PCIM 2012 Nuremberg: Amantys’ Power Insight enables the export of six key measurements from the gate driver, including VCE, switching time, and gate drive temperature. It also allows remote configuration of both the gate-drive resistors and alarm limits, all whilst carrying out post-failure diagnosis on events such as overtemperature and short circuits.
The technology simplifies the design-in of IGBT modules in power converters—designers can monitor and tune the assembled system without having to assemble and dis-assemble the inverter. Development engineers will be able to test the system and adjust gate resistor settings using the existing interface to optimise switching characteristics for specific system needs.
Throughout the manufacturing process, Amantys Power Insight offers a simple but safe method for ensuring an accurate configuration of the IGBT module and gate resistor setting to confirm the correct equipment build.
Insight-enabled gate drives incorporate extra hardware, including a microcontroller to export real-time data on system performance. Thus, it provides constant confirmation of correct performance, fault codes, and performance drift over time, delivering early warning of potential IGBT failure as well as “black box” data logging for failure analysis. All of this is available within the current physical format of IGBT modules and gate drives, whether for new designs or a retrofit of existing systems.
Amantys Power Insight follows the launch of the Amantys Power Drive in November 2011. It will integrate across various application areas, including locomotive traction, medium-voltage motor drives, wind turbine inverters, and high-voltage dc infrastructure.