RPEM: Design and Realization of Reconfigurable Power Electronic Modules

A series of novel externally reconfigurable power electronic modules (RPEMs) are invented to increase the flexibility of power modules and their application purposes. In this article, the concept of RPEMs, their switching arrangements, and power-module-based architectural design are demonstrated. An RPEM is then designed, analyzed through simulations, and compared with the conventional fixed-configuration power electronic modules. The sizes of the power modules and used power terminals are kept similar to avoid any differences in power loop inductance values solely due to various trace pad sizes. In addition, similar gate/source pads and signal pins are used for all of the designed power modules to have constant switching dynamics in all modules. The comparison results show that the internal parasitic inductance and performance are still comparable with the conventional modules despite having high configurability. The designed RPEM and a conventional full-bridge (FB) power module are fabricated and characterized. The experimental tests show that the difference between the overshoot voltages on both RPEM and FB power modules is less than 2%. Such flexibility without compromising the power module performance decreases the engineering time for designing different power modules for various power electronic converters; hence, the production speed can be improved while decreasing the overall module cost.