Comparative Study of 2SiC&4Si Hybrid Configuration Schemes in ANPC Inverter

Compared with traditional silicon (Si) power devices, silicon carbide (SiC) devices have attracted extensive attention due to their excellent characteristics. In recent years, the manufacturing process of SiC devices has become more mature, but the cost is still high. Therefore, replacing only some of the Si devices with SiC devices in a topology is a better choice to achieve higher system efficiency while considering costs. This paper studies the hybrid configuration schemes consisting of two SiC devices and four Si devices (2SiC&4Si) in ANPC three-level inverter. Two hybrid 2SiC&4Si topologies are proposed. In order to make full use of the low switching loss characteristics of SiC devices in hybrid topologies, specific modulation strategies are applied to concentrate switching losses on SiC devices. Based on the 2SiC&4Si hybrid ANPC topologies, three efficient SiC&Si hybrid configuration schemes are derived. In this paper, the theoretical comparison and experimental verification of the efficiency and loss distribution of the three hybrid schemes are carried out.