Development of compact power control unit for HEVs

Abstract

This paper presents a compact power control unit (PCU) for hybrid electric vehicles. The authors use silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET power modules with insulated ceramic substrates, resulting in high thermal conductivity. In addition, direct connection of aluminum-made chassis of a reactor and a capacitor to the heat sink makes it possible to highly release heat generation of them. These two measures enable a size reduction of the PCU, and a power density of 86 kVA/L was achieved that is the most compact in the similar PCU class.