FWD-Less Inverter Operation Using Bi-Directional Back-Gate-Controlled IGBTs (BC-IGBTs)

Freewheeling diode (FWD)-less inverter operation using back-gate-controlled insulated gate bipolar transistor (BC-IGBT) has been demonstrated. BC-IGBT has the ability of bi-directional conduction, which can realize FWD-less switching. In this article, the operation mode of BC-IGBT inverter has been analyzed for an actual three-phase inverter drive and confirmed switching status dividing high-side, low-side, and transition driving regions. It was verified that the FWD-less BC-IGBT inverter can be applied not only square wave ($120^{\boldsymbol {\circ }}\text {)}$drive but also sine wave ($180^{\boldsymbol {\circ }}\text {)}$drive with pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control. Comparing the reverse conducting IGBT (RC-IGBT) inverter, the BC-IGBT inverter has many advantages in terms of active control of switching losses, snapback free, and area efficiency. Over 50% of turn-off loss (${E}_{\text {off}}\text {)}$reduction and around 20% of reverse recovery loss (${E}_{\text {rr}}\text {)}$reduction were achieved in the same switching conditions. These results will be of great help in enabling the BC-IGBT inverter for real power electronics applications.