TY - GEN
T1 - A 2 kW, single-phase, 7-level, GaN inverter with an active energy buffer achieving 216 W/in3 power density and 97.6% peak efficiency
AU - Lei, Yutian
AU - Barth, Christopher
AU - Qin, Shibin
AU - Liu, Wen Chuen
AU - Moon, Intae
AU - Stillwell, Andrew
AU - Chou, Derek
AU - Foulkes, Thomas
AU - Ye, Zichao
AU - Liao, Zitao
AU - Pilawa Podgurski, Robert Carl Nikolai
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 IEEE.
PY - 2016/5/10
Y1 - 2016/5/10
N2 - High efficiency and compact single phase inverters are desirable in many applications such as solar energy harvesting and household appliances. This paper presents a 2 kW, 60 Hz, 450 VDC to 240 VRMS power inverter, designed and tested subject to the specifications of the Google/IEEE Little Box Challenge. The inverter features a 7-level flying capacitor multilevel converter, with low-voltage GaN switches operating at 120 kHz, the highest switching frequency to date at this power level. The inverter also includes an active buffer for twice-line-frequency power pulsation decoupling, which reduces the required capacitance by a factor of eight compared to conventional passive decoupling capacitor, while maintaining an efficiency above 99%. The inverter prototype is a self-contained box that achieves a high power density of 216 W/in3 and a peak overall efficiency of 97.6% while meeting the constraints including input current ripple, load transient, thermal and EMC specifications.
AB - High efficiency and compact single phase inverters are desirable in many applications such as solar energy harvesting and household appliances. This paper presents a 2 kW, 60 Hz, 450 VDC to 240 VRMS power inverter, designed and tested subject to the specifications of the Google/IEEE Little Box Challenge. The inverter features a 7-level flying capacitor multilevel converter, with low-voltage GaN switches operating at 120 kHz, the highest switching frequency to date at this power level. The inverter also includes an active buffer for twice-line-frequency power pulsation decoupling, which reduces the required capacitance by a factor of eight compared to conventional passive decoupling capacitor, while maintaining an efficiency above 99%. The inverter prototype is a self-contained box that achieves a high power density of 216 W/in3 and a peak overall efficiency of 97.6% while meeting the constraints including input current ripple, load transient, thermal and EMC specifications.
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U2 - 10.1109/APEC.2016.7468068
DO - 10.1109/APEC.2016.7468068
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84973607438
T3 - Conference Proceedings - IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition - APEC
SP - 1512
EP - 1519
BT - 2016 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, APEC 2016
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 31st Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, APEC 2016
Y2 - 20 March 2016 through 24 March 2016
ER -