Design Consideration for High Power Density GaN Buck-Rectifier in ISOP-IPOS Converter based dc Distribution System

GaN (gallium nitride) buck-rectifier has been proposed to realize high power density ISOP (input series and output parallel)-IPOS (input parallel and output series) converter-based dc distribution system. The ultra-low loss bi-directional switch can be developed by the GaN power device because of the low on-resistance, the high-speed switching behavior and its own device structure. The buck-rectifier using the GaN bi-directional switches has the potential to achieve higher power density than the commonly utilized boost-rectifier. Availability of the GaN-HEMT (high electron mobility transistor) for the buck rectifier has been verified taking the theoretical limit of the on-resistance and the switching loss energy into account. Design consideration for a high power density buck-rectifier has been also conducted and the application effect of the GaN bidirectional switches has been evaluated quantitatively. The ISOP-IPOS converter-based dc (direct current) distribution system takes full advantage of the buck-rectifier and the rectifier using GaN devices contributes to realizing higher power density dc distribution system.