Influence of PWM Methods on Semiconductor Losses and Thermal Cycling of 15-kVA Three-Phase SiC Inverter for Aircraft Applications

Cougo, Bernardo; Morais, Lenin M. F.; Segond, Gilles; Riva, Raphael; Tran Duc, Hoan

doi:10.3390/electronics9040620

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Influence of PWM Methods on Semiconductor Losses and Thermal Cycling of 15-kVA Three-Phase SiC Inverter for Aircraft Applications

by

Bernardo Cougo

^1,*,

Lenin M. F. Morais

²

,

Gilles Segond

¹,

Raphael Riva

¹ and

Hoan Tran Duc

¹

Institut de Recherche Technologique Saint-Exupéry—IRT, 3, rue Tarfaya, 31405 Toulouse, France

²

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antonio Carlos, 6627 Belo Horizonte, Brazil

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Electronics 2020, 9(4), 620; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9040620

Submission received: 7 February 2020 / Revised: 29 March 2020 / Accepted: 1 April 2020 / Published: 7 April 2020

(This article belongs to the Section Semiconductor Devices)

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Abstract

This paper presents the influence of different pulse width modulation (PWM) methods on losses and thermal stresses in SiC power modules used in a three-phase inverter. The variation of PWM methods directly impacts instantaneous losses on these semiconductors, consequently resulting in junction temperature swing at the fundamental frequency of the converter’s output current. This thermal cycling can significantly reduce the lifetime of these components. In order to determine semiconductor losses, one needs to characterize SiC devices to calculate the instantaneous power. The characterization methodology of the devices, the calculation of instantaneous power and temperature of SiC dies, and the influence of the different PWM methods are presented. A 15-kVA inverter is built in order to obtain experimental results to confirm the characterization and loss calculation, and we show the best PWM methods to increase efficiency and reliability of the three-phase inverter for specific aircraft applications.

Keywords: silicon carbide (SiC); MOSFET; electrical drive; device characterization; switching losses; pulse width modulation (PWM); thermal cycling; reliability

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MDPI and ACS Style

Cougo, B.; Morais, L.M.F.; Segond, G.; Riva, R.; Tran Duc, H. Influence of PWM Methods on Semiconductor Losses and Thermal Cycling of 15-kVA Three-Phase SiC Inverter for Aircraft Applications. Electronics 2020, 9, 620. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9040620

AMA Style

Cougo B, Morais LMF, Segond G, Riva R, Tran Duc H. Influence of PWM Methods on Semiconductor Losses and Thermal Cycling of 15-kVA Three-Phase SiC Inverter for Aircraft Applications. Electronics. 2020; 9(4):620. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9040620

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cougo, Bernardo, Lenin M. F. Morais, Gilles Segond, Raphael Riva, and Hoan Tran Duc. 2020. "Influence of PWM Methods on Semiconductor Losses and Thermal Cycling of 15-kVA Three-Phase SiC Inverter for Aircraft Applications" Electronics 9, no. 4: 620. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9040620

APA Style

Cougo, B., Morais, L. M. F., Segond, G., Riva, R., & Tran Duc, H. (2020). Influence of PWM Methods on Semiconductor Losses and Thermal Cycling of 15-kVA Three-Phase SiC Inverter for Aircraft Applications. Electronics, 9(4), 620. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9040620

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Influence of PWM Methods on Semiconductor Losses and Thermal Cycling of 15-kVA Three-Phase SiC Inverter for Aircraft Applications

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