TY - JOUR
T1 - Design, Operation, and Loss Characterization of a 1-kW GaN-Based Three-Level Converter at Cryogenic Temperatures
AU - Barth, Christopher B.
AU - Foulkes, Thomas
AU - Azofeifa, Oscar
AU - Colmenares, Juan
AU - Coulson, Keith
AU - Miljkovic, Nenad
AU - Pilawa-Podgurski, Robert C.N.
N1 - Manuscript received September 27, 2019; revised February 3, 2020; accepted March 13, 2020. Date of publication April 20, 2020; date of current version July 20, 2020. This work was supported in part by the NASA Fixed Wing research program through NASA cooperative agreement NASA NNX14AL79A and in part by the Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems, an NSF sponsored ERC. This article was presented in part at the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, Tampa, FL, USA, March 2017, and the IEEE Power and Energy Conference at Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA, February 2018. Recommended for publication by Associate Editor Z. Zhang. (Corresponding author: Robert C. N. Pilawa-Podgurski.) Christopher B. Barth, Thomas Foulkes, and Oscar Azofeifa are with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 USA (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]).
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - This article investigates the potential for high power density, high-efficiency power conversion using GaN-based flying capacitor multilevel power converters at low temperature. Specific focus is given to the application of hybrid aircraft powered by liquefied natural gas. Building off of prior characterization of GaN switches over temperature, this article outlines the impact of near-cryogenic operation on the losses of a complete 1-kW inverter. Specific focus has been given to the characterization of the losses in ceramic capacitors and inductors at near-cryogenic operation. A 1-kW GaN-based three-level power converter was designed and successfully tested from room temperature down to-140°C. Along with the first demonstration of a flying capacitor multilevel converter and associated components at such low temperature, a breakdown of losses over temperature is included to facilitate a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges introduced by this article.
AB - This article investigates the potential for high power density, high-efficiency power conversion using GaN-based flying capacitor multilevel power converters at low temperature. Specific focus is given to the application of hybrid aircraft powered by liquefied natural gas. Building off of prior characterization of GaN switches over temperature, this article outlines the impact of near-cryogenic operation on the losses of a complete 1-kW inverter. Specific focus has been given to the characterization of the losses in ceramic capacitors and inductors at near-cryogenic operation. A 1-kW GaN-based three-level power converter was designed and successfully tested from room temperature down to-140°C. Along with the first demonstration of a flying capacitor multilevel converter and associated components at such low temperature, a breakdown of losses over temperature is included to facilitate a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges introduced by this article.
KW - Capacitor
KW - FCML
KW - MLCC
KW - cryogenic
KW - dynamic rdson
KW - electrified aircraft
KW - flying capacitor multilevel converter
KW - gallium nitride (GaN)
KW - hybrid
KW - inverter
KW - liquefied natural gas (LNG)
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85089306752
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85089306752&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TPEL.2020.2989310
DO - 10.1109/TPEL.2020.2989310
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089306752
SN - 0885-8993
VL - 35
SP - 12040
EP - 12052
JO - IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
JF - IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
IS - 11
M1 - 9075366
ER -