This paper investigates SiC power semiconductor devices in a three-phase active front-end Boost PWM rectifier for power conversion efficiency improvement. Different from Si IGBT based Boost PFC rectifier, the SiC MOSFET based Boost PFC rectifier can achieve the synchronous rectification by MOSFET channel reverse conduction for efficiency improvement. The operation principle difference of three-phase active frontend Boost PWM rectifier with SiC MOSFET and Si IGBT is introduced. The switching characterizations of 1.2kV SiC MOSFET are provided. 5kW 380VAC input, 800VDC output three-phase active front-end Boost PWM rectifier prototype is built in lab to evaluate the efficiency advantage with SiC device. All SiC power semiconductor devices based circuit achieves about 1.2% more efficient compared with all Si devices, and around 0.5% more efficient than Si IGBT & SiC diode hybrid device pair for the three-phase Boost PWM rectifier due to low switching loss of 1.2kV SiC MOSFET and reduced conduction loss from the synchronous rectification operation for 1.2kV SiC MOSFET.@en

A novel high frequency high voltage (HV) generator with silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor devices is proposed in this paper to achieve high energy efficiency, fast HV pulse speed and compact size advantages. The electrical and HV insulation design and analysis high frequency HV transformer and voltage multiplier circuit based on 1.2kV SiC Schottky diode are discussed in details. 1.2kV SiC MOSFETs are introduced in the power inverter with switching frequency from 300 kHz to 500 kHz. The switching characteristics and detailed design consideration on the gate driver circuit are given. Finally, the 500W output power, 7kV output voltage HV generator prototype with 300 kHz to 500 kHz switching frequency is built in lab to validate the advantages on power density, energy efficiency and HV pulse speeds. The high frequency SiC HV generator prototype experimental results validate the power density, higher power efficiency and faster HV pulse speed advantages.@en