Demonstration of silicon carbide (SiC) -based motor drive

This paper describes a SiC-based motor drive technology used to achieve compact power conversion. The static and dynamic characterization of 600 V SiC MOS-enhanced JFETs and SiC Schottky free-wheeling diodes (FWDs) designed and fabricated at Rockwell Scientific, are performed. The power loss and related voltage and current stress of the SiC MOS-enhanced JFET and SiC Schottky FWD are measured and compared to that of a state-of-the-art silicon IGBTs and PlN FWDs with ratings equal to the SiC ratings. For the same power rating (25 A, 600 V), the area of the SiC die making up the inverter modules are about 60% of a commercial 25 A IGBT die. The total power loss of SiC inverter module is reduced by 52.5% compared with the Si IGBT module. SiC inverter modules are used to successfully drive 10 hp motor.