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Title: Current Source Gate Drive to Reduce Switching Loss for SiC MOSFETs

Abstract

With conventional voltage source gate drives (VSG), the switching speed of SiC MOSFETs is difficult to increase due to large internal gate resistance, high Miller voltage, and limited gate voltage rating. This paper analyzes the requirement of current source gate drive (CSG) for SiC MOSFETs and proposes a CSG that can improve the switching speed and reduce switching loss. With the introduction of bi-directional switches, the influence of the large internal gate resistance of the SiC MOSFET can be mitigated, and sufficient gate current can be guaranteed throughout the switching transient. Therefore, the switching time and loss is reduced. The CSG can be controlled to be a VSG during steady state so the current of the gate drive is discontinuous and the stored energy of the inductor can be returned to the power supply to reduce gate drive loss. Double pulse tests are conducted for a SiC MOSFET with both conventional VSG and the proposed CSG. Testing results show that the switching loss of the proposed CSG is less than one third of the conventional VSG at full load condition.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  2. ORNL
  3. NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1560419
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Conference
Journal Name:
Conference Proceedings - IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2019; Conference: IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, Anaheim, CA (United States), 17-21 Mar 2019; Journal ID: ISSN 1048-2334
Publisher:
IEEE
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Gui, Handong, Zhang, Zheyu, Chen, Ruirui, Niu, Jiahao, Tolbert, Leon, Wang, Fei, Blalock, Benjamin J., Costinett, Daniel, and Choi, Benjamin. Current Source Gate Drive to Reduce Switching Loss for SiC MOSFETs. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1109/APEC.2019.8722310.
Gui, Handong, Zhang, Zheyu, Chen, Ruirui, Niu, Jiahao, Tolbert, Leon, Wang, Fei, Blalock, Benjamin J., Costinett, Daniel, & Choi, Benjamin. Current Source Gate Drive to Reduce Switching Loss for SiC MOSFETs. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/APEC.2019.8722310
Gui, Handong, Zhang, Zheyu, Chen, Ruirui, Niu, Jiahao, Tolbert, Leon, Wang, Fei, Blalock, Benjamin J., Costinett, Daniel, and Choi, Benjamin. 2019. "Current Source Gate Drive to Reduce Switching Loss for SiC MOSFETs". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/APEC.2019.8722310. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1560419.
@article{osti_1560419,
title = {Current Source Gate Drive to Reduce Switching Loss for SiC MOSFETs},
author = {Gui, Handong and Zhang, Zheyu and Chen, Ruirui and Niu, Jiahao and Tolbert, Leon and Wang, Fei and Blalock, Benjamin J. and Costinett, Daniel and Choi, Benjamin},
abstractNote = {With conventional voltage source gate drives (VSG), the switching speed of SiC MOSFETs is difficult to increase due to large internal gate resistance, high Miller voltage, and limited gate voltage rating. This paper analyzes the requirement of current source gate drive (CSG) for SiC MOSFETs and proposes a CSG that can improve the switching speed and reduce switching loss. With the introduction of bi-directional switches, the influence of the large internal gate resistance of the SiC MOSFET can be mitigated, and sufficient gate current can be guaranteed throughout the switching transient. Therefore, the switching time and loss is reduced. The CSG can be controlled to be a VSG during steady state so the current of the gate drive is discontinuous and the stored energy of the inductor can be returned to the power supply to reduce gate drive loss. Double pulse tests are conducted for a SiC MOSFET with both conventional VSG and the proposed CSG. Testing results show that the switching loss of the proposed CSG is less than one third of the conventional VSG at full load condition.},
doi = {10.1109/APEC.2019.8722310},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1560419}, journal = {Conference Proceedings - IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC)},
issn = {1048-2334},
number = ,
volume = 2019,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}

Conference:
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