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Re: Good IGBT List?



Original poster: "Steve Ward" <steve.ward@xxxxxxxxx>

Hi Greg,

There is no definative list of good or bad IGBTs.  For one thing, i
dont think there are enough people qualified to make that judgment.
Many SSTC first-timers might blow up really nice IGBTs and mistakenly
think they are no good.  Even experienced people (id consider myself
experienced in this area) will experience semiconductor failure.  Many
times, given the circumstances, it can be difficult/impossible to know
for sure what the failure mode was, or what caused it.  I usually have
to speculate on the failure, and then revise the design to eliminate
what i think was the cause of failure.

I want to add that, the IGBT you want will vary greatly on
application.  For really big coils, where the resonant frequency is
low, you can tolerate slower IGBTs (that is, slower switching times).
But, for smaller, high frequency coils, you must be very careful to
select the proper IGBT.  This is speaking for SSTC/DRSSTCs.  In the
case of an OLTC or the SISG, the constraints are different.  Switching
speed isnt quite as important.

Id suggest trying to find more information about how IGBTs work, and
then you should be able to decipher the information on the datasheets,
and determine what IGBT looks like it may work for your project.  Of
course, there is always a trade-off with cost.

Steve Ward

On 11/3/06, Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Original poster: G Hunter <dogbrain_39560@xxxxxxxxx>

I may be behind the times here. Does a good IGBT / bad
IGBT list already exist, similar to the good cap / bad
cap list?

DigiKey, Mouser, and others offer so many hundreds of
different IGBTs, it's just overwhelming. Even when I
do zero in on a spec sheet, as a non-engineer, I'm not
always sure what I'm looking at.

I confess I did not consult the list archives.  Is the
info already in there?

Greg