Motor loss reduction with high switching frequency SiC inverter

Abstract

This paper presents motor loss reduction performed with high frequency Silicon-Carbide (SiC)-Based inverter. We developed prototype SiC inverter with custom SiC gate drivers and custom SiC power modules. We proposed gate driver to reduce switching loss and switching delay time for faster switching frequency. The proposed gate driver makes it possible to improve converter efficiency or allow switching at higher frequency. We also developed power modules without antiparallel Schottky-Barrier-Diodes (SBDs) to reduce switching time and power module size. This paper shows some experimental results that confirmed that the proposed SiC inverter reduces inverter loss compare to Silicon IGBT inverter at same switching frequency. And also, the paper shows that the prototype SiC inverter reduces motor loss with higher switching frequency. SiC inverter loss is smaller than Silicon IGBT's, even if switching frequency of the SiC inverter is doubled from one of Silicon IGBT inverters.