GATE DRIVE CIRCUIT FOR SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCHING DEVICES

Abstract

A gate drive circuit includes first and second transistors for turning on and off semiconductor switching devices. The circuit includes a DC power supply for driving the first and second transistors. The gate drive circuit further includes a third transistor, a fourth transistor, and a DC power supply being a power supply for the third and fourth transistors with a voltage value lower than the voltage value of the DC power supply, thereby making lower the impedance of the path of a current flowing from the DC power supply to the gates of the switching devices through the third transistor than the impedance of the path of a current flowing from the DC power supply to the gates of the switching devices through the first transistor.

Claims

1. A gate drive circuit commonly connected to gates of a group of switching devices to drive the group of switching devices, the group of switching devices being voltage-driving type semiconductor switching devices, the gate drive circuit comprising: a first switch for turning-on the group of the switching devices; a second switch connected in series to the first switch to turn-off the group of the switching devices; a first current limiting resistor limiting current flowing in the first switch; a second current limiting resistor limiting current flowing in the second switch; at least a first DC power supply as a power supply for driving the first switch and the second switch; a third switch configured to be turned-on by a turning-on instruction signal to the first switch to turn-on the group of the switching devices; a fourth switch configured to be turned-off by a turning-off instruction signal to the second switch to turn-off the group of the switching devices; and a second DC power supply connected across a DC circuit including the third switch and the fourth switch as a power supply for driving the third switch and the fourth switch with a voltage value lower than the voltage value of the first DC power supply, thereby making lower an impedance of a path of a current flowing from the second DC power supply to the gates of the group of the switching devices through the third switch in a turned-on state than an impedance of a path of a current flowing from the first DC power supply to the gates of the group of the switching devices through the first switch in a turned-on state.

2. The gate drive circuit for semiconductor switching devices as claimed in claim 1, wherein the value of the voltage of the second DC power supply is made to be approximately equal to a maximum value of gate threshold voltages of the group of switching devices.

3. The gate drive circuit as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a turn-off delay circuit for delaying a timing of turning on the fourth switch for a specified time from after the second switch is turned on.

4. The gate drive circuit as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a turn-off delay circuit for delaying a timing of turning on the fourth switch for a specified time from after the second switch is turned on.

5. The gate drive circuit as claimed in claim 4 wherein the second DC power supply is formed of a series circuit of a resistor and a Zener diode, which series circuit is connected across the first DC power supply, and a capacitor connected in parallel to the Zener diode, a voltage across the capacitor being used as the voltage value of the second DC power supply.

6. The gate drive circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second DC power supply is formed of a series circuit of a resistor and a Zener diode, which series circuit is connected across the first DC power supply, and a capacitor connected in parallel to the Zener diode, a voltage across the capacitor being used as the voltage value of the second DC power supply.

5. The gate drive circuit as claimed in claim 2 wherein the second DC power supply is formed of a series circuit of a resistor and a Zener diode, which series circuit is connected across the first DC power supply, and a capacitor connected in parallel to the Zener diode, a voltage across the capacitor being used as the voltage value of the second DC power supply.

5. The gate drive circuit as claimed in claim 3 wherein the second DC power supply is formed of a series circuit of a resistor and a Zener diode, which series circuit is connected across the first DC power supply, and a capacitor connected in parallel to the Zener diode, a voltage across the capacitor being used as the voltage value of the second DC power supply.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a gate drive circuit according to an embodiment of the invention together with semiconductor switching devices as driving objects;

[0039] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another configuration of the low voltage DC power supply;

[0040] FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram showing the waveform of the gate-source voltage for the switching devices driven by the gate drive circuit shown in FIG. 1;

[0041] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a main circuit of an inverter using voltage driven semiconductor switching devices;

[0042] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a gate drive circuit as a first related art;

[0043] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of a gate drive circuit as a second related art;

[0044] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the circuit configuration in the case when two switching devices being connected in parallel to each other are driven by a gate drive circuit with the circuit configuration thereof being the same as that of the gate drive circuit shown in FIG. 5;

[0045] FIG. 8 is a waveform diagram showing the gate-source voltage of one of the switching devices shown in FIG. 7;

[0046] FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram showing waveforms of the drain currents of the two switching devices connected in parallel in the case in which the difference between the threshold voltages of the two switching devices is small;

[0047] FIG. 10 is a waveform diagram showing waveforms of the drain currents of the two switching devices connected in parallel in the case in which the difference between the threshold voltages of the two switching devices is large; and

[0048] FIG. 11 is a waveform diagram showing the waveforms of currents of two diodes at the reverse recovery thereof which diodes are respectively connected to two switching devices connected in parallel to each other in the arm on the opposite side of the arm provided with two semiconductor switching devices having a large difference between their respective gate threshold voltages and being connected in parallel to each other.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] In the following, an embodiment of the invention will be explained in order of the attached drawings.

[0050] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a gate drive circuit 30 according to an embodiment of the invention together with semiconductor switching devices 2a and 2a as driving objects. In the embodiment, like in the circuit shown in FIG. 7, the two switching devices 2a and 2a are connected in parallel to each other in one arm in the circuit such as an inverter, by which the case is assumed in which the gate drive circuit 30 drives the switching devices 2a and 2a.

[0051] In FIG. 1, parts similar to those shown in FIG. 7 are denoted with the same reference numerals and signs. Therefore, the gate drive circuit 30 will be explained with emphasis on parts different from those shown in FIG. 7.

[0052] In the gate drive circuit 30 shown in FIG. 1, a turn-off delay circuit 41, diodes 42 and 44, an n-p-n transistor 43 (hereinafter referred to as a transistor 43) and p-n-p transistor 45 (hereinafter referred to as a transistor 45) forming totem-pole output transistors and a DC power supply 46 are additionally provided to the gate drive circuit 3a.sub.1 shown in FIG. 7. That is, a parallel circuit of the turn-off delay circuit 41 and the diode 42 is connected between the commonly connected bases of the transistors 34 and 35 and the commonly connected bases of the transistors 43 and 45 and, between the emitters of the transistors 43 and 45, a diode 44 is connected. Along with this, a DC power supply 46 is connected between the collectors of the transistors 43 and 45. The emitter of the transistor 45 is connected to the gates of the semiconductor switching devices 2a and 2a together with the emitters of the transistor 34 and 35.

[0053] The diode 44 is provided for preventing the transistor 43 from a reverse voltage applied thereto when the transistors 34 and 35 are simultaneously turned-on.

[0054] Here, it is preferable that the value of the voltage V.sub.B2 of the DC power supply 46 is determined to be a value lower than the value of the voltage V.sub.B1 of the DC power supply 46 (V.sub.B2<V.sub.B1) and to be a value on the order of the larger one of the maximum values of the gate threshold voltages V.sub.th1 and V.sub.th2 of their respective semiconductor switching devices 2a and 2a. The voltage V.sub.B2 may be obtained from the DC power supply 46 formed independently of the DC power supply 32 on the input side as is shown in FIG. 1. The voltage V.sub.B2 may be also obtained from a circuit connected to the DC power supply 32 as is shown in FIG. 2, a diagram showing another configuration of the low voltage DC power supply. In the circuit, a resistor 46a and a Zener diode 46b are connected in series to the DC power supply 32 with a capacitor 46c connected in parallel to the Zener diode 46b. The voltage V.sub.B2 is provided as a voltage across the capacitor 46c.

[0055] In addition, the DC power supplies 32 and 46 are provided as a first and second DC power supplies, respectively, and the transistors 34, 35, 43 and 45 are provided as a first, second, third and fourth switches, respectively. Moreover, the current limiting resistors 36 and 37 are provided as a first and second current limiting resistor, respectively. The DC power supply 32 as the first DC power supply may be provided not only as a positive side power supply as is shown in FIG. 1 but also as a positive side power supply and negative side power supply which are made to correspond to the transistors 34 and 35, respectively.

[0056] In the foregoing configuration, the switching devices 2a and 2a may be formed of IGBTs and the number thereof in parallel connection may be more than three. Moreover, the transistors 34, 35, 44 and 45 as the first to fourth switches, respectively, are not limited to be bipolar transistors but FETs may be used for them.

[0057] Furthermore, the current limiting resistors 36 and 37 as the first and second current limiting resistors may be connected onto the emitter sides of the transistors 34 and 35, respectively.

[0058] Subsequent to this, the operation of the embodiment will be explained.

[0059] At the turning-on of the switching devices 2a and 2a, the signal S.sub.1, outputted from the driving section 31 to instruct turning-on on the basis of the control signal S.sub.a instructing turning-on, is applied to the base of the transistor 34 for turning-on through the base resistor 33. The signal S.sub.1 is simultaneously applied to the base of the transistor 43 for turning-on through the base resistor 33 and the diode 42. This turns on both of the transistors 34 and 43.

[0060] At this time, on the side of the transistor 43, no current limiting resistor such as the resistor 36 on the side of the transistor 34 exists in the output current path to provide a low impedance in the output current path. Thus, a current rapidly flows onto the gate side of the switching devices 2a and 2a through the transistor 43 and diode 44 from the DC power supply 46 with the voltage V.sub.B2.

[0061] Thereafter, from the time at which the gate-source voltage V.sub.GS of each of the switching devices 2a and 2a reaches the voltage V.sub.B2, a current from the DC power supply 32, having the voltage V.sub.B1 higher than voltage V.sub.B2, flows onto the gate side of each of the switching devices 2a and 2a through the current limiting resistor 36 and the transistor 34, by which the gate potential V.sub.GS is finally established.

[0062] Therefore, even though there is a difference between the gate threshold voltages V.sub.th1 and V.sub.th2 of their respective switching devices 2a and 2a, each of the gate-source voltages V.sub.GS thereof rises rapidly with a large rate of change in voltage dv/dt until the gate-source voltage V.sub.GS reaches the voltage V.sub.B2 as is shown in FIG. 3, a waveform diagram showing the waveform of the gate-source voltage for the switching devices driven by the gate drive circuit shown in FIG. 1. This considerably shortens each of the times elapsed from the rising of the gate-source voltage V.sub.GS to the times t.sub.1 and t.sub.2 at which the gate-source voltage V.sub.GS reach the threshold voltage V.sub.th and V.sub.th2, respectively, to considerably shorten the time lag t between the time t.sub.1 and t.sub.2.

[0063] In addition, for preventing the transistor 43 from having an excessive current flow therein, a current limiting resistor, having a very low resistance value compared with those of the current limiting resistor 36 and 37, may be connected in series on the emitter side or on the collector side of the transistor 43.

[0064] According to the embodiment, an imbalance between currents and resulting imbalance between losses at the turning-on of the switching devices 2a and 2a are eliminated, by which the waveforms of the drain currents at turning-on in both devices become as those presented in FIG. 9 showing the case in which the difference between threshold voltages V.sub.th of both of the switching devices is small. With the waveforms of the currents in the switching devices 2a and 2a becoming approximately identical, the waveforms of the currents flowing in the diodes in the arm opposite to the arm provided with the switching devices 2a and 2a also become approximately identical. With this, also on the diode side, the imbalance between currents as is shown in FIG. 11 and the resulting imbalance between losses come to be eliminated.

[0065] At the turning-off of the switching devices 2a and 2a, the transistors 35 and 45 are made to be turned-off by the signal S.sub.1 outputted from the driving section 31 to instruct turning-off. At the time, the transistor 35 on the input side is made turned-on earlier than the transistor 45 because the turn-off delay circuit 41 is connected to the bases on the side of the transistor 45.

[0066] With this, charges in the gates of the switching devices 2a and 2a are gradually discharged through the transistor 35 and the resistor 37 with the transistor 45 made turned-on thereafter.

[0067] Here, the turn-off delay circuit 41 performs the function of securing gate resistance for the switching devices 2a and 2a at the turning-off operations thereof by the current limiting resistor 37 so that the falling of the gate-source voltage of each of the switching devices 2a and 2a is prevented from becoming excessively abrupt and, along with this, performs the function of preventing faulty turning-on operations of the switching devices 2a and 2a without using any special IC, which operations are possibly caused by the turning-on of the switching devices in the opposite arm after the completion of the turning-off operations of the switching devices 2a and 2a. It is necessary only that the turn-off delay circuit 41 can delay the turning-on operation of the transistor 45 behind the turning-on operation of the transistor 35. Therefore, a specified delay time can be provided by forming the turn-off delay circuit 41 with a circuit such as an RC circuit that is formed of a resistor with a resistance value R and a capacitor with a capacitance value C to provide a time constant RC, for example.

[0068] In normal turned-off states of the switching devices 2a and 2a other than transient states in which the switching devices 2a and 2a are made to be turned-off from turned-on states, the gate and source of each of the switching devices 2a and 2a are being short-circuited with an approximate zero impedance by bringing the transistor 45 to be being in a turned-on state. Therefore, at the reverse recovery of each of free-wheeling diodes (or body diodes) of the switching devices 2a and 2a in the state in which a large reverse voltage is applied to the switching devices 2a and 2a and the diodes by the turning-on of switching devices in the arm opposite to the arm with the switching devices 2a and 2a, even though a reverse recovery voltage is produced with a large voltage variation rate dv/dt, the switching devices 2a and 2a have no gate-source voltages V.sub.GS exceeding their respective threshold voltages V.sub.th1 and V.sub.th2. Thus, it becomes possible to prevent the upper and lower arms from being short-circuited by the faulty turning-on operations of the switching devices 2a and 2a.

[0069] As was explained in the foregoing, according to the embodiment, only by adding the circuit formed of components such as the DC power supply 46, transistor 43 and transistor 45 to a related gate drive circuit, the gate drive circuit can perform the function of inhibiting an imbalance in current between the switching devices connected in parallel to each other in the main circuit due to the difference between the gate threshold voltages of the switching devices and the function of preventing the upper and lower arms from being short-circuited when switching devices in the opposite arm are made to be turned-on.

[0070] The gate drive circuit according to the embodiments of the invention can be applied to various kinds of electric power converters such as inverters, converters and choppers when the circuit is used for driving a plurality of voltage-driven semiconductor switching devices connected in parallel to each other.

[0071] While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to an embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.