Abstract
Due to the lower on-state resistance, direct current (DC) solid state circuit breakers (SSCBs) based on silicon-carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) can reduce on-state losses and the investment of the cooling system when compared to breakers based on silicon (Si) MOSFETs. However, SiC MOSFETs, with smaller die area and higher current density, lead to weaker short-circuit ability, shorter short-circuit withstand time and higher protection requirements. To improve the reliability and short-circuit capability of SiC-based DC solid state circuit breakers, the short-circuit fault mechanisms of Si MOSFETs and SiC MOSFETs are revealed. Combined with the desaturation detection (DESAT), a “soft turn-off” short-circuit protection method based on source parasitic inductor is proposed. When the DESAT protection is activated, the “soft turn-off” method can protect the MOSFET against short-circuit and overcurrent. The proposed SSCB, combined with the flexibility of the DSP, has the μs-scale ultrafast response time to overcurrent detection. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by the experimental platform. The method can reduce the voltage stress of the power device, and it can also suppress the short-circuit current.
Highlights
The direct current (DC) power system has been playing an increasing role over the past decade due to the high efficiency and high reliability
Solid state circuit breakers (SSCBs) have been investigated and developed in recent years, but these solid state circuit breakers (SSCBs) are mainly based on silicon (Si) devices, such as Si isolated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or Si gate turn-off thyristor (GTO), which causes significant conduction losses due to the large on-state resistance [7]
After the blanking time TBLANK, UCDESAT reaches to UDESAT, the protection circuit will turn off the SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs)
Summary
The direct current (DC) power system has been playing an increasing role over the past decade due to the high efficiency and high reliability. This makes them hard to meet the high requirements of the DC power system [6] To tackle these issues, solid state circuit breakers (SSCBs) have been investigated and developed in recent years, but these SSCBs are mainly based on silicon (Si) devices, such as Si isolated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or Si gate turn-off thyristor (GTO), which causes significant conduction losses due to the large on-state resistance [7]. Solid state circuit breakers (SSCBs) have been investigated and developed in recent years, but these SSCBs are mainly based on silicon (Si) devices, such as Si isolated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or Si gate turn-off thyristor (GTO), which causes significant conduction losses due to the large on-state resistance [7] Another drawback is that Si devices cannot operate at high-temperature conditions due to insufficient thermal capability, resulting in additional radiators with the increase of both volume and weight. Experimental results are presented and analyzed in part V, and, conclusions are drawn in the last section
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