Impact of Active Gate Drives on Switching Loss Reduction in Electric Vehicles

Abstract

In conventional Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor gate drives, switching loss compromises with voltage spikes during turn-off to prevent destroy of power devices. However, such a risk only exists in some worst cases, and at most times unnecessary. Active gate drive is an emerging technology to solve this trade-off between efficiency and reliability. This paper propose an optimal gate drive current according to the operating condition to minimize switching loss on power devices. A simple and generalized prediction method is used to evaluate its effectiveness. It has two verification tests and one simplified loss calculation model. By a vehicle simulator, it is possible to get the impact of the proposed strategy on loss reduction in standard driving cycles.