Demonstration of a 50 kW and 100 kHz SiC high power density converter for aerospace application

The high power density converter is required due to the strict demands of volume and weight in more electric aircraft, which makes SiC extremely attractive for this application. In this work, a prototype of 50 kW SiC high power density converter with the topology of two-level three-phase voltage source inverter is demonstrated. This converter is driven at high switching speed based on the optimization in switching characterization. It operates at a switching frequency up to 100 kHz and a low dead time of 250 ns. And the converter efficiency is measured to be 99% at 40 kHz and 97.8% at 100 kHz.

[1]  J.A. Ortega,et al.  Moving towards a more electric aircraft , 2007, IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine.

[2]  K. Takao,et al.  Performance evaluation of all SiC power converters for realizing high power density of 50 W/cm3 , 2010, The 2010 International Power Electronics Conference - ECCE ASIA -.

[3]  Ralph M. Burkart,et al.  Comparative evaluation of SiC and Si PV inverter systems based on power density and efficiency as indicators of initial cost and operating revenue , 2013, 2013 IEEE 14th Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL).

[4]  K. Takao,et al.  Demonstration of 25 W/cm3 class all-SiC three phase inverter , 2011, Proceedings of the 2011 14th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications.

[5]  Johann W. Kolar,et al.  A 120°C ambient temperature forced air-cooled normally-off SiC JFET automotive inverter system , 2011, APEC 2011.

[6]  L. Tolbert,et al.  Development of a SiC JFET-Based Six-Pack Power Module for a Fully Integrated Inverter , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[7]  Sung Joon Kim,et al.  High density 50 kW SiC inverter systems using a JFET based six-pack power module , 2011, 8th International Conference on Power Electronics - ECCE Asia.

[8]  B. J. Baliga Silicon Carbide Power Devices , 2005 .

[9]  M. Sinnett,et al.  Aero Quarterly Qtr_04 | 07 787 No-bleed Systems: Saving Fuel and Enhancing Operational Efficiencies , 2022 .

[10]  K. Tseng,et al.  A novel gate assisted circuit to reduce switching loss and eliminate shoot-through in SiC half bridge configuration , 2016, 2016 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC).