Empowering the "Chip" Field | Thermal Cameras Help IGBT Thermal Detection

IGBT(The Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) is a core device for energy conversion and transmission, commonly known as the "heart" of power electronic devices.It can adjust the voltage, current, frequency, phase, etc. in a circuit according to signal instructions in the device to achieve the purpose of precise regulation. As a product of the national strategic emerging industry, it is widely used in electric vehicles and new energy equipment, rail transit, smart grids, aerospace, and other fields.

IGBT modules generate a lot of heat during operation, which mainly comes from the power loss of IGBT chips. In order to prevent the chip from being damaged by excessive temperature, it is necessary to effectively conduct away the heat generated on the IGBT chip. Heat dissipation performance directly affects the life and stability of an IGBT module.

01 Project Background

A large chip manufacturer mainly produces IGBT module-based products, which are widely used and the manufacturer is completely independent in terms of R&D, design, assembly, and production. This customer needs to measure the operating temperature curves of each submodule and the whole machine of IGBT at different powers, the maximum temperature, and the stable operating temperature during the production and R&D process, identify whether the temperature of the silver wire is normal under different power drives, the heat resistance of parts and components of a product, as well as the heat dissipation trend chart of the entire module, and collect test data for subsequent module improvements.

02 Project Pain Points

➤Traditional detection has errors
The traditional thermocouple detection method is mainly based on thermocouple measurement. When a customer approaches a thermocouple sensor to the contact point of a radiator (silicone material) for temperature data collection, there is a certain error between the collected temperature and the actual temperature.

➤Traditional detection is low in efficiency
Using thermocouples to measure temperature allows only single-point tests and tests on radiators. The test results are helpful for the normal operation of IGBTs, but have no reference value for IGBT manufacturers in production and research and development. The authenticity of data obtained by traditional methods also requires repeated verification.

03 Demand Analysis

In response to the above demand,we need to meet the user's needs for accurate temperature collection, non-contact temperature measurement, and "surface" temperature analysis, and the use of thermal imaging technology is undoubtedly the best solution.

Thermal imaging technology allows not only intuitively seeing the heating condition of IGBT during operation and whether the heating is normal, but also monitoring and troubleshooting abnormal heat dissipation of submodules in advance to avoid faults caused by overheating of wires due to too close silver wires or high current of modules, thus affecting the normal working stability of products. Moreover, the temperature data detected via thermal imaging is displayed and stored in a timely manner, which is convenient for users to perform report analysis and data comparison.

04 Product Recommendation

The customer chose the PS600+ wide-angle lens configuration for R&D testing. The infrared resolution of this thermal imaging camera is as high as 640×480, and with the built-in super-resolution algorithm it can reach an infrared resolution of 1280×960, with excellent image quality. Its temperature measurement range covers -40°C–2,000°C, and it supports comprehensive temperature analysis of 20 points/lines/areas at the same time.

During an actual test, when measuring the temperature of the heat dissipation module, it is necessary to apply high-temperature tape to prevent the reflected infrared from affecting the real value and affecting the measurement results.

Combined with the PS600's intelligent calculation of target area, flexible setting of emissivity and laser rangefinding in different areas, as well as 0.4s ultra-fast focusing speed and multiple professional functions, this product is sufficient to cope with various complex temperature measurement scenarios.

05 Project Value