High Performance SiC MOSFETs for Fault Tolerant Applications


C. Onambele, A. Mpanda, F. Giacchetti and M. Elsied

 

2017/04/25

Abstrac

Harsh environment applications are characterized by exceptional constraints regarding temperature, volume, fault-tolerance, efficiency, etc. As the introduction of power electronics in such systems is constantly growing, research activities are essential to get more knowledge on the capabilities of available technologies for such applications: aerospace and renewable energies. This paper evaluates the performance of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFET transistor for a multiphase power converter for fault-tolerant applications. Two methods are carried out in this study: first, the model provided by the manufacturer is used in simulation for a fault-tolerant electric drive application, then in the same operating conditions, the power module is characterized and its performance evaluated. Both methods lead to high system efficiency around 97-98% for a 1200V-400A SiC MOSFET transistor module integrated in a 120kW-100A 6-phase modular inverter.

Published in: Renewable Energy & Power Quality Journal (RE&PQJ, Nº. 15)
Pages: 154-159 Date of Publication: 2017/04/25
ISSN: 2172-038X Date of Current Version:
REF: 257-17 Issue Date: April 2017
DOI:10.24084/repqj15.257 Publisher: EA4EPQ

Authors and affiliations

C. Onambele(1,2), A. Mpanda(2), F. Giacchetti(1) and M. Elsied(2)
1. Modeling, Information & Systems Lab (MIS). University of Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV). Amiens, France
2. Graduate School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (ESIEE-Amiens). Amiens, France

Key word

High efficiency, fault-tolerant applications, modular inverter, SiC power MOSFET module, switching characterization.

References

[1] M. Villani, M. Tursini, G. Fabri, and L. Castellini, ‘High Reliability Permanent Magnet Brushless Motor Drive for Aircraft Application’, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 59, no. 5, pp. 2073–2081, May 2012.
[2] R. Yapa, A. J. Forsyth, and R. Todd, ‘Analysis of SiC technology in two-level and three-level converters for aerospace applications’, in Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD 2014), 7th IET International Conference on, 2014, pp. 1–6.
[3] Z. Chen, D. Boroyevich, R. Burgos, and F. Wang, ‘Characterization and modeling of 1.2 kv, 20 A SiC MOSFETs’, in Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, 2009. ECCE 2009. IEEE, 2009, pp. 1480–1487.
[4] J. Fabre, P. Ladoux, and M. Piton, ‘Characterization and Implementation of Dual-SiC MOSFET Modules for Future Use in Traction Converters’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 30, no. 8, pp. 4079–4090, Aug. 2015.
[5] J. Biela, M. Schweizer, S. Waffler, and J. W. Kolar, ‘SiC versus Si—Evaluation of Potentials for Performance Improvement of Inverter and DC–DC Converter Systems by SiC Power Semiconductors’, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 58, no. 7, pp. 2872–2882, Jul. 2011.
[6] F. Kato, R. Simanjorang, F. Lang, H. Nakagawa, H. Yamaguchi, and H. Sato, ‘250 °C-Operated sandwich-structured all-SiC power module’, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol. 54, no. 4S, p. 04DP06, Apr. 2015.
[7] G. Wang et al., ‘Static and dynamic performance characterization and comparison of 15 kV SiC MOSFET and 15 kV SiC n-IGBTs’, in 2015 IEEE 27th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices IC’s (ISPSD), 2015, pp. 229–232.
[8] ‘[Online]. Available: http://www.apei.net/products/ht-3000.aspx’. .
[9] X. Xinjian and Dingfei-Ge, ‘Research on reliability evaluation of electronic products under environmental conditions’, in Fifth World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation, 2004. WCICA 2004, 2004, vol. 4, p. 3146–3149 Vol.4.
[10] R. Ciprian and B. Lehman, ‘Modeling effects of relative humidity, moisture, and extreme environmental conditions on power electronic performance’, in IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, 2009. ECCE 2009, 2009, pp. 1052–1059.
[11] V. Crisafulli, ‘A new package with kelvin source connection for increasing power density in power electronics design’, in 2015 17th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE’15 ECCE-Europe), 2015, pp. 1–8.