MW Silicon Carbide converters for Marine Hybrid Energy Systems

Significant reductions in emissions from the transport industry will be necessary in the coming years to satisfy Norwegian and international requirements, especially for operation in urban areas or coastal and emission-sensitive areas. Successful deployment of the Energy Storage System will require cost-effective and energy-efficient solutions that can take advantage of the controllability of local energy sources and on-board storage devices. Power electronics converters are often required for controlling power flow between ESS units and for controlling the motors, for optimally converting electrical energy into mechanical energy. In this project, a modular MW Marine converter was developed based on 1700 V components, adapted to both hybrid modules with silicon and silicon carbide (Si / SiC) and pure silicon carbide modules (SiC). This will reduce cost and volume as well as increase efficiency for the new Hybrid Energy System. An ultra-fast soft-switched converter with very high efficiency has been developed. A volume reduction of 1/3 of previous solutions has been achieved. Filters have also been developed which are to be connected between the grid / load and the inverter, which uses components that switch very fast. This is necessary to protect energy storage, motors and components in the grid. One has achieved a reduction of about 1/3 of volume and weight in comparison to previous solutions.

Due to this project The Switch in now able to design low voltage SiC MOSFET converters for the marine industry. The company has also gained the knowledge of how to design passive components as inductors for such high switching frequency devices. This will be the technology basis for next generation compact Hybrid Power Systems for the Marine Industry. EFD has gained deep knowledge in ultra-high soft-switching of SiC MOSFETs. In this project the basis technology for next generation products has been developed. This makes EFD able to continue to be among the leading companies in their market. For SINTEF this project has given increased knowledge in optimal design of high frequency, high power inductors. This includes magnetic, electric and thermal design. This makes SINTEF well prepared for more such project in the future.

In this project develop the first 1700V MW SiC Marine converter. It will be used in a new Hybrid Energy System to reduce the cost and volume and increase the efficiency of a power system for Marine Applications and to . It will be develop a high-efficient, compact lab-prototype power converter module with power rating pr. module is 1-2 MW. This includes use of Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices. An ultra-fast soft-switching converter with high efficiency suited for applications were galvanic insulation will be developed. This give much less volume of transformer and other passive components. Develop filters for connection of energy storage systems designed for high speed switching devices as SiC, to protect the loads. The R&D challenges is the design of a low inductive power circuits, power module design & gate-driving to improve the switching performance. In addition design of magnetic components which can withstand the high dv/dts is a challenge. The impact of such converters will immediately strengthen the market position of the companies.