Trade-off between losses and EMI issues in three-phase SiC inverters for aircraft applications

Power converters will only be effectively used in future aircrafts if they are compact, efficient and reliable. All these aspects can be improved by the use of disruptive technology such as the so-called Wide Bandgap (WBG) semiconductors made of Silicon Carbide (SiC) or Gallium Nitride (GaN). These components can switch much faster than their silicon counterpart, which can reduce converter losses and also decrease differential mode filter given the increase of switching frequency. However, such a fast commutation increases Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) issues in the converter and loads connected to it. This paper shows the approach developed at the French Institute of Technology (IRT) Saint-Exupery, in order to evaluate the trade-offs between losses and EMI issues of three-phase inverters used in future aircraft applications. Given the voltage DC bus of 540V, SiC MOSFETs are investigated and experimental results show the impact of these components on losses and EMI for different parameters.