A High-Efficiency Bidirectional GaN-HEMT DC/DC Converter

Conference: PCIM Europe 2016 - International Exhibition and Conference for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management
05/10/2016 - 05/12/2016 at Nürnberg, Deutschland

Proceedings: PCIM Europe 2016

Pages: 6Language: englishTyp: PDF

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Authors:
Ebli, Michael; Wattenberg, Martin (Reutlingen University, Germany)
Pfost, Martin (University of Innsbruck, Austria)

Abstract:
This paper presents a compact 3 kW bidirectional GaN-HEMT DC/DC converter for 360V to 400-500 V. A very high efficiency has been reached by applying a zero voltage turn-on in conjunction with a negative gate-source voltage, even though normally-off HEMTs are used. Further improvements were achieved by adapting the switching frequency to the load current and output voltage, as will be explained by means of the loss contribution of the specific elements for a constant and an adaptive switching frequency. Measurements have shown a high converter efficiency exceeding 99% over a wide output power range of up to 3 kW.