AbstractsEngineering

This dissertation aims at designing a three-phase voltage source inverter based on the SiC devices and mainly the SiC-MOSFET. The designed inverter offers a possibility to drive the power inverter with a very high efficiency, which can reach up to 99% for 16 kW rated power. The design is dedicated to the electric vehicle application, and it aims at • Providing a comparative study on some of the current discrete SiC devices in terms of the total losses and the thermal conductivity. In addition, a behavioral study of the effective channel mobility with temperature variation in the SiC MOSFET will be investigated. • Designing a gate driver which fits with the driving requirements of the SiC-MOSFET and provides a trade-off between the switching losses and the EMI behavior. • Designing a three-phase voltage source inverter with 16 kW rated power; the design includes minimizing the inverter losses and extracts the EMI model of the power inverter by considering the effects of the parasitic parameters; moreover a short guideline for selecting the heat-sink based on the static network is introduced. • Proposing a new and simplified carried-based PWM, this will reduce the harmonics in the output waveforms and enhance the utilization of the DC-link voltage. • Proposing a new strategy for compensating the dead-time effect in carrier based-PWM and to find out the proper dead-time level in VSI based on SiC –MOSFET. • Designing faults diagnosis and protection circuits in order to protect the power inverter from the common faults; overcurrent, short-circuit, overvoltage, and overtemperature faults.   Advisors/Committee Members: Lutz, Josef (advisor), Pacas, Mario (referee).