Patent ID: 9726712
Date: 2017-08-08
CPC Classifications: G01R,G09G,H01L,H02M,H03K

Claim:
1. An assembly comprising: an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), having a first IGBT coupled with a first gate driver for receiving a gating signal to drive the IGBT and providing a feedback signal of the IGBT which indicates a change of a collector-emitter voltage of the IGBT; at least one additional IGBT having an additional second IGBT coupled with at least one additional second gate driver, wherein the first and additional IGBTs are series connected; a first failure mode detection unit for determining whether the first IGBT is faulted, and differentiating fault types including a first gate driver fault, failed turn-on fault, a short-circuit fault, a turn-on over-voltage fault and a turn-off over-voltage fault, based on a timing sequence of the gating signal and the feedback signal; at least one second failure mode detection unit for determining whether the second IGBT is faulted, and differentiating fault types including a second gate driver fault, failed turn-on fault, a short-circuit fault, a turn-on over-voltage fault and a turn-off over-voltage fault, based on a timing sequence of the gating signal and the feedback signal; and a central controller programmed to send an isolation signal for isolating the faulted IGBT or IGBTs from its gate driver or their gate drivers if the number of faulted IGBTs is less than or equal to the number of redundant IGBTs, wherein the first and additional IGBTs comprise a number of redundant IGBTs, and there is a switch device between each IGBT and its gate driver.