John Mitchell, global business development manager of maintenance and repair specialist CP Automation, looks at the dangers of taking your IGBT for granted
Many drives manufacturers design and build their products with a seventh Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), in the form of a brake chopper, incorporated into the device.
Manufacturers often include a brake chopper up to a certain size of inverter, but beyond that size, they will expect customers to use an external unit.
However, to reduce the cost of the drive to the end user, the seventh IGBT isn’t necessarily rated to the full power rating of the drive itself. [Read more…] about Technical insight: The brake chopper size conundrum