Applications of IGBT

Now-a-days the IGBT (Insulated Gate BipolarTransistor) is extensively applied in the transportation, renewable power generation, consumer, aircraft, medical, industrial and financial sectors all worldwide. As a result, billions of people from around the globe are enjoying enhanced comfort, convenience, and quality of life. IGBTs are known for their fantastic efficiency and speedy switching characteristics. These qualities make IGBTs very suitable for applications where saving energy and protecting the environment are very important. IGBTs are being used in almost all sectors of our economy because there isn’t any exact alternative available which can be used in place IGBT and can offer same advantages.

Over the last 20 years, the cumulative influence of the advanced capability of IGBT-powered applications has been an aggregate worth savings of $ 2.7 Trillion for U.S. consumers and $ 15.8 Trillion for consumers all over the world. On the other hand, the developed efficiency generated by IGBT-powered applications has propagated a cumulative lessening in carbon dioxide emissions by 35 Trillion pounds in the United States and 78 Trillion pounds worldwide during the last 20 years. So, the IGBT has already had a key impact to make a sustainable world-wide society with advanced living standards along with alleviating the environmental impact.

After its conception in the early 1980s, the applications for IGBTs have been incessantly spreading. It has already had a great impact on: the transportation sector, the consumer sector, automation sector, industrial sector, medical sector, aerospace sector, marine sector, defense sector; financial sector, power transmission and distribution sector, renewable energy power generation sector and many other sectors of the economy.

What would happen if all the IGBT were removed from the applications that they serve today?” The answer is quite revealing: Our new solar and wind based renewable energy sources would not be able to deliver power to the grid because the inverters would stop functioning. Our gasoline power cars would stop running because the electronic ignition systems would no longer function. Our hybrid electric and electric cars would stop running because the inverters used to deliver power from the batteries to the motors would no longer function. Our electric mass-transit systems would come to a standstill because the inverters used to deliver power from the power-grid to the motors would no longer function. Our air-conditioning systems in homes and offices would stop working because the inverters used to deliver power from the utility company to the heat-pumps and compressors would no longer function. Our refrigerators and vending machines would no longer function making the delivery and storage of perishable products impossible. Our factories would come to a grinding halt because the numerical controls use to run the robots would cease to function. Our new low-energy compact fluorescent bulbs would stop functioning limiting our activities to the daytime. Our portable defibrillators recently deployed in emergency vehicles, on-board airplanes, and in office buildings would no longer be operational putting over 100,000 people at the risk of death from cardiac failure.

In one statement, the quality of life in our society would be greatly deteriorated if the IGBT is no longer available. It’s a blessing of modern science.