Design and Validation of A 250-kW All-Silicon Carbide High-Density Three-Level T-Type Inverter

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Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive design and validation of a compact all silicon carbide (SiC) 250 kW T-type traction inverter with a power density of 25 kW/l and 98.5% peak efficiency. All the operation modes and switching transitions in a T-type phase leg are analyzed to model the semiconductor power losses over a fundamental cycle. Special attention has been paid to investigate the behavior and losses due to the reverse conduction of the SiC MOSFETs. Then a loss model is built based upon this analysis to calculate the device loss distribution and system efficiency, which is further used to determine the optimal switching frequency. In addition, detailed inverter system design and prototyping procedure, including the selection of SiC modules and dc-link capacitors, and the optimization of a 4-layer laminated busbar, are presented. In this work, the T-type phase leg is formed by a normal half bridge module and a common source module. The switching performance and losses in this configuration are different from two-level topology that only uses one SiC module. Therefore, the switching performance and the associated switching energy in each switch position are characterized using a custom clamped inductive load (CIL) test setup designed for a Ttype phase leg. The performance of the full power traction inverter prototype has been verified experimentally using pulse testing and continuous power testing.
Funding Information
  • Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (DE-AR0000895)

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