Power loss in passive devices of power converters and its generation mechanism

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K04339
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 21010:Power engineering-related
• Research Institution: Kobe City College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Motegi Shin-ichi 神戸市立工業高等専門学校, その他部局等, 教授 (00707896)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: パルス幅変調 / 三相電圧形インバータ / パッシブデバイス / 損失

Outline of Final Research Achievements

With the advent of next-generation power semiconductors, the characteristics of various power converters can be improved. However, the characteristics of passive devices have been a bottleneck, and current power converters do not necessarily fully leverage the advantages of next-generation power semiconductors. Therefore, in this study, the losses of passive devices when various PWM (pulse width modulation) schemes were applied to three-phase voltage-fed inverters were clarified. Specifically, it was revealed that the loss of the DC-side electrolytic capacitor does not vary significantly depending on the PWM scheme applied to the three-phase voltage-fed inverter. Additionally, the losses in the AC-side inductor and AC-side LC filter were found to be smaller with three-phase PWM schemes. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the overall losses of the converter are smaller with two-phase PWM schemes, as the losses in the inverter itself are reduced.

Free Research Field

半導体電力変換工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本テーマでは三相電圧形インバータに各種パルス幅変調方法を適用した場合のパッシブ素子（交流側のインダクタや直流側の電解コンデンサ）における損失を明らかにしました．これらに関しては，単相インバータの検討例は存在しますが，三相インバータの検討例はほとんどありませんでした．したがって，本テーマから得られた知見は，次世代パワー半導体が使用され始めた最新の電力変換システムにおいて，パッシブデバイスの技術開発のボトルネックとなっている問題を加速的に解決することに寄与できると考えられます．その結果，環境に優しいエネルギー変換システムの構築が可能となり，持続可能な社会の実現に貢献できると確信しています．