SiC Power Modules for Traction Inverters in Automotive Applications

Abstract

Nowadays, there is a great research effort in the field of electric vehicles. In such a context, SiC power modules play a key role for their effective and widespread diffusion especially due to their ability at improving the performance of the traction inverter. The advantages and issues related to SiC traction modules are analysed in this work giving also guidelines for viable solutions. More specifically, electrical and thermal problems, safety and reliability issues, challenges from device paralleling and module layout as well as power efficiency, have been investigated. The aim of this work is to collect all these aspects that must be carefully considered at the SiC power modules design stage. The main merit of this overview is their analysis performed by means of on field experience, in terms of experimental tests, finite element analysis, and circuit simulations.