An SiC MOSFET and Si Diode Hybrid Three-Phase High-Power Three-Level Rectifier

Abstract

The utilization of wide bandgap devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) diode and mosfet can significantly increase the power density and the efficiency of rectifier circuits. However, SiC-based circuits always suffer from the high cost of their power stage. In this paper, a highly efficient low-cost hybrid three-phase three-level rectifier is proposed. Instead of using SiC diode and Si IGBT, it consists of SiC mosfet and Si diode. It presents extremely low switching losses because the reverse recovery losses of all the Si diodes are eliminated. At the same time, the total device cost of this rectifier is much lower than the all-SiC-based rectifiers. Furthermore, half-bridge modules can be used to comprise the rectifier circuit, which makes it suitable for high-power applications. In this paper, the circuit operational analysis, simulation, and experimental results are given. A comparison is given to show the advantages of the proposed rectifier.