Evaluation of a 500kW High Temperature and High Power-Density Inverter Based on Silicon Carbide Power Module

In pursuit of increased operational duration and future high-power capabilities for U.S. military ground vehicles, the transition towards vehicle electrification has been heavily adopted. High power-density and high temperature inverters play a key role in progressing vehicle electrification adoption across the U.S. military. This paper presents the design and development of high power-density and high temperature inverter, Enercycle™ DC-1000 Inverter, using SiC MOSFET devices to enable ground vehicle electrification. The DC-1000 inverter is a bi-directional inverter with a power density of 11.4 kW/L, which is capable of operating at 600VDC and delivering 500kW continuous output power and transient output power up to 640kW. Details of mechanical design as well as experimental results of electrical and thermal performance to validate the capability of DC-1000 inverter are presented in this paper. Moreover, challenges and next steps for further improvement of design have been discussed.