Multi-Paralleled GaN-Based Motor Drive Optimization for eVTOL Applications

The growing trend of urbanization has resulted in road congestion and an increased carbon footprint. This calls for increased research interest and investment in urban air mobility(UAM) solutions. The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with electric motors-based distributed propulsion driven by a power electronics converter is the ultimate choice due to its capability to take off and land within a helipad and air-cruise-like fixed-wing aircraft. However, eVTOL vehicles require very high-performance and high-reliability power trains, which can be achieved by using highly efficient wide band gap (WBG) electronics technology. This research aims to increase the performance of eVTOL aircraft by developing a multi-paralleled Galium Nitride (GaN) based motor drive. The challenge for multi-paralleled GaN usage in this kind of low voltage and high current application is the parasitic minimization, which is solved in this research through a proposed optimization approach along with the preposition of a design framework that will pave the way for GaN to be used in such high power application leading to high power density, high efficiency, longer flight time and increased reliability.