A Megawatt-Scale Medium-Voltage High-Efficiency High Power Density “SiC+Si” Hybrid Three-Level ANPC Inverter for Aircraft Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Systems

Journal Article · Tue Aug 06 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/tia.2019.2933513· OSTI ID:1799281

Zhang, Di ^[1]; He, Jiangbiao ^[2]; Pan, Di ^[3]

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1. GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY (United States); General Electric Co., Boston, MA (United States)
2. Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)
3. GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY (United States)

A hybrid-electric propulsion system is an enabling technology to make the aircraft more fuel saving, quieter, and lower carbide emission. In this article, a megawatt (MW) scale power inverter based on a three-level active neutral-point-clamped (3L-ANPC) topology will be developed. To achieve high efficiency, the switching devices operating at carrier frequency in the power converter are configured by the emerging silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, while the conventional silicon (Si) insulated-gate bipolar transistors are selected for switches operating at the fundamental output frequency. To obtain high power density, dc bus voltage is increased from the conventional 270 V to medium voltage of 2.4 kV to reduce cable weight. Also, unlike the traditional 400 Hz dominated aircraft ac systems, the rated fundamental output frequency here is boosted to 1.4 kHz to drive the high-speed motor, which helps further to reduce the motor weight. Main hardware development and control modulation strategies are presented. Experimental findings are presented to verify the performance of this MW-scale medium-voltage “SiC+Si” hybrid 3L-ANPC inverter. It is shown that the 1-MW 3L-ANPC inverter can achieve a high efficiency of 99% and a high power density of 12 kVA/kg.

• Research Organization: GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office
• Grant/Contract Number: EE0007252
• OSTI ID: 1799281
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 55; ISSN 0093-9994
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
Active neutral point clamped (ANPC) inverter
High efficiency
High power density
Hybrid-electric propulsion systems
Insulated gate bipolar transistors
Inverters
MOSFET
Silicon
Silicon carbide
Switches
Topology