Influence of SiC technology in a railway traction DC-DC converter design evolution

Abstract

The introduction in the semiconductor market of the SiC technology enables power designers the development of power converters with higher power density (W/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> ) in comparison with the traditional converters based on Si power semiconductors. This work presents the redesign of a DC-DC converter, used in railway traction applications with full-SiC modules. The low current rating of the actual full-SiC modules makes necessary the use of several modules to substitute the “traditional” Si ones. This is considered in this work, together with the phase inductor design with amorphous magnetic materials, suitable for high current and high frequency levels. A comparison in terms of switching frequency, volume, magnetic elements and cooling system size, etc, is done, with the improvement possibilities offered by the introduction of this SiC technology. As result, the first DC-DC full-SiC converter for railway application is presented, as interface between the DC-link catenary and the energy storage system (ESS).