El Segundo, Calif.—International Rectifier's new high-voltage gate driver and current-sense ICs in the company's IR22xxx family combines IGBT control with a sophisticated set of protection functions. These 1200-volt devices, with complementary 600-volt devices (IR21xxx) also available, feature up to 30 percent fewer components and half the footprint compared to discrete optocoupler- or transformer-based solutions.
"This new suite of gate driver and sensor ICs made with IR's high voltage IC (HVIC) technology enables small circuits with full protection, including ground fault protection, which was once available only in high-end systems," said David Tam, vice president of the company's Consumer and Industrial Group. "The new ICs blaze a new path for low-end industrial or servo drives as well as cost-competitive appliances." Applications include inverterized motor drives, general-purpose inverter circuits, switch-mode power supplies (SMPSes) and uninterruptible power supplies (UPSes).
There are five new 1200-volt devices, including the IR22381, an analog, three-phase IGBT gate driver (AC motor controller IC). With a deadtime of 0.5 micro-seconds, the IR22381 is ten times faster than comparable optocoupler-based drivers, according to the company. Changes in device performance over time, including the effects of temperature drift, are minimal.
An integrated desaturation feature provides over-current protection for ground faults, shoot-through and short-to- supply-rail. Soft shutdown is initiated under over-current conditions, followed by the turn-off of all of the device's six outputs. A shutdown input is included to enable custom shutdown functions. The IR22381 includes programmable deadtime, and the output drivers have separate turn-on/turn-off pins with a two-stage output to achieve the desired IGBT dv/dt switching level. A bootstrap power supply eliminates the need for an auxiliary supply.
Two other devices, the IR2277 and IR22771, are high-speed, single-phase current sense interface ICs with synchronous sampling for (AC) motor drive applications. They provide a digital PWM output (IR2277 also provides an analog output) suitable for DSP and analog-to-digital interfaces without additional logic circuits. The maximum throughput is 40 ksamples/second, suitable for up to 20 kHz asymmetrical PWM modulation. Maximum delay is less than 7.5 microseconds at 20 kHz. A noise immune bi-directional level-shifting circuit is used to avoid false common mode dV/dt noise up to 50 V/ns.
Rounding out the family, the IR2214 and IR22141 are designed to drive single half-bridge circuits in power switching applications as well as three-phase 380 VAC circuits at up to 50 amps at +80°C. Unlike solutions using optocouplers, the IR2214 and IR22141 gate drivers run stable during their lifetime and include parameter matching, such as propagation delay for high- and low-side channels as well as deadtime insertion. They also include economical and space-saving bootstrap supply topology. Fault feedback circuitry automatically shuts down the IGBT during desaturation when the IGBT is used in multi-phase configurations. Desaturation detection for both sides as well as an internal biasing resistor are included in the IR2214, while active desaturation diode bias is included in the IR22141. The IR2214 and IR22141 can be connected together via a dedicated pin to protect the drive system from phase-to-phase short-circuits. Input and output pins are 3.3-volt CMOS-compatible to simplify microprocessor interfacing. Separate power and signal ground pins allow the designer to simplify low-side IGBT current sensing in emitter shunt configurations.
The 1200-volt HVICs are available in 600-volt versions for
appliance motor drives and a wide range of general-purpose inverter circuits. The IR21381 is an analog three-phase driver, similar to the IR22381. The IR2177 and IR21771 are 600-volt versions of the IR2277 and IR22771. In addition, the IR2114 and IR21141 are 600-volt versions of the IR2214 and IR22141.
Data sheets for these new HVICs are available at www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/ir21381q.pdf (and -ir2177s, -ir2114ss, etc.). Three boards are available to aid design: The IRMD22381Q demo board for the IR22381 and IR21381, a complete AC and brushless motor driver used with a 30-amp power module; the IRMD2214SS evaluation board for the IR2214, IR22141, IR2114, and IR21141; and the IRCS2277S reference design kit for the IR2277 and the IR2177 devices.
The IR23381Q gate driver (64-lead MQFP) is priced at $12.05 each. The IR2277S and IR22771 current sensing ICs, in a 16-lead SOIC, are $3.94. The IR2214SS and IR22141SS half-bridge driver, in an SSOP-24, are $4.50 each. The complementary 600-volt parts, in the same corresponding packages, are priced at $10.50, $2.56, and $3.90. Prices are subject to change.
International Rectifier, 1-310-252-7105, www.irf.com
