An Improved Degradation Monitoring Method for High Power IGBT Modules Based on On-State Resistance Estimation

Degradation of high-power IGBT modules adversely influences the safety of inverters and can cause significant economic loss in industrial applications. Due to various factors affecting the degradation of IGBTs, lots of advanced monitoring methods still struggle to comprehensively evaluate the current health status of IGBT modules during power converter operation. Therefore, this paper proposed an improved online degradation method for high-power IGBT modules based on the estimation of on-state resistance. This method has reduced component numbers and circuit complexity with higher monitoring accuracy and wider applications. The proposed condition monitoring methodology is verified experimentally on a three-phase inverter setup and the test results are presented.