Highly-integrated power cell for high-power wide band-gap power converters

Espina, Jordi; Ahmadi, Behzad; Empringham, Lee; De Lillo, Liliana; Johnson, Christopher Mark

Abstract

The fast switching speeds and low specific conduction losses of wide band-gap semiconductors allow the realisation of high-frequency, high power-density switching converters with dramatically reduced passive component requirements compared to Silicon technology. However, careful attention must be paid to switching cell design to mitigate the effects of circuit parasitics and fast voltage transitions which would otherwise limit the attainable switching speed and lead to increased levels of EMI. This paper presents a modular, power-cell solution which allows the creation of any two-level topology converter. The cell structure enables fast switching of wide bandgap semiconductor devices while allowing high power converters to be fabricated using multiple, smaller commutation cells. Close integration of semiconductor dies, decoupling capacitors, gate drives and an output filter with a single ceramic substrate to act as the thermal path allows dramatic increases in power density without compromising converter performance

Citation

Espina, J., Ahmadi, B., Empringham, L., De Lillo, L., & Johnson, C. M. (2017). Highly-integrated power cell for high-power wide band-gap power converters.

• Conference Name: 2017 IEEE 3rd International Future Energy Electronics Conference and ECCE Asia (IFEEC 2017 - ECCE Asia)
• End Date: Jun 7, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Dec 30, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jul 27, 2017
• Publication Date: Jun 3, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2018
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Power electronics integration; wide bandgap semiconductors; power-density
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/864084
• Publisher URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7992433/
• Additional Information: doi:10.1109/IFEEC.2017.7992433; ISBN:978-1-5090-5157-1; © 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, 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 component of this work in other works
• Contract Date: Jan 23, 2018