Dimensioning and Comparison of a Novel Power Converter Topology by Empirical Semiconductor Models

A widely known problem is to compare different power converter topologies by means of semiconductor effort and thus cost. This is often additionally hindered by a limited amount of individual, existing semiconductors. This paper presents an approach in terms of semiconductor models and a design algorithm. In a first step, area-specific semiconductor models are derived by regression analysis of datasheet parameters of existing devices. This is done for both MOSFETs and IGBTs. In a second step, a design algorithm is presented and two power converter topologies for electric traction applications are compared.