High-Power Modular Multilevel Converters With SiC JFETs

This paper studies the possibility of building a modular multilevel converter (M2C) using silicon carbide (SiC) switches. The main focus is on a theoretical investigation of the conduction losses of such a converter and a comparison to a corresponding converter with silicon-insulated gate bipolar tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on power electronics 2012-01, Vol.27 (1), p.28-36
Main Authors: Peftitsis, D., Tolstoy, G., Antonopoulos, A., Rabkowski, J., Jang-Kwon Lim, Bakowski, M., Ängquist, Lennart, Nee, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Capacitors
Circuit properties
Converters
Diodeless operation
Diodes
Direct current
Electric currents
Electric power
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering
Electrical equipment
Electronic circuits
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
high voltage direct-current transmission
high voltage directcurrent transmission
Insulated gate bipolar transistors
JFET
JFETs
Modular
modular multilevel converter
Multilevel
Power electronics, power supplies
Prototypes
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
SiC JFETs
Signal convertors
Silicon
Silicon carbide
Switching
Switching frequency
Switching, multiplexing, switched capacity circuits
Transistors
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Summary:This paper studies the possibility of building a modular multilevel converter (M2C) using silicon carbide (SiC) switches. The main focus is on a theoretical investigation of the conduction losses of such a converter and a comparison to a corresponding converter with silicon-insulated gate bipolar transistors. Both SiC BJTs and JFETs are considered and compared in order to choose the most suitable technology. One of the submodules of a down-scaled 3 kVA prototype M2C is replaced with a submodule with SiC JFETs without antiparallel diodes. It is shown that the diodeless operation is possible with the JFETs conducting in the negative direction, leaving the possibility to use the body diode during the switching transients. Experimental waveforms for the SiC submodule verify the feasibility during normal steady-state operation. The loss estimation shows that a 300 MW M2C for high-voltage direct current transmission would potentially have an efficiency of approximately 99.8% if equipped with future 3.3 kV 1.2 kA SiC JFETs.
ISSN:0885-8993
1941-0107
1941-0107
DOI:10.1109/TPEL.2011.2155671