5V by varying the potentiometer (Pot-1).


f. Now, vary the supply voltage (VCC) in steps as mentioned in Table 5.3 and record the
𝐕𝐑𝐂
values of collector-emitter voltage (VCE) and the collector current (IC = ) at each step
𝐑𝐂
and fill the Table 5.3.
Table 5.3 (For VGS = 5V)

VCC 0V 2V 4V 6V 8V 10V 12V 14V 16V 18V 20V


(measured)
VCE
(measured)
VRC
(measured)
𝐕𝐑𝐂
IC =
𝐑𝐂
(measured)

g. Set the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) to 5.5V by varying the potentiometer (Pot-1).
h. Now, vary the supply voltage (VCC) in steps as mentioned in Table 5.4 and record the
𝐕𝐑𝐂
values of collector-emitter voltage (VCE) and the collector current (IC = ) at each step
𝐑𝐂
and fill the Table 5.4.
Table 5.4 (For VGS = 5.5V)

VCC
0V 2V 4V 6V 8V 10V 12V 14V 16V 18V 20V
(measured)
VCE
(measured)
VRC
(measured)
𝐕𝐑𝐂
IC =
𝐑𝐂
(measured)

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT Page 6


i. Set the gate-emitter voltage (VGE) to 6V by varying the potentiometer (Pot-1).
j. Now, vary the supply voltage (VCC) in steps as mentioned in Table 5.5 and record the
𝐕𝐑𝐂
values of collector-emitter voltage (VCE) and the collector current (IC = ) at each step
𝐑𝐂
and fill the Table 5.5.
Table 5.5 (For VGS = 6V)

VCC
0V 2V 4V 6V 8V 10V 12V 14V 16V 18V 20V
(measured)
VCE
(measured)
VRC
(measured)
𝐕𝐑𝐂
IC =
𝐑𝐂
(measured)

Sketching of Switching Characteristics:


 Using the data of Table 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5, draw the switching characteristics curves of
a power IGBT on Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4: Switching Characteristics of a Power IGBT

Experiment No. 5: Switching Characteristics of Power IGBT Page 7

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