Direct Voltage Balancing for Series Connected IGBTs

Operating Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) in series is of interest due to its ability to extend the overall blocking voltages of existing DC circuits. Regulating the voltage sharing for series connected IGBTs has been attempted in various ways. This paper presents an approach using the idea of Active Voltage Control (AVC) to improve upon the series voltage sharing performance previously achieved using AVC. The design considerations are discussed and experimentally attempted. The internal IGBT physics regarding this active voltage regulation is also discussed and the future work is suggested.