Original poster: Vardan <vardan01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi,
I am waiting on orders again so things are slow :-p
I have been studying if SCRs could be used instead of IGBTs, a much
cheaper option, but the high dI/dt punch through problem seems
devastating.... I ordered the "magic" SCR though just to
"try"... They are, again, only available in the "SUPER 247" box...
Two things are now an issue.
1 - I am firing 12000V IGBTs at 900V. If I add just another SIDAC,
I can fire at 1000, 1100, 1150, 1199.9999... I wonder if I am just
wasting headroom on the IGBTs? They are "darn" expensive things and
getting a little more voltage out of them does save serious beer
money... You need some margin for "stuff" and lead
inductances... Maybe a short circuit case is a "bad load"... Not
at all sure... But I don't want to just have "waisted
margin".... Unlike MMCs the 1200V limit is extremely real and
unforgiving... But I got a lot of OVP across it...
Maybe I would be better off using 900V IGBTs closer to the limit
since they are so much cheaper... But more support electronics and
PC board space...
Probably too early to worry about that stuff since it is "just get
ONE working you dummy" time right now :-)))
2 - The "SUPER 247" package from IR is "unique"... A great idea
since eliminating the hole allows room for a lot more die and the
massive copper slab give great thermal transfer!!! I used to write
company internal papers 15 years ago about such things ;-))) They
did everything I told "other" people to do :o))) The super 247 is
also significantly cheaper for the power and this project needs all
the "cheaper" it can get ;-))
However.... There is not a darn "real available commercial
heatsink" out there form them. Nobody mounts a 600W device with a
"clip"... All the TO-220 clip heat sinks are not wide enough for the 247...
So I am thinking of thermal glue like this:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_thermal_adhesive.htm
http://www.siliconacoustics.com/arsiltherad.html
But our case is only like 10W, so maybe just JBweld or "common"
epoxy would work just fine.... I worry about air bubbles in the
layer but with the copper slab that is not a big deal... I used to
work with the latest and greatest things there, but that was stuff I
was glad "I did not have to pay for" (the above silver epoxy is two
orders of magnitude cheaper though...) Non-conductive is real cool
since it can easily shoot arcs over the surface of silver filled
non-conductive epoxies... But I would not trust that property over
time. Best not to be messy with the epoxy ;-)) Isopropyl alcohol
wipes it up real good before it cures... Good Ol' JBweld is very
good at thermal shock and all kinds of real world "not failing"
issues... Probably the best...
It would be wonderful if NO heat sink was needed anyway... But
since this seems nice for lower voltage higher current
systems... I^2R heating will probably need more thermal than just
the SUPER 247 box alone (40C/W)...
Still thinking ;-)) If this all works out, it will be SO cool!!! :-)))
Cheers,
Terry