1200 V SiC Based Extremely Compact, 500 kW, 2000 Hz Inverter for High Speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) Applications

Imagen Energy, LLC, an innovative company which focuses on next generation SiC based power converter system, is teaming up with Wolfspeed, a division of Cree, the leading SiC power module manufacturer in the U.S, and Velicon Inc., a high speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) supplier for special high end applications to resolve a real application issue that exists in the High Speed PMSM motor drive systems, using Wide Band Gap (WBG) SiC power module technology. Simply, there is no economical industrial or commercial low voltage (480V‐690V, three phase input) motor drive solution which can provide 1500 VDC bus operation to overcome the BEMF of high‐speed PMSM and deliver 500 kW of power to the motor shaft above 500 Hz output frequency, mainly due to the lower power semiconductor voltage withstand ratings, and the limited PWM switching frequency. The team strongly believes that a solution based on SiC power module technology, supported by its ability to switch at >50 kHz switching frequency, will be able to address the existing application issues. Therefore, it is proposed to develop a 3‐level motor drive with Active Front End (AFE), using 1200 V rated SiC devices allowing the DC bus to operate in excess of 1500 VDC. The controller proposed in this concept paper is based on Altera ultra‐high‐speed Filed Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology, which has the ability to operate with a control step time <0.1 s.