A high efficiency 5.3kW Current Source Inverter (CSI) prototype using 1.2kV Silicon Carbide (SiC) bi-directional voltage switches in hard switching

The market brings Silicon Carbide (SiC) transistors and diodes in the 1.2kV range, which can be implemented in solar switching power converters operating under AC-400V. In the scientific literature, SiC switches have been evaluated for a voltage source inverter operation, but there is a lack of studies that address the implementation of SiC components running in a current source inverter (CSI). Characterizations of a voltage commutation cell against the commutated voltage have been discussed in the last paper presented at PCIM 2015. This article is based in the following of the previous one and treats mainly of the characterization of the serial association of a transistor and a diode required for CSI operation. A test bench is developed at the Department of Solar Technologies (DTS) of the CEA. It allows to characterize SiC power semi-conductor TO-220/247 packaged operating in a current source inverter. Switching energies are measured and presented. Once the characterization results obtained, the loss coefficients are extracted and electro-thermal calculations of efficiencies against the switching frequency are finally given and discussed.