Abstract
Wide bandgap (WBG) power devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) can viably supply high speed electrical drives, due to their capability to increase efficiency and reduce the size of the power converters. On the other hand, high frequency operation of the SiC devices emphasizes the effect of parasitics, which generates reflected wave transient overvoltage on motor terminals, reducing the life time and the reliability of electric drives. In this paper, a SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) based two level (2L) inverter is systematically studied and compared to the performance of Si insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) based three level (3L) neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter topologies, for high speed AC motor loads, in terms of efficiency, overvoltages, heat sink design, and cost. A fair comparison was introduced for the first time, having the same output voltage capabilities, output current total harmonic distortion (THD), and overvoltages for the three systems. The analysis indicated the convenience of using the SiC MOSFET based 2L inverter for lower output power. In the case of the maximum output power, the heat sink volume was found to be 20% higher for the 2L SiC based inverter when compared to 3L NPC topologies. Simulations were carried out by realistic dynamic models of power switch modules obtained from the manufacturer’s experimental tests and verified both in the LTspice and PLECS simulation packages.
Highlights
Wide bandgap semiconductor devices, such as silicon carbide (SiC), offer many benefits due to their superior material properties, among which are increased junction operating temperature, low specific on resistance, high switching speed capability, low switching losses, etc
The results showed that the 2L SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) based converter had an increase of around 20% in the heat sink volume when compared to the 3L neutral point clamped (NPC) and type neutral point clamped (T-NPC) inverter at a 75 â—¦ C heat sink temperature
This paper discussed the comparison of the 2L SiC MOSFET based and 3L NPC and T-NPC Si
Summary
Wide bandgap semiconductor devices, such as silicon carbide (SiC), offer many benefits due to their superior material properties, among which are increased junction operating temperature, low specific on resistance, high switching speed capability, low switching losses, etc. Motor drives supplied by a SiC based voltage source inverter (VSI) can provide lower losses, higher efficiency, and a smaller size when compared with their silicon (Si) counterparts [1,2] All these features contribute to these devices generating interest in applications for electric traction systems, where a long life time is important, and by reducing the losses in such applications, the life time can be extended [3,4]. Even though the 2L SiC based inverters might seem a better solution for an electric drive application, having generally less losses and high switching operation, they still experience problems connected to the high switching speed, i.e., high overvoltages. The analysis is done on the power modules’ real dynamic models obtained from the manufacturer’s experimental test in the LTspice simulation tool (for the transient analysis of the overvoltages on the high frequency equivalent circuit, and switching loss analysis with double pulse tests) and the PLECS simulation package for the loss and heat sink comparison, the access to the steady state being facilitated
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