Impact of Switching Frequency on Power Loss in GaN-based Motor Drive for Electric Motorcycle and Comparative Analysis with Si-MOSFET

Wide-Bandgap (WBG) semiconductors offer far superior properties than convention silicon semiconductors. It has been established that WBG offers higher efficiency in power converters, especially for electric vehicles. Thus, in this work, comparative power loss analysis has been carried out for Si-MOSFET and GaN-FET-based inverters. It is found that employing GaN-FETs in traction inverters can result in a 30% reduction in total inverter power losses. Moreover, overall efficiency of modelled inverter is tested under constant load torque condition at different frequencies, and it is found that the efficiency of GaN-FET at a comparatively high frequency of 50 kHz still outperforms the efficiency of Si-MOSFET inverter at a lower frequency. In fact, GaN-FET-based inverters can perform efficiently at high frequencies. Therefore, traction inverters with higher power density and efficiency can be built for electrified transportation, such as electric motorcycles, for which range anxiety is a major issue.