50-kW 1kV DC bus air-cooled inverter with 1.7 kV SiC MOSFETs and 3D-printed novel power module packaging structure for grid applications

Madhu Chinthavali, Zhiqiang Jack Wang, Steven Campbell, Tong Wu, Burak Ozpineci

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

The traditional heatsink design technologies for forced air-cooling and power semiconductors with low junction temperatures have constrained the converters to be designed with massive heatsinks. The low power losses of WBG device technology and higher junction temperature operation over a wide operating range of power have not been fully utilized with liquid-cooled systems. The other major limitation has also been the traditional power module packaging 'stack' approach with baseplate. This paper presents a novel power stage design which involves 1.7 kV silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, a heatsink design with Genetic Algorithm (GA) and built using 3D printing technology, and a novel integrated modular power module for high power density. The air-cooled module assembly has a SiC MOSFET phase leg module with split high-side and low-side switches and a gate driver with cross-talk and short circuit protection functions. The heatsink design was modeled using a co-simulation environment with finite element analysis software and GA in MATLAB and COMSOL. The proposed concepts were verified and validated through experiments at each stage of development. The power stage was evaluated at 800V, 900 V, and 1kV for 20 kHz switching frequency and 50-kW load. The experimental results show that the CEC efficiency is 98.4 %. In addition to the efficiency, a power density of 75 W/in3 was also achieved.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAPEC 2018 - 33rd Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages133-140
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781538611807
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 18 2018
Event33rd Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, APEC 2018 - San Antonio, United States
Duration: Mar 4 2018Mar 8 2018

Publication series

NameConference Proceedings - IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition - APEC
Volume2018-March

Conference

Conference33rd Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, APEC 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Antonio
Period03/4/1803/8/18

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory operated by the UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research was sponsored by the SunShot National Laboratory Multiyear Partnership (SuNLaMP) program, DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), under a contract with UT Battelle, LLC.

Keywords

  • 3D printing
  • Air-cooling
  • Genetic Algorithms
  • Silicon carbide

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '50-kW 1kV DC bus air-cooled inverter with 1.7 kV SiC MOSFETs and 3D-printed novel power module packaging structure for grid applications'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this