Single-board plug and play gate drivers offer "new dual" IGBT modules

     Power Integrations introduces the SCALE iFlex XLT Series of dual channel plug and play gate drivers for single LV100(Mitsubishi), XHP 2 (Infineon), HPnC(Fujifilm) and equivalent semiconductor modules with blocking voltage up to 2300V. Suitable for wind, energy storage and solar renewable energy installations.

     The new gate driver uses the company's SCALE-2 chipset, minimizing the number of components and improving reliability. The grid driver also protects the power switch in the event of a short circuit. This single board driver allows active thermal management of the inverter module to improve system utilization and reduce BoM counts to improve reliability.

     Thorsten Schmidt, Product Marketing Manager at Power Integrations, commented: "Building single-board gate drivers for these 'new dual' IGBT modules was a real challenge. "Our new compact SCALE-iFlex XLT gate driver fits into the profile of the module, allowing the driver to be mounted on the module, which gives converter system designers a high degree of mechanical design freedom."

     These dual-channel gate drivers feature NTC data reporting - isolated temperature measurement of the power module - enabling precise thermal management of the converter system. This allows system designers to optimize the thermal design and get a 25 to 30 percent increase in converter power from the same hardware. Isolated NTC readouts also reduce hardware complexity, eliminating multiple cables, connectors, and additional isolation barrier cross circuits.