Design Procedures and Prototyping of a Full-Bridge High Frequency Power Inverter

Abstract

Nowadays, power electronics inverters are everywhere, from customer electronics to industry applications. In the heart of these converters there are discrete semiconductor switches. Most applications make use of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs), which are a first choice due to their switching capabilities (from several thousands of hertz to some tens of kilohertz’s) and power (from some tens of watts to megawatts). However, some applications may require faster switching frequencies, such as aeronautical and automotive electrical systems. In this scenario, FET-Based devices are a suitable choice due to their extremely fast switching characteristics. Yet, high speed switching creates problematic effects such as voltage and current oscillations which are disparately addressed in literature. Thus, this work incorporates various design advice to elaborate a methodology for the design of a 5kVA - 100kHz FET-Based full-bridge inverter. Recommendations are given for components selection, gate driver realization and layout of the power tracks. Simulations and experimental results are shown to validate the proposed methodology.