A Comprehensive Analysis of GaN-HEMT-based Class E Resonant Inverter using Modified Resonant Gate Driver Circuit

The class E resonant inverter is commonly used for various applications where low power and high frequency are needed. To investigate the performance of a class E resonant inverter, a comprehensive examination of the resonant gate driver circuits (RGDCs) is presented. In this work, a modified RGDC is implemented to drive the gallium nitride high electron mobility transistor (GaN-HEMT) of the class E resonant inverter. An analytical study of modified RGDC is carried out and compared with a conventional totem pole driver circuit. The simulation studies are conducted using the LTspice version XVII simulation software to observe the performance of both the driver circuits, i.e. the totem pole RGDC and the modified RGDC. The experimental testbed is set up for a modified RGDC drive GaN-HEMT-based class E resonant inverter to verify the theoretical as well as simulation findings. Further, the power losses are calculated by measuring the required parameters and efficiency curves are plotted by varying the load. The overall efficiency of the system, i.e. modified RGDC-based class E resonant inverter is found to be 95.42% at the optimal load resistance, RL = 14.42 Ω.