Fabrication and evaluation of a high performance SiC inverter for wireless power transfer applications

Abstract

In this study, a high power density SiC high efficiency wireless power transfer converter system via inductive coupling has been designed and developed. The detailed power module design, cooling system design and power stage development are presented. The successful operation of rated power converter system demonstrates the feasible wireless charging plan. One of the most important part of this study is the wind bandgap devices packaged at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) using the in-house packaging technologies by employing the bare SiC dies acquired from CREE, which are rated at 50 A/1200 V each. These packaged devices are also in-house tested and characterized using ORNL's Device Characterization Facility. The successful operation of the proposed inverter is experimentally verified and the efficiency and operational characteristics of the inverter are also revealed.