Envelop tracking based embedded current measurement for monitoring of IGBT and power converter system.

Health monitoring of the power conversion system is very important. Therefore, we developed a new method for measuring IGBT currents and reproducing average load current to monitor IGBTs. This method was successfully tested on an experimental setup which showed that the tiny PCB sensors can be integrated into intelligent power modules. We proposed an inexpensive analogue circuit which is suitable for capturing current information from a tiny PCB Rogowski coil. The sensors and corresponding circuit can be embedded into an Intelligent Power Module. The method was named “Envelop tracking” as it simultaneously measures the currents of the high and low side switches of a power converter and reproduces the upper and lower edges of the load current which can be averaged by further digital processing.