Prius IGBTs for a Coilgun - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: 13
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2016, 07:34:14 pm
content: Hi guys,Recently a friend and I took apart a Prius inverter module for the IGBTs that drive motors. As much as we have succeeded in getting the parts we have not succeeded in getting them to work. In fact, they seem to be backwards! We hooked up a negative lead to the possible gate and the IGBT turns on and when we hooked up a positive lead the thing turned off. We would really like to use the IGBTs in parallel to maximize the current capability (we need around 4kamps). Does anyone know how to work these? See the picture attached.

author: 13
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2016, 07:39:03 pm
content: Here is the Photo

author: johansen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 03:24:37 am
content: almost looks like there is a gate driver on the igbt itself.have you traced the rest of the circuitry?

author: johansen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 06:43:25 am
content: still looks fishy. are 3 out of those 5 pins connected to the emitter?

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 06:52:21 am
content: why such a beast for a coilgun ? are you building it single stage ? single stage coil gun will be very inefficient.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 01:47:15 pm
content: OBTW, should merge thread with this onehttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/weird-igbt-please-help/msg1010764/#msg1010764

author: 13
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 03:01:30 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on August 24, 2016, 06:56:47 amThanks for all your replies! I looked around the board and found some sm packages that look like the could be gate drivers. However, toyota decided to use custom part numbers since I could not find the parts. I attached some more pictures I think one of the leads is for the emitter and another for the kelvin lead (as it's labeled?). As of right now I am trying to build a two stage coil gun with the four 450v 12,000?F capacitors (a bit over kill) so using an IGBT to turn of the caps long pulse would be great. Does anyone know why the IGBT seems to work when a negative voltage is applied?P.S. I also have two more bricks of IGBTs from a different prius.Thanks,13

author: rfeecs
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 05:40:12 pm
content: There is a detailed look at the inverter module here:http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ginv/index.htmlThis page has a lot of discussion of the IGBT. It looks like the OP's picture was lifted right from this page:http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ginv/i2compon.html

author: 13
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 06:01:21 pm
content: Quote from: rfeecs on August 24, 2016, 05:40:12 pmThanks!I'll try and get the brick to function in my coil gun circuit and post it when I do.

author: 13
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 07:21:15 pm
content: Hi,I had some luck with getting the IGBTs to go but they seem to be losing around 5 volts from start to finish. I set my power supply to 18v and tried to pass it through the IGBT. I know that I will get some loss, but 5v seems way too much for an IGBT. Should I be using a higher voltage to test a large IGBT like the one I have?Thanks,13

author: zl2wrw
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2016, 02:53:32 am
content: Quote from: 13 on August 24, 2016, 07:21:15 pmWhat are you using for a gate driver?To get Vce(on) = 5V I'd expect you'd have to have a high Ic (unless you were not turning the IGBT on properly in the first place)If you only put say +5V between the gate and emitter, you won't turn the IGBT on properly (these are NOT logic level devices). A real gate driver will use something like +15V on the gate to turn on and -15V to turn off.

author: johansen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2016, 01:54:52 am
content: http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ginv/IGBT-flipped.jpghttp://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ginv/i2compon.htmlit appears to be a sense igbt.. the additional 2 leads are a diode for temperature sensing.Quote