Z-Source Inverter with SiC Power Semiconductor Devices for Fuel Cell Vehicle Applications

Abstract

Power electronics is a key technology for electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. Typical power electronics converters used in electric drive vehicles include dc/dc converters, inverters, and battery chargers. New semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and novel topologies such as the Z-source inverter (ZSI) have a great deal of potential to improve the overall performance of these vehicles. In this paper, a Z-source inverter for fuel cell vehicle application is examined under three different scenarios. 1. a ZSI with Si IGBT modules, 2. a ZSI with hybrid modules, Si IGBTs/SiC Schottky diodes, and 3. a ZSI with SiC MOSFETs/SiC Schottky diodes. Then, a comparison of the three scenarios is conducted. Conduction loss, switching loss, reverse recovery loss, and efficiency are considered for comparison. A conclusion is drawn that the SiC devices can improve the inverter and inverter-motor efficiency, and reduce the system size and cost due to the low loss properties of SiC devices. A comparison between a ZSI and traditional PWM inverters with SiC devices is also presented in this paper. Based on this comparison, the Z-source inverter produces the highest efficiency.

Steady‐state analysis of high‐voltage gain multiple series Z‐source inverter

“…Equations (6) and (7) illustrate that the amplitude of positive and negative voltage values is equal, respectively.…”

“…The analysis of the proposed topology after merging the inductors was discussed in more details in previous sections; so, the related equations to the proposed topology before merging the inductors is summarised in Table 1. By using (6) and (17), the average value of current through inductors (I L ) in terms of B for the proposed topology in Fig. 1b is calculated as follows:…”

“…By using (6) and (25), designed values of inductances for the proposed topology in Fig. 1b are calculated as follows: Table 1 Related equations to the proposed topology in Fig.…”

“…The control methods of ZSIs have been discussed in [2][3][4][5]. The applications of ZSI have been presented in [6][7][8] and their modelling and designing have been presented in [9][10][11]. Other topologies based on ZSI have been presented in [12][13].…”

Embedded Switched-Inductor Z-Source Inverters

“…Various Z-source inverter topologies have been reported in many different studies. Work on Z-source inverters has focused on pulse-width modulation (PWM) strategies [3], [4], applications [5], [6], modeling and control [7], [8], direct ac-ac converters [9], [10], and other Z-network topologies [11]- [13]. A class of quasi-Z-source inverters was proposed in [11], [12] that were designed to overcome the shortcomings of the classic Z-source inverter.…”