An 800V/300 kW, 44 kW/L Air-Cooled SiC Power Electronics Building Block (PEBB)

A compact 300 kW air-cooled SiC power electronics building block (PEBB) that integrates discrete SiC power switches, advanced gate drivers, low inductance loop design, DC link capacitors, and forced air cooling heatsink is developed. This paper discusses the design consideration of the PEBB focusing on device selection and efficiency. A high-speed gate driver is designed to drive paralleled SiC devices. Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) thermal management is implemented and the junction to ambient thermal resistance for each SiC switch is experimentally extracted to be less than 1 degrees C/W with forced air. PEBB power density of 43.9kW/L is achieved. The PEBB is tested in inverter mode and demonstrated an efficiency of 99.4% at 40 kW.

Automated summary

This study developed a compact 300 kW air-cooled SiC power electronics building block (PEBB) with high efficiency and power density.