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Registered Member #2292
Joined: Fri Aug 14 2009, 05:33PM
Location: The Wild West AKA Arizona
Posts: 795
All right so I have finalized the files and hosted them on my website for anyone to use. I also have some basic information on using the board. I have also tested the board in one of my DRSSTC and found it to be working well.
Keep in mind that this is a very new board so take care to check things as you go. If you find an error in any of the files, BOM, board, schematic, etc... Please let me know so I can correct it.
Also call it a happy mistake but I like the 7mm inductors better than the 10mm inductors. They are a lot easier to tune because you can adjust them with a small non conductive flat head screwdriver (like an O-scope probe tool ) The 10mm inductors needed a non conductive allen wrench, not an easy thing to find... Needles to say the board will keep the 7mm footprint.
Write up and files can be found here ->
Please give feedback, I will be looking for other things to add to the next revision. (UVLO is already on the list)
Registered Member #7267
Joined: Tue Oct 16 2012, 12:16AM
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Posts: 407
Hi. Thanks for uploading the files!
One question,
Where do you get your boards manufactured/what would you recommend? I did the "PCB QUOTE" thing directly from eagle, it seems like there are a few options on sunstone, for example Quickturn Proto-Boards and ValueProto Boards etc.. I'm only interested in getting a few boards made, and have never gone this route before (usually etch my own boards). Thanks very much.
P.S. - On the BOM for R9, R14, R4, R6, R26, the quantity says 2 instead of 5, and for R7, R27, the quantity says 1 instead of 2. I didnt take a real close look at the schematic so I don't know if some of these parts are no longer used or which might be wrong either the reference or the quantity, just thought I'd let you know
Registered Member #2292
Joined: Fri Aug 14 2009, 05:33PM
Location: The Wild West AKA Arizona
Posts: 795
Physics Junkie:
My preferred choice of board Fab is usually AP circuits for small quantities (2-6 boards), high quality and quick turn. This is where I had the board pictured above made.
Advanced Circuits, aka 4pcb, here in phoenix is also another good choice but is usually more cost effective only if you buy in large batches.
Lastly if you want to go really cheap but are willing to wait a month or so, Batch PCB is a good choice.
Just an FYI the gerber files are already done (they are in the zip file called gerbers) so no need to re-process them unless you plan to make a change.
Nice catch on the BOM! I just updated Steve Ward's original BOM, I guess I missed that one. All fixed! Thanks.
Sigurthr:
The scope is a Rigol DS4035 and the current probe is a Pearson 110, both great instruments, I would highly recommend both. That dummy load also got crazy hot and I nearly dropped it on my foot because I wasn't expecting a 25lb block of steal to heat up as much as it did with only 150A of primary current.
Registered Member #7267
Joined: Tue Oct 16 2012, 12:16AM
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Posts: 407
Boards and components arrived in the mail today. Can't wait to put it together. I did catch one more mistake in the BOM (I swear its the last one ) C14, C17, C33 has quantity of 2 instead of 3.
I went with AP circuits, they were really easy to order, extremely fast production and shipping, quality looking board too. I will let you know how the board turns out. Thanks!!
Registered Member #2292
Joined: Fri Aug 14 2009, 05:33PM
Location: The Wild West AKA Arizona
Posts: 795
Thanks for the catch! Excuse my BOM I only spent like 20mins updating it. hehe
Good luck with it! I look foreword to seeing how someone else does with it. Personally I have only had it in one coil so far. Will be good to get another tester on it.
EDIT:
Also after testing a bit more I found that the board likes the schottky better in place of the 1N4148 in the feedback network chopper. I have to explore this at higher fres but at 109Khz putting shottky in place of the 4148s drastically reduced the first cycle voltage transient.
For reference I'm talking about diodes D1 and D2
Here are my results, maybe someone else can also try this and verify the results.
This setup is of a CM300DY-H full bridge at 109KHz
1N4148:
MBR0530:
I'm still trying to figured out what causes the first cycle ringing in the first place. I have been toying with the idea of the comparator reference and diode copper reference being at different values. I tested this and it didn't help much.
I have also been thinking that it takes at least one cycle of current though the inductor before it accurately starts "predicting" a phase lead signal. This still makes the most sense to me. I have some simulations that support this idea, but I'm not 100% on it yet.
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
Hey Eric
The ringing looks like a diode recovery transient caused by hard switching. The switching in the second half-cycle is a little bit late, so the current has already passed through zero and commutated from the IGBT to the diode. When the other IGBT finally gets round to switching on, the diode that was carrying the current gets a forced recovery.
It could be that if you tune for soft switching at high current, it doesn't work so well at low current. The turn-off delay time in the IGBT is a function of the current. Also, if your feedback network has bias or hysteresis, that will introduce a delay that gets bigger at low currents. (As the current feedback signal gets smaller, the voltage required to trip the feedback comparator gets to be a significant fraction of it, so the trip point moves away from the zero crossing.)
The energy dissipated in a hard switching event depends on the current too, so if you get some hard switching at low current, it's no big deal. It might look untidy, but it's unlikely to blow anything.
Registered Member #2292
Joined: Fri Aug 14 2009, 05:33PM
Location: The Wild West AKA Arizona
Posts: 795
Steve Conner wrote ...
Hey Eric
The ringing looks like a diode recovery transient caused by hard switching. The switching in the second half-cycle is a little bit late, so the current has already passed through zero and commutated from the IGBT to the diode. When the other IGBT finally gets round to switching on, the diode that was carrying the current gets a forced recovery.
It could be that if you tune for soft switching at high current, it doesn't work so well at low current. The turn-off delay time in the IGBT is a function of the current. Also, if your feedback network has bias or hysteresis, that will introduce a delay that gets bigger at low currents. (As the current feedback signal gets smaller, the voltage required to trip the feedback comparator gets to be a significant fraction of it, so the trip point moves away from the zero crossing.)
The energy dissipated in a hard switching event depends on the current too, so if you get some hard switching at low current, it's no big deal. It might look untidy, but it's unlikely to blow anything.
Steve that makes a lot of sense. I figured it was switching late on the first cycle, I was just wondering what caused it. Let me see what your thoughts are on this simulation:
In simulation it looks to me like the voltage out of the phase lead network has significantly less phase lead than then when it's at a higher input current. Consequently it doesn't even look like you get any lead until the second half cycle. After the first half cycle the amount of lead doesn't seem to change much with input current, it stays rather constant.
I'm not supper worried about the first cycle ringing, I have lived with it sense I started using phase lead. I'm just a little OCD about electronics, and if I can make it perfect I must try!
this is looking really nice! since we have all been building and revising each other's hardware would you guys be willing to make these officially open source or GPL? it would be cool if 4HV had a open source hardware repository right along with the wiki
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Universal DRSSTC Driver V2.5 (Sold Out)
) The 10mm inductors needed a non conductive allen wrench, not an easy thing to find... Needles to say the board will keep the 7mm footprint. 
