IGBTs' low switching frequencies suit PV inverters

With a typical V _CE(sat) of 1.05V at 25°C, up to a 0.1% efficiency improvement in a NPC 1 topology or up to a 0.3% efficiency improvement in a NPC 2 topology can be achieved when replacing preceding TRENCHSTOP IGBTs with the L5 family. High efficiency is maintained and parallelling is straightforward, an industry benchmark for IGBTs switching below 20kHz.

The TRENCHSTOP 5 technology base used for the family delivers low conduction losses, and total switching losses as low as 1.6mJ at 25°C. Therefore, the IGBTs enable higher efficiency, improved reliability and smaller dimension systems in low switching frequency applications.

The L5 IGBT family is first available in an industry standard 3-pin TO-247 package. For applications requiring extended efficiency enhancement, it is also offered in a 4-pin TO-247 Kelvin-Emitter package which, compared to the standard, provides a further 20% reduction in switching losses. The IGBTs are available in 30 and 75A current classes as single IGBT and co-packed with Infineon’s ultrafast Rapid 1 and Rapid 2 silicon diodes.