Design of a 2.5kW PFC boost full-SiC converter based on close-coupled inductors

Applications such as Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), vertical transportation and railway traction require very high power converters with the volume limitations intrinsic to onboard applications. High power density can be achieved by using higher switching frequencies, Silicon Carbide (SiC) power switches and coupled inductors topologies. In this paper, close-coupled inductors topologies are modeled, simulated and designed for a 2.5kW interleaved PFC boost all-SiC converter. Design and simulation results are validated through experimental measurements on a converter prototype. Both the traditional interleaved converter and the close-coupled inductors topology are compared. Inductor effective volume is reduced by 53.54% and 97.385% efficiency is achieved.