600V IGBT RC-Drives Family Addresses Variable Speed Motor System Design

Mar 8, 2010 11:33 AM

Infineon Technologies AG introduced a family of power switching devices for use in high energy efficiency electric motor drives of home appliances. The new 600V IGBT RC-Drives family (RC for Reverse-Conducting) enables more cost-effective design of variable speed electric motors, which can reduce the energy consumption of appliances by up to 30 percent in many applications.

The IGBT RC-Drives family is available in 4A (Ampere), 6A, 10A and 15A current classes in two package types: DPAK (TO-252) and IPAK (TO-251) both with dimensions of 2.30mm x 6.50mm x 7.22mm in size. This enables the design of variable speed drives from 30W up to 2kW in a small compact package, where competitor suppliers in this application segment can only offer the larger D2PAK (TO-263) or TO-220 packages with dimensions of 9mm x 10mm x 4.5mm. By optimizing circuit board layout for the Infineon 15A device, a manufacturer of electric motor drives for home appliances can reduce the area needed for IGBTs by up to 50 percent. This reduces material costs and provides flexibility in design.

The family has been optimized with a low saturation voltage Vce(sat) of 1.65V, which is ideal for switching frequencies typically seen in home appliances of 4kHz to 15 kHz, since at these frequencies conduction losses are the most dominant losses. This prevents thermal issues even when using the highest current devices under full load conditions. Additionally, low EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) levels are exhibited thanks to Infineon's TRENCHSTOP IGBT technology which is known for its excellent soft switching behavior. EMI measurements have shown a 10 percent improvement in EMI behavior over the closest competitor and in a kitchen environment where there are many electronic devices this is an important feature.

The IGBT RC-Drives family, which offers low conduction losses and area space saving is available in 600V voltage class and is available in high-volume quantities to order. For sample quantities, pricing ranges from US $0.30 (600V, 4A) to US $0.54 (600 15A)

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