Design and technology of compact high-power converters

New material technologies such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) are promising in the development of compact high-power converters for next-generation power electronics applications. This paper presents an optimized converter design approach that takes into consideration non-linear interactions among various converter components, source and load. It is shown that with the development of high-temperature, high-power SiC power module technology, magnetic components and capacitors become important technology challenges, and cannot be ignored. A 50% improvement in power density is calculated for a 100 V-2 kV, 7 kW SiC DC-DC power converter operating at 150/spl deg/C compared to a silicon power converter. The SiC power converter can be operated at junction temperatures in excess of 300/spl deg/C (as compared to 150/spl deg/C for a silicon power converter) with reasonable efficiency that potentially leads to a significant reduction in thermal management.