Efficient and Compact 50kW Gen2 SiC Device Based PV String Inverter

Using newly available Gen2 family of Silicon Carbide (SiC) power MOSFET devices, it is possible to develop a highly efficient and compact 50kW grid tied solar inverter. The efficient new devices allowed the designers to develop a high power to weight ratio 1kW/kg for an air-cooled 50kW 3-ph photovoltaic (PV) inverter with an MPPT boost function. The 50 kW interleaved boost circuit used was only 7 kg, and peak efficiency of 99.4% while switching at 75 kHz. Besides being more efficient, the new SiC based inverter can be less than half the weight and size of state of the art commercial 50kW systems available today.