Abstract
Within the project ‘ARIEL’ an electrical turbo compressor unit for fuel cell applications is deeply investigated. The necessary drive inverter is especially designed for high fundamental frequency and high switching frequency to cope with the requirements of the implemented electrical machine. This paper presents investigations on the inverter’s efficiency and its prospective lifetime at different stages of the development. In the design process different wide band gap power semiconductor devices in discrete packages are evaluated in terms of the achievable power density and efficiency, both by simulations and measurements. Finally, an optimised design using surface mount silicon carbide MOSFETs is developed. Compared to a former inverter design using silicon devices in a three-level topology, the power density of the inverter is significantly increased. The lifetime of power electronic systems is often limited by the lifetime of the power semiconductor devices. Based on loss calculations and the resulting temperature swing of the virtual junction the lifetime of the inverter is estimated for the most frequent operating points and for different mission profiles.
Highlights
This article describes the research and development that is performed in the field of power electronics during the funded collaborative project ‘ARIEL’
As a first device under test, a drive inverter that realises the reference design with three-level T-type half bridges using 650 V/1200 V silicon IGBT technology is operated in the test bench
In the step the developed power stage prototypes using different wide band gap power devices in a simple two-level B6 inverter topology are operated in the test bench
Summary
This article describes the research and development that is performed in the field of power electronics during the funded collaborative project ‘ARIEL’. The main goal is the development of a drive inverter with special requirements in terms of switching frequency with a high power density, high efficiency and good reliability. The target application is the electrical turbo compressor unit of an automotive fuel cell system. The high performance and high-speed electrical machine used in this application strictly defines some challenging requirements that are addressed by the presented investigations. The design of possible drive inverter implementations is described
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