Online Monitoring Local Junction Temperature of High-Power Thyristors Based on Peak Stray Gate Current

The nonuniform current distribution in high-power thyristors leads to a significant rise in local junction temperature (
T_lj
), potentially threatening the reliability of high-power thyristors. For online monitoring
T_lj
, a novel temperature-sensitive electrical parameter method was proposed based on peak stray gate current (
i_psg
). First, simplified turn-
off
models for high-power thyristors with an amplifying gate were set up to explore the variations of gate-cathode voltage and stray gate current in the turn-
off
transition. Subsequently, the theoretical relationship between
i_psg
and
T_lj
was established. Significantly, the physical meaning of
T_lj
was illustrated by the theoretical relationship and the temperature distribution simulation. Next, the feasibility of the proposed method was verified by the temperature calibration experiment. Considering self-heating, the temperature sensitivity is 89 mA/°C at a thyristor voltage of 1.0 kV, which increases with increasing thyristor voltage. Finally, an online monitoring
T_lj
case was carried out based on a tunnel magnetoresistance current sensor. The proposed method is easy to implement and is capable of measuring local junction temperature concerning major heat generation regions, which is suitable for high-voltage applications.