High efficiency data center power supply using wide band gap power devices

The energy efficiency of typical data centers is less than 50% because more than half of the power is consumed during power conversion, distribution, cooling, etc. In this paper, a combination of two approaches to improve power supply efficiency is implemented and experimentally verified. One approach uses a high voltage DC architecture, designed to reduce distribution loss and remove unnecessary power conversion stages. The other approach employs wide band gap (WBG) power devices, including silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) FETs and diodes, which helps to increase converter efficiency and power density. Scaled down prototypes of all power conversion stages in the data center power supply chain are designed, built, and tested. The advantages of utilizing WBG power devices are illustrated through simulations and then verified by experiment.