Design and technology of compact high-power converters

New material technologies such as silicon carbide (SiC) are promising in the development of compact high-power converters for next-generation power electronics applications. This paper presents an optimized converter design approach that takes into consideration nonlinear interactions among various converter components, source and load. It is shown that with the development of high-temperature, high-power SiC power module technology, magnetic components and capacitors become important technology challenges, and cannot be ignored. A 50% improvement in power density is calculated for a 100 V-2 kV, 7k W SiC DC-DC power converter operating at 150/spl deg/C compared to a silicon power converter. The SiC power converter can be operated at junction temperatures in excess of 300/spl deg/C (as compared to 150/spl deg/C for a silicon power converter) with reasonable efficiency that potentially leads to a significant reduction in thermal management.