Inverter With Paralleled Modules to Extend Current Capacity and Combat Motor Overvoltage in SiC-Based Adjustable Speed Drives

This article proposes a quasi-three-level (Q3L) pulsewidth modulation (PWM)-based module-parallel inverter to address two major issues of deploying SiC MOSFETs in high-power cable-fed adjustable speed drives. First, the maximum output power of SiC inverters is limited due to the lack of high current rating silicon carbide (SiC) devices, which cannot satisfy the demand of high-power applications, such as heavy-duty electric vehicles and more electric airplanes. The second issue comes from the fast-switching speed of SiC MOSFETs, where power cables act like transmission lines under steep rising/falling voltages (high dv/dt), with back-and-forth voltage reflections that result in serious overvoltage oscillations at motor terminals. To address these issues, a SiC module-parallel inverter is adopted with elevated current capacity, where the phase voltage is maintained at the midpoint of a coupled inductor connected to the output nodes of each paralleled half-bridge module. By actively controlling the switching delay between the paralleled half-bridge legs, Q3L PWM waveforms are generated at the inverter output nodes that can mitigate the motor overvoltage due to the voltage reflections through power cables. An active current control technique is also proposed to facilitate the current balance between the paralleled half-bridge legs. The proposed Q3L PWM-based module-parallel inverter is experimentally verified using a SiC-based cable-fed motor drive system. The results show that the proposed approach can extend the current capabilities of SiC devices as well as mitigate motor overvoltage, enabling the adoption of SiC devices in high-power motor drives.