Development and demonstration of silicon carbide (SiC) inverter module in motor drive

A new SiC-based motor drive technology is described to achieve compact power conversion. The static and dynamic characterization of 600V SiC MOS-enhanced JFETs and SiC Schottky free-wheeling diodes (FWDs) designed and fabricated at Rockwell Scientific, were performed and packaged into inverter modules with a voltage rating of 600V and current carrying capabilities of 5A, 10A, and 25A, respectively. For the same power rating (25A, 600V), the size of the SiC inverter module is smaller than that of the Si module by 50%. The SiC inverter modules are used to drive the motors of 1hp to 10hp successfully. This is the first time that motor drive using SiC inverter modules is demonstrated.