2021 article

A Compact 50kW High Power Density, Hybrid 3-Level Paralleled T-type Inverter for More Electric Aircraft Applications

2021 IEEE TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICATION CONFERENCE & EXPO (ITEC), pp. 652–657.

By: L. Ravuri n, H. Yu n, A. Chatterji n, H. Tu n & S. Lukic n

UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
7. Affordable and Clean Energy (Web of Science; OpenAlex)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: December 20, 2021

The demand for high performing, lightweight, reliable inverters, increased the scope of wide bandgap and high-switching frequency based solutions. To achieve such high efficiency inverters, it is vital to focus on the system level design considerations to maximize the benefits of these advanced technologies. This paper presents an improved design based on considerations to further reap the benefits of choosing the right inverter topology; increased capabilities through paralleling devices, with reduced total number of switches; and designing a planarized inverter with PCB based busbar. Appropriate thermal analysis and heatsink design has aided in increased system power density along with the overall efficiency. Demonstration of a SOkW 3-phase 3-level paralleled T-type SiC inverter operating at 40kHz switching frequency for aircraft applications is shown to evaluate the benefits of proposed design methodology. The prototype achieves a high power density of 11kW/L.