Reliability-driven assessment of GaN HEMTs and Si IGBTs in 3L-ANPC PV inverters

Gurpinar, Emre; Yang, Yongheng; Iannuzzo, Francesco; Castellazzi, Alberto; Blaabjerg, Frede

Abstract

In this paper, thermal loading of the state-of-the-art GaN HEMTs and traditional Si IGBTs in 3L-ANPC PV inverters is presented considering real-field long-term mission profiles (i.e., ambient temperature and solar irradiance). A comparison of Si IGBT against GaN HEMT with three different possibilities: 1) with TIM at 10 kHz, 2) without TIM at 10 kHz, and 3) with TIM at 300 kHz has been performed. The assessment results indicate lower thermal stress with GaN HEMT devices at 10 kHz in comparison to Si IGBT. At high switching frequencies, the results show significant system level cost savings can be achieved without compromise of operating efficiency with GaN HEMTs. Both simulations and experimental tests are provided to demonstrate the thermal loading analysis approach. More important, the proposed analysis and comparison approach can be used for lifetime and reliability analysis of wide-bandgap devices.

Citation

Gurpinar, E., Yang, Y., Iannuzzo, F., Castellazzi, A., & Blaabjerg, F. (2016). Reliability-driven assessment of GaN HEMTs and Si IGBTs in 3L-ANPC PV inverters. IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, 4(3), 956-969. https://doi.org/10.1109/JESTPE.2016.2566259

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 4, 2016
• Online Publication Date: May 10, 2016
• Publication Date: Sep 30, 2016
• Deposit Date: May 25, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 25, 2016
• Journal: IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
• Print ISSN: 2168-6777
• Electronic ISSN: 2168-6785
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 956-969
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JESTPE.2016.2566259
• Keywords: Wide bandgap (WBG) power devices; galliumnitride (GaN); photovoltaic (PV) systems; reliability; thermal loading analysis; three-level active neutral point clamped (3L-ANPC) converter; Gallium nitride; HEMTs; Inverters; MODFETs; Silicon; Silicon carbide
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/791467
• Publisher URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=7467395
• Additional Information: (c)2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.
• Contract Date: May 25, 2016