TY - JOUR
T1 - A 2-kW Single-Phase Seven-Level Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter with an Active Energy Buffer
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:
© 1986-2012 IEEE.
PY - 2017/11
Y1 - 2017/11
N2 - High-efficiency and compact single-phase inverters are desirable in many applications such as solar energy harvesting and electric vehicle chargers. This paper presents a 2-kW, 60-Hz, 450-V $ -{\text{DC}}$-To-240-V $-{\text{AC}}$ power inverter, designed and tested subject to the specifications of the Google/IEEE Little Box Challenge. The inverter features a seven-level flying capacitor multilevel converter, with low-voltage GaN switches operating at 120 kHz. The inverter also includes an active buffer for twice-line-frequency power pulsation decoupling, which reduces the required capacitance by a factor of 8 compared to conventional passive decoupling capacitors, while maintaining an efficiency above 99%. The inverter prototype is a self-contained box that achieves a high power density of 216 W/in 3 and a peak overall efficiency of 97.6%, while meeting the constraints including input current ripple, load transient, thermal, and FCC Class B EMC specifications.
AB - High-efficiency and compact single-phase inverters are desirable in many applications such as solar energy harvesting and electric vehicle chargers. This paper presents a 2-kW, 60-Hz, 450-V $ -{\text{DC}}$-To-240-V $-{\text{AC}}$ power inverter, designed and tested subject to the specifications of the Google/IEEE Little Box Challenge. The inverter features a seven-level flying capacitor multilevel converter, with low-voltage GaN switches operating at 120 kHz. The inverter also includes an active buffer for twice-line-frequency power pulsation decoupling, which reduces the required capacitance by a factor of 8 compared to conventional passive decoupling capacitors, while maintaining an efficiency above 99%. The inverter prototype is a self-contained box that achieves a high power density of 216 W/in 3 and a peak overall efficiency of 97.6%, while meeting the constraints including input current ripple, load transient, thermal, and FCC Class B EMC specifications.
KW - Active energy buffer
KW - GaN
KW - flying capacitor multilevel (FCML)
KW - inverter
KW - multilevel inverter
KW - single phase
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028379901&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85028379901&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TPEL.2017.2650140
DO - 10.1109/TPEL.2017.2650140
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85028379901
SN - 0885-8993
VL - 32
SP - 8570
EP - 8581
JO - IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
JF - IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
IS - 11
M1 - 7811253
ER -