Application Note

Oscilloscope and High-

Voltage Probe Facilitate
Motor Drive Design
range to 2500 V. The P5100 is
the tool of choice for safe
ground-referenced measure-
ments of high voltages. It’s
UL 3111-1 and IEC 1010 cer-
tified for voltages up to
2500 V DC + peak AC.
The P5100’s high bandwidth
(up to 250 MHz) ensures that
transients and fast signal
edges will be captured intact.
Moreover, the P5100 offers the
rugged physical construction
needed for power measure-
ments. Its special retractable
hook tip provides a positive
connection on test points up
to 6.5 mm in diameter.
The Measurement Objective
A Robicon motor drive sys-
TDS 360 Digital Real-Time Oscilloscope (top); P5100 High-Voltage tem may consist of many
Probe (right). modular power cells, depend-
High-voltage measurements ing on the needs of the cur-
The Importance of High-Voltage
are a common requirement rent application. The cells
Probes
during the design of switch- use Insulated Gate Bipolar
For the purposes of this dis- Transistor (IGBT) devices to
ing power supplies, motor cussion, “high voltage”
controllers, power distribu- deliver power to the load.
denotes any voltage that These IGBTs are controlled
tion systems, and more. Many exceeds the maximum input
general-purpose oscillo- by logic circuits on a separate
voltage range of a conven- board mounted within the
scopes, when equipped with tional DSO equipped with a
suitable probes, are well qual- module. Figure 1 is a simpli-
10X passive probe. For the fied schematic of the power
ified to handle high-voltage TDS 360, the maximum
measurements. The Tektronix section in a Robicon cell.
allowable input voltage is
TDS 360 is a cost-effective In designing the cells, and the
300 V RMS or 424 V DC +
200 MHz Digital Real-Time system as a whole, care must
peak AC when using the stan-
scope aimed at design, manu- be taken to minimize the
dard P6111B Probe.
facturing, and service appli- inductance of the power buses
cations. This application note Many measurement applica- connected to the cell output.
explains the use of the tions exceed these maximum Excessive inductance can
TDS 360 and the P5100 High- ratings, yet require the signal cause “kickback” voltages to
Voltage Passive Probe in to be positioned vertically occur when an IGBT is rapidly
designing a motor drive cell. such that the entire signal switched off. Even though the
The Unit-Under-Test (UUT) amplitude is visible within effective DC supply voltage for
is part of a motor drive sys- the eight vertical divisions on the IGBTs in this cell is
tem from Robicon, Inc., a the scope display. On the approximately 600 volts, kick-
leading provider of conven- TDS 360, signals exceeding back effects can produce tran-
tional and harmonic drives the 424 V DC + peak AC limit sient signals of more than 1300
for high-power AC electric should be attenuated with the volts. Since the IGBT’s break-
motors. The drives are widely Tektronix P5100 High-Volt- down voltage is rated at
used in oil derrick and liquid age Passive Probe. The 1200 V, it’s essential to control
waste pumping systems, air probe’s 100X attenuation these transients. One solution
conditioning equipment, etc. raises the TDS 360’s effective is a “snubber” circuit (a simple

Copyright © 1997 Tektronix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Figure 1. The IGBT power output circuit. “C” is a control signal from the Logic Board; “O” is Figure 2. The IGBT waveform. The transient peak voltage is
the output. Kickback voltage Vmax must not exceed 1200 V. 212 V above nominal, well within the design tolerance.

resistance/capacitance net- Figure 1) is used to monitor Floating Measurement Solutions

work to damp out the tran- the voltage as the IGBT Many power circuits don’t pro-
sients) installed across the col- switches on and off. Note that vide an appropriate earth
lector-emitter elements of the the emitter of the device is ground point for the passive
IGBT. Unfortunately, these connected to ground, a probe ground lead. For exam-
waste precious power and add requirement for safe measure- ple, when the circuit discussed
complexity to the circuit. The ments with any passive probe. above is used in a system such
preferred means of dealing As shown in Figure 2, the as Robicon’s Perfect Harmony
with the problem is to keep P5100’s attenuation (100X) motor drives, the IGBT junc-
bus lengths as short as possi- keeps the waveform ampli- tions are not referenced to
ble, and physically arrange tude within the viewable earth ground. This is known as
them for minimum inductance graticule area discussed ear- a “floating” circuit. Line-pow-
(empirically determined). lier. Note that the scope ered scopes with passive
The oscilloscope can guide senses the probe type and probes offer no safe means of
the designer in making these scales its readings accord- measuring voltage across the
system layout decisions. ingly. Thus the scope’s device in this situation.
Using the TDS 360 and the 2 V/Div setting becomes There are two safe solutions
P5100 High-Voltage Passive 200 V/Div. The cursors also for this problem. Line-pow-
Probe, Test Point 1 (TP1 in recognize the scaling. Here the ered scopes can be fitted with
cursors are set to measure the an isolating differential probe
voltage level of the initial such as the Tektronix P5200
transient – that’s 212 volts High-Voltage Differential
above nominal. If it’s neces- Probe. Neither lead is fixed at
sary to measure the nominal earth ground. The probe mea-
voltage (the stable, flatter por- sures the difference voltage
tion after the transient), the across the two terminals,
cursors can be moved to ignoring the common-mode
bracket that part of the wave- offset voltage.
form. In this instance, the
voltage would be 602 volts. The second choice is a fully-
Both of these values are well isolated, battery-powered
within the tolerance of the scope such as the handheld
IGBT breakdown voltage spec- Tektronix THS 720P. Again,
ification and easily within the neither probe lead is fixed at
limits of the TDS 360/P5100 earth ground, and the instru-
Robicon 454 GT Variable Frequency AC drive (photo courtesy of measurement system. ment itself is not connected
Robicon, Inc.). to ground.

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Copyright © 1997, Tektronix, Inc. All rights reserved. Tektronix products are covered by U.S. and foreign patents, issued and pending.
Information in this publication supersedes that in all previously published material. Specification and price change privileges reserved.
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2/97 TD/XBS 40W–11343–0