Open AccessPotential of silicon carbide MOSFETs in the DC/DC converters for future HVDC offshore wind farms
Author(s) -
Lagier Thomas,
Ladoux Philippe,
Dworakowski Piotr
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
high voltage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.732
H-Index - 20
ISSN - 2397-7264
DOI - 10.1049/hve.2017.0070
Subject(s) - silicon carbide , offshore wind power , electrical engineering , converters , high voltage direct current , mosfet , wind power , forward converter , direct current , transistor , power semiconductor device , materials science , voltage , engineering , boost converter , metallurgy
High‐voltage direct current (HVDC) is more and more often implemented for long distance electrical energy transmission, especially for off‐shore wind farms. In this study, a full DC off‐shore wind farm, which requires a high‐power and high‐voltage DC/DC converter, is considered. In order to reduce the size of the converter, the trend is to increase operating frequency. Silicon carbide (SiC) metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistors (MOSFETs) are becoming industrially available and give scope for the realisation of high‐performance DC/DC converters based on modular architectures. This study presents a prospective analysis of the potential of such devices in HVDC power systems. Considering the characteristics of Si insulated‐gate bipolar transistor and SiC MOSFET power modules, two DC/DC converter topologies are compared in terms of losses and number of components. In conclusion, a study of the efficiency based on converter energy loss is presented.