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This paper is about the development and demonstration of a motor drive for e-transport applications based on an innovative hybrid Si-SiC dual switching frequency interleaved buck–boost Y-inverter and a single-rotor Halbach machine. In particular, the focus is the implementation of the required discontinuous inverter modulation scheme, input voltage feed-forward and motor currents feedback control loops, as well as over-voltage, over-current, and over-temperature protections, using an off-the-shelf commercial hardware platform enabling straightforward Simulink-environment programming of all parts, while ensuring the high switching frequency capability required by wide-band-gap semiconductors. Experimental results showed good inverter efficiency, transient dynamic response to load changes, input voltage regulation, and fully functional protection capability, validating the proposed approach as a powerful option for reducing system development time and cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a state-of-the-art inverter–machine codesign methodology for achieving an energy-efficient electric drive system. The methodology is applied in an optimal design case study with the context of the latest trend in the 800 V system. To reduce the voltage rating, a three-level active neutral point clamped topology is utilized in the inverter design, incorporating silicon carbide technology for high-speed operation. This combination allows for efficient power conversion with reduced losses. In the machine design, the increased number of poles that can be achieved in the design phase, along with the utilization of high-speed switching frequencies, enables the development of more efficient machines. Based on the design of the experiment method, by optimizing the parameters of both the inverter and machine simultaneously, using a cosimulation model, the 7.7% of total energy loss during drive cycle operation can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the operation of PowerMOSFETs in the 42-V-PowerNet and shows that very stressful conditions are encountered, which can lead to severe reliability problems. To enable thorough investigations by circuit simulations an accurate physics-based compact model of the devices is proposed: it includes all important electrothermal effects relevant to the description of the observed failure mechanisms. By means of an advanced thermal-modeling approach, multichip assemblies can be accurately described, including mutual heating effects between neighboring devices. Some properly chosen examples demonstrate the validity of the model and its usefulness for reliability investigations. Index Terms--Electrothermal effects, modeling, power metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), reliability.

The ability of monitoring the chip temperatures of power semiconductor modules at all times under various realistic working conditions is the basis for investigating the limits of the maximum permissible load. A novel transient thermal model for the fast calculation of temperature fields and hot spot temperature evolution presented recently is extended to include time-dependent boundary conditions for variations of ambient temperature and surface heat flows. For this a Green's function representation of the temperature field is used. Also, general initial temperature conditions are included. The method is exemplified by application to a dc/ac converter module for automotive hybrid drives. The thermal model, which can be represented by a thermal equivalent circuit, then is combined with an electrical PSpice-metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) model to allow for the fully self-consistent electrothermal circuit simulation of 42-V/14-V dc/dc-converter modules. 670 converter periods with altogether 8000 MOSFET switching cycles in the six-chip module can be simulated within 1-h computing time on a Pentium PC. Various simulation results are presented, which demonstrate the feasibility of the simulation method and allow for the optimization of converter losses. Short circuit modes of converter operation are investigated with a high temperature increase also revealing the thermal interaction between different chips. Index Terms--DC- and ac-converter for automotive, electrothermal simulation, multichip modules, PSpice metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) model, thermal equivalent circuit, time-dependent boundary conditions.

Circuit breakers (CBs) are the main protection devices for both alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) power systems, ranging from tens of watts up to megawatts. This paper reviews the current status for solid-state circuit breakers (SSCBs) as well as hybrid circuit breakers (HCBs) with semiconductor power devices. A few novel SSCB and HCB concepts are described in this paper, including advantage and limitation discussions of wide-band-gap (WBG) devices in basic SSCB/HCB configuration by simulation and 360 V/150 A experimental verifications. Novel SSCB/HCB configurations combining ultra-fast switching and high efficiency at normal operation are proposed. Different types of power devices are installed in these circuit breakers to achieve adequate performance. Challenges and future trends of semiconductor power devices in SSCB/HCB with different voltage/power levels and special performance requirements are clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, benchmark of Si IGBT, SiC MOSFET, and Gallium nitride (GaN) HEMT power switches at 600-V class is conducted in single-phase T-type inverter. Gate driver requirements, switching performance, inverter efficiency performance, heat sink volume, output filter volume, and dead-time effect for each technology is evaluated. Gate driver study shows that GaN has the lowest gate driver losses above 100 kHz and below 100 kHz, SiC has lowest gate losses. GaN has the best switching performance among three technologies that allows high efficiency at high-frequency applications. GaN-based inverter operated at 160-kHz switching frequency with 97.3% efficiency at 2.5-kW output power. Performance of three device technologies at different temperature, switching frequency, and load conditions shows that heat sink volume of the converter can be reduced by 2.5 times by switching from Si to GaN solution at 60 ^\circ C case temperature, and for SiC and GaN, heat sink volume can be reduced by 2.36 and 4.92 times, respectively, by increasing heat sink temperature to 100 ^\circ C. Output filter volume can be reduced by 43% with 24, 26, and 61 W increase in device power loss for GaN-, SiC-, and Si-based converters, respectively. WBG devices allow reduction of harmonic distortion at output current from 3.5% to 1.5% at 100 kHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stacked substrate-chip-bump-chip-substrate assembly has been demonstrated in the construction of power switch modules with high power density and good electrical performance. In this paper, special effort has been devoted to material selection and geometric shape of the bumps in the design for improving the thermomechanical reliability of a highly integrated bidirectional switch. Results from 3-D finite-element simulation indicate that for all design cases the maximum von Mises stresses and creep strain accumulations occur in the solder joints used to join bumps on IGBTs during a realistic mission profile, but occur in the solder joints used to join bumps on DBC substrates during accelerated thermal cycling. The results from both the simulation and the accelerated thermal cycling experiments reveal that selection of Cu/Mo/Cu composite brick bumps in the stacked assembly can significantly improve the thermomechanical reliability of both the solder joints and the DBC substrates when compared to Cu cylinder bumps and Cu hollow cylinder bumps reported in previous work. Such results can be attributed to the effective reduction in the extent of mismatch of coefficients of thermal expansion between the different components in the assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices are making their way into large-volume applications, including pivotal domains of societal infrastructure such as sustainable energy generation and conversion. Presented for a long time mainly as a synonym of high-temperature electronics, hands-on experience has highlighted a number of gains that can be drawn from this technology even when used as a straightforward drop-in substitute of silicon in established applications and field-proven designs. Incremental in nature, these gains enable interesting progress beyond state-of-the-art forms, which, though not corresponding to the full exploitation of the potential of this technology, are oftentimes sufficient to justify its adoption. With particular reference to renewable energy power conversion and solid-state transformation, in the context of transport applications and incorporating a storage device, this paper reports on the understanding generated over the past few years and points out some specifically tailored technology and circuit design requirements to ensure overall beneficial impact of the adoption of WBG technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]