University of Illinois Gallium Nitride Inverter
Overview
Topology
- The University of Illinois is building a 200-kW, multilevel, flying capacitor topology with gallium nitride power switches that is scalable to a 1-MW system
- The topology employs nine levels and shifts the energy storage used in filtering elements from inductors, which are common to many designs, to capacitors, which have a much higher energy density
- The dc bus voltage will be 1000 V.
Performance Goal
- 19kW/kg, 99% efficiency
Validation
- Prototype power modules have been built and tested resulting in refinements.
- Additional work has been done to show viability at cryogenic temperatures in a addition to room temp.
