Integrating Wide Band Gap Technology in Isolated MVDC Power Converters
Abstract
SWSMedium-voltage DC is slated as a suitable architecture for future Naval shipboard power systems.Among other things, advantages of medium-voltage DC include reduction in power conversionstages and the ability to utilize high-speed (low volume) power turbines. Past development ofpower converter technology for medium-voltage DC has focused on modular and resonanttechnologies. Modular converters have the advantage of achieving medium voltage with lowervoltagesemiconductor switches and have high power quality, low switching losses, and goodelectromagnetic compatibility due to a relatively low voltage within each module. Resonant powerconverters were originally developed to eliminate switching losses allowing a higher operatingfrequency which, in turn, yields good power quality and also have an inherent advantage of goodelectromagnetic compatibility due to well defined edge rates. A necessary enabling technology forpower conversion is wide band-gap semiconductor devices which eliminate switching loss due toswitch edge rates that can be 10 times that of traditional silicon semiconductors. At the same time,blocking voltages of wide band-gap devices are much higher. When operated at a higher blockingvoltage and with the higher edge rates, the dv/dt is amplified which will lead to emanateelectromagnetic compatibility problems. Thus, there is a need to study wide band-gap devices inthe context of modular and resonant structures to determine reasonable design practices. That is,for a common naval shipboard power converter, what is a good number of modular cells and towhat extent should resonant technology be used. Further to this, both voltage-source and currentsourcetopologies can be considered. The proposed work is to carry out a wide-ranging study ofavailable technologies as applied to future ship power systems and carry out validation withsimulation and laboratory experiments. The findings will be summarized in a comprehensivereport.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 10, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812272
Entities
People
- Leila Parsa
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, Santa Cruz