An electric assembly includes a bipolar switching device and a transistor circuit. The transistor circuit is electrically connected in parallel with the bipolar switching device and includes a normally-on wide bandgap transistor.

An electronic switch includes switching modules to change a forward resistance of a semiconductor switch via a drive circuit depending on data exchanged via a data interface and depending on measurement values of a current sensor. The semiconductor switches of the switching modules are arranged electrically in parallel and a current through the electronic switch is divided among the semiconductor switches. The electronic switch controls a division of the current through the electronic switch among the semiconductor switches via the drive circuits by changing a forward resistance of the semiconductor switches, synchronously switches the semiconductor switches via the drive circuit and operates the semiconductor switches in a linear region in a time range of 1 μs to 10 μs upon a change between ON and OFF and a change between OFF and ON in such a way that the current through the switching modules is reduced in a controlled manner.

The present disclosure provides a debounced solid state switching device comprised of at least two insulated-gate bipolar transistors (“IGBTs”) within a parallel architecture. Multiple pairs of IGBTs may be used in a parallel architecture to extend ampacity and improve voltage withstand capability. The device provides improved flexibility and portability to facilitate time and cost efficiency, as the size and complexity of the device is directly dependent on the needs of the user. Furthermore, the procurement of the components of the device is simple, providing greater accessibility.

An electronic circuit includes: a bus bar connected to a power source having a positive terminal and a negative terminal; and a plurality of object switching elements as driving objects connected to the bus bar, the object switching elements forming a parallel connected circuit. The object switching elements include minimum on-resistance elements having minimum on-resistance compared to other object switching elements in a corresponding current region among mutually different current regions; and connection points between the minimum on-resistance elements and the bus bar are located at different locations to have mutually different inductance of respective conduction paths between the power source to the connection points located at the different locations.

A device (2) for the on-demand commutation of an electrical current from a first line branch (14, 3; 36) to another, second line branch (4; 41; 71) is created, which has a number of power semiconductor switching elements (7; 47; 53), which are arranged in series and/or parallel to one another in the second line branch (4; 41; 71), and a control unit (18; 51) for controlling the number of power semiconductor switching elements (7; 47; 53). The control unit (18; 51) is adapted to apply to each of the number of power semiconductor switching elements (7; 47; 53) an increased control voltage (VGE) whose level is above the maximum permissible control voltage specified for continuous operation, in order to switch on or maintain the conduction of the number of power semiconductor switching elements and to cause an increased current flow through it, whose current rating is at least double the nominal operating current. The control unit (18; 51) is further adapted to switch off the number of power semiconductor switching elements after a respectively provided short switch-on duration by switching off the control voltage (VGE) again while they conduct an increased current flow. The device (2) can thus be designed for a higher power in operation, or, at a given operating power, the semiconductor area and size of the device (2) can be reduced.

A power conversion apparatus includes a semiconductor module including a semiconductor device and a control circuit unit controlling the semiconductor module. The semiconductor module has main and subsidiary semiconductor devices connected in parallel. The control circuit unit performs control such that the subsidiary semiconductor device is turned on after the main semiconductor device is turned on, and the main semiconductor device is turned off after the subsidiary semiconductor device is turned off. The control circuit unit performs control such that, one of the turn-on and turn-off switching timings has a switching speed faster than that of the other of the switching timings. The semiconductor module is configured such that, at a high-speed switching timing, an induction current directed to turn off the subsidiary semiconductor device is generated in a control terminal of the subsidiary semiconductor device depending on temporal change of a main current flowing to the main semiconductor device.

In a drive circuit, a rate adjuster adjusts a charging speed of a MOSFET to be faster than the charging speed of an IGBT when a drive state changer changes the first switching element from the off state to the on state first, and changes the second switching element from the off state to the on state next. The rate adjuster also adjusts a discharging speed of the MOSFET to be faster than the discharging speed of the IGBT when the drive state changer changes the MOSFET from the on state to the off state first, and changes the IGBT from the on state to the off state next.

A semiconductor control device includes a switching element including a main element, and a sense element connected in parallel with the main element; and a control circuit configured to bias a sense electrode of the sense element by a negative voltage, and to detect a leakage current of another switching element connected in series with the main element. The control circuit biases the sense electrode by the negative voltage, for example, so as to turn on the sense element, without turning on the main element.

We describe a system for controlling very large numbers of power semiconductor switching devices (132) to switch in synchronization. The devices are high power devices, for example carrying hundreds of amps and/or voltages of the order of kilovolts. In outline the system comprises a coordinating control system (110, 120), which communicates with a plurality of switching device controllers (130) to control the devices into a plurality of states including a fully-off state, a saturated-on state, and at least one intermediate state between the fully-off and saturated-on states, synchronizing the devices in the at least one intermediate state during switching.

The invention relates to a method (100) and a control device (SG) for operating power semiconductor switches (LH1 . . . LHn) connected in parallel, having the following steps: determining a nominal value for a total gate series resistor (GGVL . . . GGVn) of at least one power semiconductor switch (LH1 . . . LHn); providing the total gate series resistor (GGV1 . . . GGVn) for the at least one power semiconductor switch (LH1 . . . LHn) depending on the relevant nominal value, and operating the at least one power semiconductor switch (LH1 . . . LHn) with the associated total gate series resistor (GGV1 . . . GGVn).