336 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 49, NO. 2, APRIL 2002 New Solutions for a Low-Cost Power Electronic Building Block for Matrix Converters Christian Klumpner, Member, IEEE, Peter Nielsen, Ion Boldea, Fellow, IEEE, and Frede Blaabjerg, Senior Member, IEEE Abstract—This paper analyzes some aspects of integrating the matrix converter (MC) bidirectional switches into a power module. The analysis produces two optimal topologies for a power module: one for low-power and another for medium/high-power MCs. A new power module topology for a low-power three-phase-to-three- phase MC is proposed. By using bootstrap circuits to feed the gate- drivers, the proposed configuration requires only three insulated power supplies for a complete MC. This proposal constitutes a so- lution recommended in the low-power range, where low cost and low volume are the main objectives. Furthermore, a configuration of a power electronic building block for MCs is proposed. This in- cludes the commutation control logic and the overcurrent protec- tion, provides safe operation, and eliminates the specific problem of operating the bidirectional switches. Index Terms—AC–AC power conversion, bidirectional switch, bootstrap circuit, packaging, power electronic building block, power integrated circuits. I. INTRODUCTION D URING THE last 15 years, many matrix converter (MC) prototypes have been reported in the literature [1]–[11]. Almost all those prototypes were built using discrete power de- vices. The use of a specially designed three-phase-to-one-phase (3 /1 ) power module with bidirectional switches has been first reported in 1996 [1], and later in 1997 [2] and 1999 [3]–[5]. The purposes of integrating the bidirectional switches into a power module are: • to reduce the volume occupied by the silicon components; • to reduce the number of interconnections, with the influ- ence on reducing the leakage inductance on the power stage and on reducing the manufacturing costs; • to allow an optimal integration of the hardware protec- tion and the commutation control logic inside the gate- driver board, in order to develop a reliable power elec- tronic building block for MC applications. Manuscript received April 17, 2001; revised August 6, 2001. Abstract pub- lished on the Internet January 9, 2002. This work was supported by the Innova- tion Post-Doctoral Programme of the Danish Research Councils under Contract 2013-01-0045 and by Danfoss Drives A/S. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Rome, Italy, October 8–12, 2000. C. Klumpner and F. Blaabjerg are with the Institute of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg East, Denmark (e-mail: ck@iet.auc.dk; fbl@iet.auc.dk). P. Nielsen is with Danfoss Drives A/S, DK-6300 Graasten, Denmark (e-mail: peter_nielsen@danfoss.dk). I. Boldea is with the Department of Electrical Machines and Drives, “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, RO-1900 Timisoara, Romania (e-mail: boldea@lselinux.utt.ro). Publisher Item Identifier S 0278-0046(02)02889-7. The converter power range is an important criterion in choosing the optimal power module topology. In dc-link voltage source inverters (VSIs), this aspect has led to the optimal power module topology of today’s industrial frequency converters. In the low-power range (below 15 kW which uses 15–50-A devices), the manufacturers integrate all the silicon devices inside a single power module: the IGBTs, the fast re- covery diodes (FRDs), the rectifier diodes, the braking chopper, and the temperature sensor. In the medium- and high-power ranges (above 15 kW), the device manufacturers integrate into a dual-pack power module a single inverter leg or, alternately, a six-pack IGBT module is used as an inverter leg. The differences are justified by the specific production costs, by the cooling problems, and also by the gate-driver complexity. In the high-power range, where the converter efficiency and reliability are more important than the cost, the IGBT gate driver has to accomplish other functions: active turn-on/turn-off switching used in reducing the commutation losses or in paralleling the IGBTs [12], [13] and in the imple- mentation of the overcurrent protection. All these features are based on monitoring the collector–emitter voltage of the IGBT. As a result, the power module and the gate-driver board should be designed to match each other with minimized size, power loss, and number of terminals, allowing the user to build the converter without taking into account specific (hard- ware-level) problems of operating and protecting the switches. Starting with an analysis of the requirements for a power module topology and depending on the power range, two bidirectional switch topologies using common collector (CC) and common emitter (CE) anti-paralleled IGBTs are analyzed. Using a classical approach (symmetry of the power module topology) and depending on the power range, two optimal solutions for a MC power module are proposed. Approaching the integration in a nonsymmetrical way, a new topology of a 3 /3 matrix converter using a reduced number of insulated gate-driver power supplies can be obtained. The same topology allows the reduction of the clamp circuit diodes, leading to a cheap 3 /3 low-power matrix converter solution. A new configuration of a practical power electronic building block (PEBB) for MCs is also proposed. This includes the bidirectional switch commutation logic, the protections, and the gate-driver circuits. In this way, the specific problem of operating with bidirectional switches are eliminated. II. ANALYSIS OF THE BIDIRECTIONAL SWITCH TOPOLOGIES The industrial development of the MC has been obstructed by the lack of a force-commutated bidirectional switch. Using uni- 0278-0046/02$17.00 © 2002 IEEE