A silicon carbide (SiC) power inverter, with hight temperature, high efficiency, and high power density capabilities, is proposed for potential applications to electric actuation, electric propulsion, electric power generation, and electric power conditioning and conversion. The performance advantages of SiC over Si in power electronics applications include lower resistance devices (higher efficiency), higher junction temperature (higher reliability), and higher case temperature (eliminates need for active liquid cooling systems). This results in significant benefits at the vehicle level (aircraft, spacecraft, armored vehicles, hybrid vehicles, etc) because of the increase in system reliability, a decrease in maintenance and support equipment, and a reduction in weight and volume. The proposed effort focus on design, fabrication and testing of an engineering laboratory prototype SiC based power inverter to demonstrate the two main benefits of SiC devices, the increased operating frequency yielding less volume and elimination of active liquid cooling requirements resulting in higher reliability compared to a Si inverter.
