A Practical Primer On Motor Drives (Part 8): Power Semiconductors

Focus:

This section on power semiconductor device physics will be a review for most power electronics engineers. However, for those new to the motor drive field, this section lays the groundwork for a discussion of the power conversion topologies and circuits discussed in subsequent parts of this series. The article begins by reviewing the different classes of power converter types (ac-ac, ac-dc, dc-dc, etc.) to provide some perspective on the drives category, then explains the basic operation of MOSFETs and IGBTs as power switches, describes n-channel versus p- channel devices, gives some background on silicon and wide-bandgap materials, describes some differences between the different power semiconductor devices used in motor drives, and then provides further details on power MOSFETs; IGBTs; and IGCTs, GTOs, And SCRs.

What you’ll learn:

• How to understand what types of power semiconductor devices are used in motor drives, how they work and how they differ

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Author & Publication:

Ken Johnson, Teledyne LeCroy, Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., How2Power Today, Sep 15 2016

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