High Power Density and High Efficiency Converter Topologies for Renewable Energy Conversion and EV Applications

This dissertation work presents two novel converter topologies (a three-level ANPC inverter utilizing hybrid Si/SiC switches and an Asymmetric Alternate Arm Converter (AAAC) topology) that are suitable for high efficiency and high-power density energy conversion systems. The operation principle, modulation, and control strategy of these newly introduced converter topologies are presented in detail supported by simulation and experimental results. A thorough design optimization of these converter topologies (Si/SiC current rating ratio optimization and gate control strategies for the three-level ANPC inverter topology and component sizing for the asymmetric alternate arm converter topology) are also presented. Performance comparison of the proposed converter topologies with other similar converter topologies is also presented. The performance of the proposed ANPC inverter topology is compared with other ANPC inverter topologies such as an all SiC MOSFET ANPC inverter topology, an all Si IGBT ANPC inverter topology and mixed Si IGBT and SiC MOSFET based ANPC inverter topologies in terms of efficiency and cost. The efficiency and cost comparison results show that the proposed hybrid Si/SiC switch based ANPC inverter has higher efficiency and lower cost compared to the other ANPC inverter topologies considered for the comparison. The performance of the asymmetric alternate arm converter topology is also compared with other similar voltage source converter topologies such as the modular multilevel converter topology, the alternate arm converter topology, and the improved alternate arm converter topology in terms of total device count, number of switches per current conduction path, output voltage levels, dc-fault blocking capability and overmodulation capability. The proposed multilevel converter topology has lower total number of devices and lower number of devices per current conduction path hence it has lower cost and lower conduction power loss. However, it has lower number of output voltage levels (requiring larger ac interface inductors) and lacks dc-fault blocking and overmodulation operation capabilities. A converter figure-of-merit accounting for the hybrid Si/SiC switch and converter topology properties is also proposed to help perform quick performance comparison between different hybrid Si/SiC switch based converter topologies. It eliminates the need for developing full electro-thermal power loss model for different converter topologies that would otherwise be needed to carry out power loss comparison between different converter topologies. Hence it saves time and effort