Development of SiC-Based Motor Drive Using Typhoon HIL 402 as System-Level Controller

The energy efficiency of variable frequency motor drives can be increased by implementing silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor switching devices in place of traditional silicon (Si) devices, ultimately leading to a decrease in switching losses. This paper presents the rapid control prototyping (RCP) of a SiC motor drive using a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system, namely the Typhoon HIL 402. The HIL 402 is used to generate the speed-controlled gating signals for the SiC inverter; both sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) and space vector PWM (SVPWM) modulation techniques are highlighted. The developed testbed enables in-depth research for future SiC VFDs. The motor drive system development and analyses of the models used to generate the SPWM and SVPWM gating signals is highlighted, accompanied by data from the HIL SCADA panel that monitors the SiC motor drive in real time. Key time and frequency domain plots of the SiC motor drive are included.