Efficiency Comparison of 2-Level SiC Inverter and Soft Switching-Snubber SiC Inverter for Electric Motor Drives

Marco di Benedetto, Luca Bigarelli, Alessandro Lidozzi and Luca Solero
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Marco di Benedetto: C-PED, Center for Power Electronics and Drives, Roma Tre University, 00146 Roma, Italy
Luca Bigarelli: C-PED, Center for Power Electronics and Drives, Roma Tre University, 00146 Roma, Italy
Alessandro Lidozzi: C-PED, Center for Power Electronics and Drives, Roma Tre University, 00146 Roma, Italy
Luca Solero: C-PED, Center for Power Electronics and Drives, Roma Tre University, 00146 Roma, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: This paper focuses on the investigation and implementation of a high-performance power conversion system to reduce the overvoltage phenomenon in variable speed electric drive applications. Particularly, the pros and cons of using Silicon Carbide power MOSFETs in the power converter when a long power cable is employed in electric motor drive systems has been addressed. The three-phase two level inverter with the addition of snubber circuits that consist of capacitors and diodes has been investigated, designed and tested in order to mitigate the overvoltage problems without sacrificing the conversion efficiency. Given that the snubber circuit added to the switches can increase losses, an additional circuit is used to recover the energy from the snubber circuit. The proposed analysis has been then validated through an experimental campaign performed on the converter prototype. The experimental results show that the proposed converter can reduce the overvoltage at the electric motor terminals with excellent conversion efficiency compared to the classical solution like the three-phase two level inverter.

Keywords: three-phase inverter; snubber circuit; electric motor overvoltage; a high-performance; power losses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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