why is isolation of gate and base drives required

Thread Starter

diya khan

Joined Nov 29, 2010
18
i tried going through various books yo understand why is isolation of gate and base drives required, but no book seemed to make me understand=/

can someone please explain me the reason.

one more thing i wanted to clear, the gate driver circuit means the control circuit right for the switching devices?
and the base driver circuit is the power circuit?
 

Thread Starter

diya khan

Joined Nov 29, 2010
18
Your question is not clear. Can you elaborate? Maybe with a picture/diagram?
ok forget about the second part of the question.If you could just help me with the 1st part of my question:

why is isolation of gate and base drives required?
this is how its mentioned in the book...it says isolation can be done using 2methods, either using pulse transformer or optocouplers.

but before going into the methods, i need to know what does the question actually mean=/
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,284
If the transistor can not share a common ground with the drive signal (such as if the transistor is connected to the mains power) then it must be isolated by some means such as optical or magnetic coupling.

If the transistor can share a common ground with the drive signal than no isolation is needed.
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
It is also more easy to protect the main control unit from noise. Say you want to control a motor that generate a lot of interfrence. If the controller unit is galvanic isolated from the motor and the controlling FET. Electrical noise from the motor is more likely not to interfer with controlling unit. It could also be safety. If you FET control a high voltage unit. Any electrical fault on high voltage side will not go into the low voltage part of the system. If the two system are galvanic isolated
 
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