Evaluative analysis of 2- and 3-level DC/DC converters for high-voltage high-power applications

Abstract

This paper is focused on the high-voltage (≥2 kV) high-power (≥20 kW) isolated DC/DC converters. The 3.3 kV IGBT based three-level half-bridge inverter topology was analyzed as an alternative to the two-level half-bridge with 6.5 kV IGBTs. The properties of primary switches, theirs selection procedure as well as inverter loss distribution, design challenges, costs of semiconductors and passive components of both concurrent topologies were evaluated and compared. The overall feasibility of two- and three-level inverter topologies was compared for the selected application and final recommendations are given.