Comparative Study of a 3.3 kV SiC-based Voltage and Current Source Inverter for High-Speed Motor Drive Applications

Current source inverters (CSIs) is a technology typically used for high power medium voltage (MV) applications. With the emergence of wide-bandgap (WBG) technology, the CSI has been widely looked into for aerospace applications, MV solid-state transformers (SST), electric vehicles, traction applications, and renewable energy systems. This paper looks into the potential of MV-based CSI inverter for high-speed machine (HSM) applications compared to MV-based voltage source inverters (VSIs) inverter in terms of efficiency, reflected voltage, and sizing of passive components. It also compares the effects of dead-time in the VSI and effects of overlap-time in the CSI. The fault tolerance of permanent magnet motor-based HSM for VSI and CSI-based systems is discussed. The switch configuration required for a WBG based MV-based CSI is discussed.