8th International Conference on Power Electronics - ECCE Asia

May 30-June 3, 2011, The Shilla Jeju, Korea

[WeP1-097]

The Loss Calculation of RCD Snubber with Forward and Reverse

Recovery Effects Considerations
Chen Cai, Pei Xue-jun, Chen Yu and Kang Yong
College of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China
Abstract-- This paper addresses the problem of turn-off
and turn-on performances of a RCD snubber circuit in high
power inverter that works with insulated gate bipolar
transistor (IGBT). The RCD snubber circuit turn-off and
turn-on dynamics, forward and reverse recovery effects of
the associated freewheeling and snubber diodes, and
corresponding snubber losses are analyzed. Voltage impacts
occur across the snubber resistor due to the snubber diodes
forward and reverse recovery effects, which bring in
additional snubber losses. The turn-on current rising rates
have two parts due to the anti-parallel free-wheeling diode
(FWD) reverse recovery current that will influence the RCD
loss. Moreover, the snubber has the same clamping effect as
turn-off due to the anti-parallel FWDs reverse recovery
current. In addition, the proposed analysis was
experimentally verified, the snubber loss are presented and
discussed in the paper. Moreover, a well-designed
temperature measurement is proposed to evaluate the loss.
Index TermsSnubber, forward
recovery, free-wheeling diode

recovery,

reverse

drops loss due to the turn-on current increase effect on

the circuit parasitic inductance.
Most of the RCD snubber calculation proposed so far
in the literature regarded the IGBT as an ideal switch ,
but in fact the switches are not ideal[4-5]. The forward and
reverse recovery processes of snubber diode and antiparallel FWDs[5] will bring in additional snubber losses.
As shown in Fig. 2(a), not only the turning-off period of
the switches (i.e., the falling edge of idc), but also the
turning-on period (i.e., the rising edge of idc) will occur
voltage spikes and impact at the snubber resistor in a
single-phase inverter. In addition, the turn-on current
rising rates have two parts due to the anti-parallel FWD
reverse recovery current which also influences the RCD
loss. Moreover, the snubber has the same clamping effect
as turn-off for the anti-parallel L FWDs recovery current,
as shown in Fig. 2(b), the snubber capacitor is charged at
turn-on.

I. INTRODUCTION
To limit the voltage spike and dv/dt of the sinusoidal
pulse width modulated (SPWM) inverter, the snubber
circuits across IGBTs are necessary. Due to the simple
structure and reliable performance, the conventional RCD
clamp circuit, as shown in Fig.1, is still widely used in
the high power applications [1]. Since the RCD snubber is
dissipative, the clamped voltage and the snubber loss
should be compromised. In the traditional analysis, the
snubber loss is usually determined by the ideal turn-off
process of the switches, thus, can only provide an
approximate calculation result [2].When the switch turns
off, the current flows through the snubber diode to the
snubber capacitor until it is charged to the circuit voltage.
When the switch turns on, energy stored on the capacitor
is dissipated on the snubber resistor. A more detailed
calculation in [3] considered the switch turn-on voltage

Fig. 2.

Fig. 1.

RCD snubber circuit.

(a). Snubber resistor voltage transitions. (b) Snubber

capacitor voltage transitions.

Against the general analysis, this paper will recalculate the power loss by considering the effects of
diodes forward and reverse recovery processes, so as
getting a more exact result. The effects of the forward

978-1-61284-957-7/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

recovery on the RCD snubber will be analyzed in section

II; Based on the analysis the RCD circuit loss will be
calculated in section II; The performance of the proposed
snubber is evaluated on a 75kVA single-phase inverter in
section III; In section IV a temperature measurement of
evaluation RCD snubber circuit power losses is presented.
Experimental results are well consistent with theoretical
analytical results.
II. OPERATING PRINCIPLES AND LOSSES CALACULATION
Due to the existing of diodes forward and reverse
recovery effects, the IGBT turn-off and turn-on operating
principles will significantly be different from the ideal or

Fig. 3.

simplify analysis. Moreover, it is commonly believed that

IGBT turn-on didnt cause voltage spike, but in actual the
spike is exist duo to the anti-parallel FWDs reverse
recovery current
So, in this section the turn-off and turn-on operating
principles of RCD snubber circuit in a single-phase
inverter are proposed, and a more precise loss calculating
result is given.
A. Snubber Events at Turn-off
During IGBT conduction period, the snubber
capacitors are charged to the bus voltage. While the
IGBT is turned off, the voltage across it rises rapidly. The
circuit dc loop stray inductance may cause to rise above

(a) T1 turn-off Operating modes. (b) T1 turn-off waveforms.

the bus voltage. As this occurs, the snubber diode is

forward biased, and the snubber is activated. The energy
trapped in the stray inductance now is diverted to the
snubber capacitor, which absorbs this incremental energy
without substantial rise in its voltage. A detailed analysis
of the circuit can be performed based on operation modes
given in Fig. 3(a), and the relevant waveforms are shown
in Fig. 3(b). Where idc is the DC-link current, vT1, vRsn,
and vCsp are the voltage across T1, down snubber resistor
Rsn, and upper snubber capacitors Csp respectively.
Taking the forward and reverse recovery of snubber
diode into consider, there are five modes, as shown in Fig.
3, and they are described precisely as follow:
Mode 1 (t0<t<t1): Prior to mode 1, T1 and T4 conduct
the load current. After T1 applying turn-off command,
the collector voltage rises slowly for the large input gate
collector Miller capacitor, and the idc is almost zero, the
RCD clamp circuit is invalid.
Mode 2 (t1<t<t2): At t1, the voltage across T1 vT1(t)

Fig. 4. (a)

rises rapidly, whereas the DC-link current idc(t) decreases

slowly. This is because of the discharge of the equivalent
parasitic capacitor Cd2 of T2s anti-parallel FWD D2. As
the vT1(t) is lower than the DC voltage Vdc, the RCD
clamp circuit is also invalidation.
Mode 3 (t2<t<t3): At t2, vT1(t2)=Vdc. After t2, due to the
circuit stray inductance Ls and the anti-parallel FWD D2s
maximum forward recovery voltage VFM, vT1(t) reaches
the maximum value VT1-peak at the moment of t3.
Meanwhile, the snubber capacitor Csp starts to be charged
and because of the forward recovery voltage of Dc the
snubber resistor voltage vRsn accrues peak value VFM.
Thus, this voltage will cause a little loss during the turnoff period.
Mode 4 (t3<t<t4): After t3, the D2 and Ds1 are forwardbias. Only the circuit stay inductance Ls causes a voltage
rise due to the decrease rate of idc(t). The capacitor Csp
continues charging to the maximum value Vc_pk_off, and
the resistor Rsn is cut-off during this interval, the energy
trapped in the circuit stray inductance stores into the

T1 turn-on Operating modes. (b) T1 turn-on waveforms.

inductance is forward positive. The voltage vT1(t) drops

rapidly due to the positive inductance voltage, and during
this interval, the voltage vT2(t) is zero for the anti-parallel
FWD D2 still conducting part of the load current. Hence,
a large voltage drop occurs across the inverter bridges
due to the large positive voltage across inverter DC-link
stray inductance, forcing the voltage of snubber resistors
Rsp and Rsn drop rapidly, whereas the snubber capacitors
discharge slowly. This voltage drop causes a relatively
large loss Edrop1 in turn-on transient as shown in Fig. 4(b).
Mode 2 (t1<t<t2): At t1, idc(t1)=Io. After t1, the DC-link
current idc(t) still rises unlike the ideal condition idc(t)
didn't increase any more, this is because the negative antiparallel FWD D2s reverse recovery current, and at t=t2
the idc(t2) reaches the maximum value which equals to the
maximum value of D2s reverse recovery current IRM
adding the load current Io, and the current rising rate is
decided by iD2(t)/dt. At the same time, the voltage drop of
Rsp and Rsn reaches zero at t2. In this mode, the vRsn/p(t)
decreases because of the decrease rate of iD2(t)/dt, also
this part also has a large loss Edrop2 as shown in Fig. 4(b).
Mode 3 (t2<t<t3): After t2, the idc(t) starts to decrease
for anti-parallel FWD D2 reverse recovery. So the

snubber capacitor Csp.

Mode 5 (t>t4): At t4, the snubber diode Ds1 is under
reverse recovery condition, so the voltage of resistor
occurs a sudden voltage drop peak VRM. This voltage also
causes loss as the VFM in Mode 3. After t5, T1 has been
turned off. The load current flows through T4 and antiparallel diode of T2. And the energy saved in the snubber
capacitor is dissipated through the resistor Rsp, and this
process causes a main loss in T1s turn-off transient.
B. Snubber Events at Turn-on
IGBT turn-on period analysis will differ from the
traditional analysis due to the anti-parallel FWDs reverse
recovery phenomenon. This effect will induce two more
losses to the RCD clamp circuit during the IGBT turn-on
transient. Various modes of operation are shown in Fig.
4(a) and the relevant key waveforms are shown in Fig.
4(b). And they are described precisely as follow:
Mode 1 (t0<t<t1): Prior to Mode 1, T2 anti-parallel
FWD D2 and T4 carries the load current. Mode 1 starts at
t0, T1 gets the turn-on command, the current idc(t) rises
quickly to the value of load currents Io at the time of t1.
For the rising rate of didc(t)/dt, the voltage of circuit stray

Transitions

TABLE I
RCD SNUBBER LOSS CALCULATION RESULTS
Mode
Loss calculation
M1
\
M2
\
2
VFM
t f
3Rsn

E forward

M3

(1)

M4

Ereverse

Turn-off

Ec _ off

M5

Vc _ pk _ off

2
VRM
tf
3Rsn

(2)

1
Csn / p Vc2_ pk _ off  VCs2 0
2
LI
VCs 0  s o (1  cos Z0t fi )
t fi

(3)
(4)

Z0 1/ Ls Csp

(5)
2

Edrop1

M1

Edrop 2
M2

tri td

tri

tri

R
 sn t
LI
L
s o (1  e s ) dt
R
t
2
sn ri

icp2 (t )dt

E forward
Ereverse
Ec _ on

Vc _ pk _ on

2
VFM
t f
3Rsn / p

(8)

(9)

2
VRM
t f
3Rsn / p

(10)

1
Csn / p Vc2_ pk _ on  VCs2 0
2
LI
VCs 0  s RM (1  cos Z0t cf )
t cf

(6)

(7)

sn
 sn t
tri I
Ls I RM
L
I
 s [e Ls ( o  I RM )  o ] e Ls
tri
tri
2 Rsntd 2Rsn

M3

M4

icp2 (t )dt

icp (t )
Turn-on

tri

(11)
(1)

decrease rate of idc(t)/dt causes circuit stray inductance Ls

a reverse voltage, adding the D2 reverse recovery voltage
to T2, thus, vT2(t) occurs a maximum voltage VT2-peak.
Hence, due to the voltage peak, the RCD clamp circuit
comes into work. So, at t3, the capacitor Csn/p continues
charging to the maximum value Vc_pk_on. Also as the turnoff period of Mode 3, this process brings snubber diode
forward recovery voltage loss.
Mode 4 (t> t3): As mentioned in Mode 5 of turn-off
operation analysis, this process brings snubber diodes
reverse recovery voltage loss. After snubber diodes
reverse recovery, the T1 has been turned on, and T2 has
been turned off. Hence, T1 and T4 carries the load
current, the DC-link current idc(t)=Io. At the same time,
the energy saved in the snubber capacitor during Mode 3
is dissipated through the resistor Rsn/p, and this interval
also causes a large value of loss Ec_on as shown in Fig.
4(b).
C. RCD Snubber Loss Calculation
According to the above RCD snubber circuit operation
processes analysis, the RCD clamp circuit losses mainly
form by eight parts. And applying Kirchoffs voltage law
(KVL) and Kirchoffs current law (KCL) in each mode,
the detailed loss calculation results can be calculated as
shown in Table I, in which VFM , VRM, and tf are the
snubber diode maximum forward voltage, maximum
reverse voltage and fall time respectively; tfi and tri are the
IGBT fall time and rise time respectively; IRM, td, and tf
are anti-parallel FWDs maximum reverse recovery

Fig. 5.

TABLE II
COMPONENT VALUES OF THE SINGLE-PHASE INVERTER
Parameter
Value
Csn/p
8F
Rsn/p
20
VFM/VRM
50V
tf
200ns
Io
200A
fsw
3kHz
Ls
280nH
IGBT
FZ2400R17KF6C B2
IRM
400A
tri
400ns
td
1.5s
tf
1.5s

voltage, current fall to IRMs time, and DC-link current

recovery to load currents time.
The total loss dissipated by Rsn/p can be obtained by
equ. (1-12), as follow.

Er _ loss

4( E forward  Ereverse )  Ec _ off

 2 Ec _ on  2( Edrop1  Edrop 2 )

     (13)

And Total loss Wr_loss in one cycle can be obtained.

Wr _ loss

f sw Er _ loss

(14)

Table II shows the key parameters for the calculation

of the RCD clamp circuit losses in the 75kVA singlephase inverter with 230Vrms output voltage and 200A
load current. Applying equ. (1-14) , the RCD loss can be
accurately calculated.

T1 turn-off main transient waveforms.

Fig. 6.

T1 turn-on main transient waveforms.

component and VRC=31V.

Hence the total loss can be simplified. According to
the inverter parameters the total loss in one cycle can be
obtained Wr_loss=60.3W, in which the snubber diode
forward and reverse losses are small, and the capacitor
discharging and turn-on voltage drop loss are very large.
III. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

Fig. 7.

Snubber capacitor voltage and DC-link current

waveforms.

However, due to the PWM method, the initial value of

snubber capacitor voltage VCs0 is varied with the
switching of IGBT, so VCs0 is difficult to gain. Thus, the
Ec_on and Ec_off is complex. Hence, an directly snubber
resistor loss calculation method is used, applying snubber
resistor voltages low frequency part (PWM waveform)
as an sinusoidal waveform which is caused by snubber
capacitors discharging loss during IGBT turn-off and
turn-on respectively. And the snubber resistor loss ERC
can be expressed as,

ERC

Ec _ off  2 Ec _ on

2
VRC
/ Rsn / p

(15)

Where VRC is the snubber resistor fundamental

A 75kVA single-phase with RCD clamp snubber

circuit has been built and evaluated. The switching
frequency is 3 kHz with single pole double frequency
modulation method. A PEM current probe (type CWT3)
was used to measure the DC-link current. A Tektronix
high voltage probe (type P5100) was used to measure the
IGBT, snubber resistor and snubber capacitor voltages.
Fig. 5 shows T1 and snubber resistor transient voltage
waveforms when T1 turned off. Fig. 5(a)(b) and Fig.
5(c)(d) show the T1 voltage, DC-link current waveforms,
and snubber resistor voltage while T1 turns off. It can be
seen that vRsn, idc, and vT1 have the same trajectory as
mentioned in Sec. II, well-agreed with the analysis of
snubber turn-off transient. In Fig. 5(d), the snubber
resistor losses can be obviously obtained, combined by 3
parts (Eforward, Ereverse, and Ec_off), also the VFM and VRM are
shown in the figure. So, the RCD clamp circuit turn-off
losses can be calculated applying equ. (1-5).
Fig. 6 shows T2 and snubber resistor voltages, while
T1 turn-on. Fig.7 shows the snubber capacitor voltage

waveform while IGBTs switch. In Fig. 6(a)(b), while T1

turns on, due to the anti-parallel FWDs reverse recovery
current vT2 has a voltage spike. Moreover, the voltage
spike causes the snubber capacitor charged, as shown in
Fig. 7(edge1 and edge 2). It can be seen from Fig6. (c)(d)
that the turn-on experimental waveforms well-agreed
with the Sec. IIs turn-on analysis. As marked in Fig6. (d),
there are five parts(Edrop1, Edrop2, and Ec_on etc.) energy
losses in T1 turn-on process. Especially, when idc
increases to the value of load current Io, the turn-on
voltage drop energy is departed into two parts duo to the
anti-parallel FWDs reverse current. Moreover, it can be
observed that after the idc reaches steady state vale Io,
there is a large loss Ec_on dissipated through the snubber
resistor.
IV. LOSS MEASUREMENT
A. Experimental Setup

Differ from the reference [8], we just concern about

the snubber resistor loss. So, in order to eliminate the
effect of disturbances from other thermal components of
the inverter, meanwhile accurately obtain the loss, the
snubber resistor must connect to the inverter in the real
work condition. Thus, the snubber resistor is placed and
connected outside of the inverter as shown in Fig. 8. Then,
the snubber resistor loss is evaluated by a varied
sinusoidal wave input power.
In Fig. 8(a), the snubber resistor (called the actual
inverter) is placed outside the inverter in an insulated box,
reduced the effect of disturbances from the outside
environment. Then powered up the inverter, and a
temperature rising curve can be sketched. On the other
hand, the snubber resistor is connected with an external
individual 50Hz sinusoidal wave power (called the
dummy inverter) as shown in Fig. 8(b). By varying the
voltage value of the power supply to the different
components, a temperature rising curve that is similar to
the one obtained in the actual inverter is achieved. So
through the direct measure method, the RCD clamp
circuit loss can be exactly evaluated.
B. Losses Evaluation
Based on the above temperature measurement method,
snubber resistor temperature is measured in the actual
inverter and dummy inverter respectively. Fig. 9 shows
the temperature record curves by varied the input
sinusoidal voltage and working in real condition. The
RCD snubber circuit loss can be observed from the
temperature curves. The red line is the temperature curve
in actual inverter as a benchmark. Then varying the input
sinusoidal wave voltage value, an estimated temperature
can be found.
In Fig. 9, it can be observed that the 35V sinusoidal
wave input curve is similar to the benchmark curve (red
line). So the snubber loss in one period can be
approximately calculated about 61W. And the above loss
evaluation value is consistent with the Sec. II part Cs
calculation result.

Fig. 8.

Measurement setup schematic

Measuring power loss accurately is of great

importance for power electronics systems design and for
assessing system performance and reliability. Popular
methods of power loss evaluation are electrical methods
and calorimetric methods [7-8]. Electrical methods bring
significantly errors in loss measurement due to
limitations of the employed measurement system, so
these methods cant accurately obtain converter
components losses. Whereas, converter components
losses can be accurately obtain using calorimetric
methods with well-designed temperature measurement.
Moreover, due to the SPWM inverter the RCD clamp
circuit losses have high frequency components. So the
electrical methods cant accurately evaluate the loss value.
Hence, According to the reference [7], a method of loss
evaluation that is based on the measurement of
temperatures of snubber resistor of the converter is
explored to obtain the RCD clamp circuit losses.

Fig. 9.

Temperature record curves

V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a detailed analysis of RCD snubber
turn-off and turn-on operating principles are given,
considering diodes forward and reverse recovery
effects. In turn-off and turn-on period the snubber diode

forward and reverse recovery import additional losses.

Meanwhile, the anti-parallel FWDs reverse recovery
effect also imports a great deal of loss in turn-on. And
the circuit loss is precisely re-calculated based on the
analysis. The experimental results are given, which
validate the RCD snubber circuit operating principles.
In addition, a temperature measurement is welldesigned and an exactly loss value is obtained to verify
the RCD snubber circuit loss calculation result, and the
loss measurement result is consistent with the calculated
results.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by Natural Science Foundation
of China under Grant 50807047 and Delta Power
Electronics Science and Education Development Plan
DREK2010002.

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