“High-power drive systems for electric motors are key components in industrial automation and robotics systems, as they consume more than half of the electrical energy. These drive systems play a central role in achieving energy savings.
“
Author: Jonathan Harper
High-power drive systems for electric motors are key components in industrial automation and robotics systems, as they consume more than half of the electrical energy. These drive systems play a central role in achieving energy savings.
The ever-increasing pace of automation makes motor-driven systems at the heart of the industry of the future. Improving energy efficiency and reliability at higher power will continue to be the focus of industrial drive solutions.
Variable frequency motor drives are now standard in almost all application areas, resulting in: higher efficiency at full speed
Efficiency is further improved as they can run at a lower speed when needed
There are different ways of partitioning the motor drive system. An Intelligent Power Module (IPM) contains the inverter and internal drive in a single module. The power integrated module includes the inverter and braking circuit, and usually does not contain the driver. The reason for this is that for applications with three-phase alternating current (AC) input, intelligent power modules become very large.
Let’s look at the module without the driver:
The pins of the module need to be spaced from each other to keep the
safety
long term reliability
These spacings must be calculated based on various application factors, such as the maximum operating height of the driver, the effective voltage in the system, the isolation used in the system, the degree of contamination of the modules and printed circuit boards, and the CTI.
Through detailed calculations for typical motor drive applications, the minimum module size is around 70 mm. If you add space for the gate drive control pins, the minimum module size will be larger.
For low-power industrial three-phase AC input applications, both IPM modules and gel-filled modules are widely used: IPM modules do not have rectifiers, while gel-filled modules do not have drivers. Driven by the increased popularity of robotic welding equipment, the use of welding pins for both gel-filled modules and IPM modules is a new design trend.
Below is a cross-sectional view of the new transfer molding PIM (TMPIM) module. Please note that this figure has been exaggerated for illustration.
Compared with existing modules, TMPIM has a distinct advantage. The thickness of the entire module is 8 mm. The clearance between the top of the pin and the top of the heat sink is 6 mm, which is larger than the 5.5 mm clearance requirement. Gel-filled modules can also meet this requirement, but they are much thicker (12mm versus 8mm for TMPIM). The IPM module, on the other hand, is thinner. Therefore, mechanical designers need to shape the heat sink, adding additional manufacturing costs.
The IGBTs used by TMPIM are robust Field Stop II 1200 V IGBTs with a short circuit rating of over 10 us at 150 C, 900 V bus voltage and 15 V gate drive. Prior to release, the modules were extensively tested in motor drive testing, including bench testing. The NCP57000 isolated gate driver is ideal for driving TMPIMs. Each TMPIM uses 6 isolated drivers. The NCP57000 gate driver has a Desaturation (DESAT) function that detects overcurrent and then softly turns off the IGBT to prevent excessive voltage spikes from excessively fast turn-off under short-circuit conditions.
The TMPIM series can achieve more than 1000 thermal cycles. Standard gel-filled modules without any heat sinks typically only achieve 200 thermal cycles. The power cycling curves of these modules show excellent power cycling capability depending on the change in junction temperature. TMPIM’s higher power modules use high-performance alumina substrates. Thus, when reading the power cycling curve, lower thermal resistance results in lower thermal variation, resulting in higher power cycling capability.
The current TMPIM includes 1200 V converter-inverter-brake (CIB) modules with current ratings of 25 A, 35 A, 35 A with high-performance baseplate, and 50 A with high-performance baseplate. The new designs in the series will cover 650 V CIB modules, 650 V six groups, 1200 V six groups, 1200 V six groups and 650 V modules with interleaved PFC and six groups.
“High-power drive systems for electric motors are key components in industrial automation and robotics systems, as they consume more than half of the electrical energy. These drive systems play a central role in achieving energy savings.
“
Author: Jonathan Harper
High-power drive systems for electric motors are key components in industrial automation and robotics systems, as they consume more than half of the electrical energy. These drive systems play a central role in achieving energy savings.
The ever-increasing pace of automation makes motor-driven systems at the heart of the industry of the future. Improving energy efficiency and reliability at higher power will continue to be the focus of industrial drive solutions.
Variable frequency motor drives are now standard in almost all application areas, resulting in: higher efficiency at full speed
Efficiency is further improved as they can run at a lower speed when needed
There are different ways of partitioning the motor drive system. An Intelligent Power Module (IPM) contains the inverter and internal drive in a single module. The power integrated module includes the inverter and braking circuit, and usually does not contain the driver. The reason for this is that for applications with three-phase alternating current (AC) input, intelligent power modules become very large.
Let’s look at the module without the driver:
The pins of the module need to be spaced from each other to keep the
safety
long term reliability
These spacings must be calculated based on various application factors, such as the maximum operating height of the driver, the effective voltage in the system, the isolation used in the system, the degree of contamination of the modules and printed circuit boards, and the CTI.
Through detailed calculations for typical motor drive applications, the minimum module size is around 70 mm. If you add space for the gate drive control pins, the minimum module size will be larger.
For low-power industrial three-phase AC input applications, both IPM modules and gel-filled modules are widely used: IPM modules do not have rectifiers, while gel-filled modules do not have drivers. Driven by the increased popularity of robotic welding equipment, the use of welding pins for both gel-filled modules and IPM modules is a new design trend.
Below is a cross-sectional view of the new transfer molding PIM (TMPIM) module. Please note that this figure has been exaggerated for illustration.
Compared with existing modules, TMPIM has a distinct advantage. The thickness of the entire module is 8 mm. The clearance between the top of the pin and the top of the heat sink is 6 mm, which is larger than the 5.5 mm clearance requirement. Gel-filled modules can also meet this requirement, but they are much thicker (12mm versus 8mm for TMPIM). The IPM module, on the other hand, is thinner. Therefore, mechanical designers need to shape the heat sink, adding additional manufacturing costs.
The IGBTs used by TMPIM are robust Field Stop II 1200 V IGBTs with a short circuit rating of over 10 us at 150 C, 900 V bus voltage and 15 V gate drive. Prior to release, the modules were extensively tested in motor drive testing, including bench testing. The NCP57000 isolated gate driver is ideal for driving TMPIMs. Each TMPIM uses 6 isolated drivers. The NCP57000 gate driver has a Desaturation (DESAT) function that detects overcurrent and then softly turns off the IGBT to prevent excessive voltage spikes from excessively fast turn-off under short-circuit conditions.
The TMPIM series can achieve more than 1000 thermal cycles. Standard gel-filled modules without any heat sinks typically only achieve 200 thermal cycles. The power cycling curves of these modules show excellent power cycling capability depending on the change in junction temperature. TMPIM’s higher power modules use high-performance alumina substrates. Thus, when reading the power cycling curve, lower thermal resistance results in lower thermal variation, resulting in higher power cycling capability.
The current TMPIM includes 1200 V converter-inverter-brake (CIB) modules with current ratings of 25 A, 35 A, 35 A with high-performance baseplate, and 50 A with high-performance baseplate. The new designs in the series will cover 650 V CIB modules, 650 V six groups, 1200 V six groups, 1200 V six groups and 650 V modules with interleaved PFC and six groups.
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