The grantee designed a high power (over 1MW) inverter for use in renewable and distributed energy systems, such as PV cells, fuel cells, variable speed wind turbines, micro turbines, variable speed gensets and various energy storage methods. The inverter uses 10,000V SiC power devices which enable the use of a straight-forward topology for medium voltage (4,160VAC) without the need to cascade devices or topologies as is done in all commercial, 4,160VAC inverters today. The use of medium voltage reduces the current by nearly an order of magnitude in all current carrying components of the energy system, thus reducing size and cost. The use of SiC not only enables medium voltage, but also the use of higher temperatures and switching frequencies, further reducing size and cost. In this project, the grantee addressed several technical issues that stand in the way of success. The two primary issues addressed are the determination of real heat losses in candidate SiC devices at elevated temperature and the development of high temperature packaging for SiC devices.
