The Fast Overvoltage Protection Consideration and Design for SiC-Based Matrix Converters

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industry applications Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 6145 - 6154
• Main Authors: Costa, Louelson Afranio Leugirdes de Azevedo Cavalcanti, Fan, Boran, Burgos, Rolando, Boroyevich, Dushan, Chen, Warren, Blasko, Vladimir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.11.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: AC–AC; Bridge circuits; Circuit design; circuit layout design; Circuit protection; Clamps; Design; Devices; Electromagnetic interference; Inductance; Layouts; matrix converter (MxC); Matrix converters; Overvoltage; overvoltage protection (OVP); Silicon carbide; Switches; Switching; three phase; Topology; Voltage control
• ISSN: 0093-9994; 1939-9367
• DOI: 10.1109/TIA.2021.3105374

Matrix converters feature low switching loss, small electromagnetic interference filter, and the potential for achieving high power density. With the employment of wide-bandgap devices, such as silicon carbide devices, the converter performance can be further improved. For a safe operation of matrix converters, an overvoltage protection circuit is necessary to limit the voltage stress of the devices during fault conditions. Due to the high switching speed of silicon carbide devices, the topology and layout design of the overvoltage protection circuit is critical to ensure fast and robust protection for the devices. In this article, a detachable overvoltage protection circuit is designed for each phase leg of the matrix converter. The topology and hardware layout design are elaborated. A 15-kW full silicon carbide implemented matrix converter is built, and the designed overvoltage protection circuits are employed and tested.