Accurate Electrothermal Modeling of High Frequency DC–DC Converters With Discrete IGBTs in PLECS Software

In this article, a novel and improved method of the IGBT junction temperature computations in the PLECS simulation software is presented. The developed method aims at accuracy of the junction temperature computations in PLECS by utilizing a more sophisticated model of transistor losses and by taking into account variability of transistor thermal resistance as a function of its temperature. A detailed description of the proposed method, as well as the parameter estimation procedure, is given. The method is verified experimentally for the case of a dc–dc boost converter. Any discrepancies between simulations and measurements are discussed in detail. The proposed method is well-suited for accurate electrothermal circuit-level simulations of power electronics converters.