Railway traction DC–DC converter: Comparison of Si, SiC‐hybrid, and full SiC versions with 1700 V power modules

Abstract

The influence of the silicon carbide (SiC) technology in terms of volume, weight, efficiency, and cost in a 225 kW DC-DC railway converter is detailed in this study. Three different power modules technologies have been used: 'traditional' siliconbased power modules, SiC-hybrid modules, and the newest full-SiC power modules available in the market. An experimental comparison of the SiC-hybrid and full-SiC modules is presented, showing their switching waveforms compared with those of the original Si modules. The highest speeds obtained by the SiC technology make the use of the traditional power module packages impossible employing Si technology. Hence, the first full-SiC modules available in the market are offered in low current ratings, requiring the complete redesign of the power converter to take advantage of the capabilities of the full-SiC modules. The railway power converter under study in this work is nowadays used to regenerate the braking energy in a DC 750 V tram with some catenary-free areas. As a final result, a full-SiC version of converter is achieved.

NSGA-II-Based Codesign Optimization for Power Conversion and Controller Stages of Interleaved Boost Converters in Electric Vehicle Drivetrains

“…Due to limited space, high reliability and high power-density converters are normally required in EV applications. To this end, wide bandgap technology such as silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs have recently been used to replace traditional silicon (Si) IGBTs, which leads to an overall reduction of 30% for the total converter volume [3]. Besides, by applying a multiphase concept along with interleaving operation and current sharing control techniques for the DC/DC converter, its input current ripple, and the sizing of passive components can be remarkably reduced [4].…”

Switching Frequency Determination of SiC-Inverter for High Efficiency Propulsion System of Railway Vehicle

“…Nowadays, the voltage class of SiC power module is announced to 3300 V [5,6,19]. Therefore, the studies applying the high voltage SiC power module into various applications are introducing in lots of papers [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. The SiC power module with 1700 V class has been applied for the auxiliary converter of railway vehicle [20,25].…”

“…Here, the switching frequency of 6 kHz in hybrid SiC power module has the same power loss with the Si module with the switching frequency of 2 kHz. The SiC power modules with various voltage classes have been considered in the traction inverter of railway vehicle [19,[22][23][24][26][27][28]. Initially, the hybrid SiC power modules where the SiC freewheeling diode combines with silicon (Si)-IGBT were tested [19,[22][23][24]26,27].…”

“…The SiC power modules with various voltage classes have been considered in the traction inverter of railway vehicle [19,[22][23][24][26][27][28]. Initially, the hybrid SiC power modules where the SiC freewheeling diode combines with silicon (Si)-IGBT were tested [19,[22][23][24]26,27]. The mass and volume comparison results between the inverters consisting Si-IGBT modules and SiC power modules in the same switching frequency, which is respectively low switching frequency, 800 Hz, are shown in [22,24,26].…”

“…Initially, the hybrid SiC power modules where the SiC freewheeling diode combines with silicon (Si)-IGBT were tested [19,[22][23][24]26,27]. The mass and volume comparison results between the inverters consisting Si-IGBT modules and SiC power modules in the same switching frequency, which is respectively low switching frequency, 800 Hz, are shown in [22,24,26]. The propulsion inverter consisting of the hybrid SiC power modules can decrease the mass and volume until 60% of the conventional Si-IGBT inverter.…”