Abstract
In this paper, a design driven comparison between two 190 kVA industrial three-phase two-level voltage source converter (2L-VSC) designs based in silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon (Si) for 690 V grids is presented. These two designs were conceived to have the same nominal power, while switching at reasonable switching speeds and requiring the same case to ambient thermal impedance. Under these conditions, the designs were studied to detect the potential gains and limitations that a pragmatic converter design could feature when using these two technologies regarding cost, efficiency, size and weight. To achieve this, experimentally determined semiconductor characteristics were used to perform simulations, the results of which were then used to design the essential parts of the converter. These designed parts were then corroborated with manufacturers, from which physical characteristics of all designed components were obtained. The results show that the SiC based design presents substantial weight savings and an 11% system cost reduction, while preserving its traditional characteristics such as improved overall efficiency when compared to the silicon based design under the given design requirements and constraints.
Highlights
The fundamental question if silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor devices could be competitive with their silicon (Si)-based counterparts has already been partially answered by industry in several applications, such as E-mobility, renewables, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and traction, among others [1]
A comparison of the main components of two grid-tied 190 kVA 2L-VSCs based on silicon carbide (SiC)-MOSFETs and silicon (Si)-IGBTs for 690 V grids is performed
The comparison is based on the experimental characterization of the switching behavior and datasheet values for the on-state behavior of the SiC-MOSFET and Si-IGBT modules
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. These thermal requirements and loss results were obtained by calculating the semiconductor losses of the converter based on experimental characterization of the switching loss as in [13] and using on-state characteristics and transient thermal impedance curves as provided in the corresponding datasheets.
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