Renewable energy vehicles are developing rapidly against the backdrop of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.” As the primary power consumption component in new energy vehicles, the efficiency and performance of the traction inverter directly impact the driving range of these vehicles. Given that revolutionary breakthroughs in battery technology are not expected in the near future, improving the efficiency, power density, safety, and reliability of the motor drive system has become the main focus of research. A well-designed traction inverter can facilitate faster motor speed, higher efficiency, and a smaller system size while maintaining the same power density.

EVAL-1ED3122MX12H is an evaluation board from Infineon Technologies designed for the 1ED3122MX12H, a 2300V, 10A, 5.7kV (rms) single-channel isolated gate driver with an active Miller clamp. The EVAL-1ED3122MX12H is configured in a half-bridge setup with two gate driver ICs (1ED3122MU12H) to drive power switches like IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs. This board is equipped with TRENCHSTOP™ IGBT IKQ75N120CH3. An additional gate driver IC is utilized for isolated over-current feedback signals from the high voltage side to the logic control side. A fast operational amplifier functions as a comparator for over-current detection. This board is best suited for double-pulse testing. Furthermore, 1ED3122MU12H belongs to the EiceDRIVER™ Compact 1ED31xx family (X3 compact family). The 1ED3122 offers active Miller clamp, accurate and stable timing, active shutdown to ensure a safe IGBT off-state if the output chip is not connected to the power, and short-circuit clamping to limit the gate voltage during a short circuit.

The gate driver is a crucial component of the traction inverter, serving as an interface between the controller and the power devices. For achieving excellent SiC FET performance, the gate driver plays a critical role. By employing a high-performance half-bridge gate driver in the EVAL-1ED3122MX12H evaluation board, losses can be effectively reduced, voltage utilization can be improved, the performance of power semiconductor devices can be fully utilized, and the health status of power semiconductor devices can be evaluated. These aspects contribute to achieving high safety and reliability in motor controller design.

Evaluation Board Features:

• EiceDRIVER™ Compact single-channel isolated gate driver 1ED31xx family (X3 compact family)
• For up to 2300V IGBTs, SiC and Si MOSFETs
• 2300V functional offset voltage capable for selected applications
• Galvanically isolated coreless transformer gate driver
• 10A typical sinking and sourcing peak output current
• 40V absolute maximum output supply voltage
• 90ns propagation delay with 30ns input filter
• High common-mode transient immunity CMTI >200kV/μs
• Active Miller clamp
• Short-circuit clamping and active shutdown
• DSO-8 300mil wide-body package with large creepage distance (>8mm)
• 8V/10V undervoltage lockout (UVLO) protection with hysteresis

Evaluation Board Applications:

• Motor control and drives
• Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)

Target Market:

• EV Charging
• Hydrogen