Experimental and Analytical Performance Evaluation of SiC Power Devices in the Matrix Converter

With the commercial availability of SiC power devices, their acceptance is expected to grow in consideration of the excellent low switching loss, high-temperature operation, and high-voltage rating capabilities of these devices. This paper presents the comparative performance evaluation of different SiC power devices in the matrix converter at various temperatures and switching frequencies. To this end, first, gate or base drive circuits for normally-off SiC JFET, SiC MOSFET, and SiC BJT by taking into account the special demands for these devices are presented. Then, four two-phase to one-phase matrix converters are built with different Si and SiC power devices to measure the switching waveforms and power losses for them at different temperatures and switching frequencies. Based on the measured data, four different SiC and Si power devices are compared in terms of switching times, conduction and switching losses, and efficiency at different temperatures and switching frequencies. Furthermore, a theoretical investigation of the power losses of the three-phase matrix converter with normally-off SiC JFET, SiC MOSFET, SiC BJT, and Si IGBT is described. The power losses estimation indicates that a 7-kW matrix converter would potentially have an efficiency of approximately 94% in high switching frequency if equipped with SiC devices.