SiC MOSFET Based Bi-Directional 3-Phase AC/DC Converter

Decades of SiC power device development have advanced the maturity of commercial SiC MOSFET product offerings. Market adoption has been accelerated, especially in grid-connected renewable resource and energy storage applications such as electrical vehicle (EV) charging and solar photovoltaics (PV). Bi-directional three phase PWM power factor correction was traditionally accomplished using Si IGBT devices. This paper compares the design of a 380VAC/20kW converter using Si IGBTs versus SiC MOSFETs in term of magnetics size, power losses, and system cost. Calculated and simulated results show higher efficiency, smaller size, and lighter weight, while maintaining similar system cost for SiC MOSFET converter. The hardware implementation of a 20kW SiC MOSFET converter are described in the paper, and some important elements of design are discussed.