An All Silicon Carbide 3 kV/540 V Series-Resonant Converter for Electric Aircraft Systems

Abstract

In this work, an all silicon carbide (SiC) series-resonant converter (SRC) design is proposed and demonstrate to achieve a single stage dc-to-dc conversion from 3 kV to 540 V (±270 V) for future electric aircraft applications. The proposed SRC consists of a neutral-point-clamped converter using 3.3-kV SiC MOSFETs on the primary side, an H-bridge converter using 900-V SiC MOSFET on the secondary side and a high-frequency (HF) transformer. The detailed design methods for the SRC power stage and the HF transformer are presented. Especially, a tradeoff between the complexity for the cooling system and the need for high power density and voltage insulation is addressed in the transformer design, leading to a novel multilayer winding structure design to enhance the insulation capability and also the mechanical robustness. The proposed bobbin design is realized using additive manufacturing. The detailed analysis and modeling of the parasitic capacitance between sections introduced by fringe electrical field are presented. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed SRC design, a 25-kW converter prototype using 3.3-kV SiC discrete devices has been developed with a peak efficiency of 99.08% achieved in experimental studies.