The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 12 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Power-dense multilevel inverter module using interleaved GaN-based phases for electric aircraft propulsion
Abstract
Realizing the electrification of aircraft necessitates the development of inverters and rectifiers with ultra-high efficiency and specific power simultaneously. Unconventional topologies such as the flying capacitor multilevel (FCML) inverter hold great promise for achieving transformational reductions in inverter power loss and weight due to drastically smaller filters and compact hybrid energy transfer mechanism. After describing methods to overcome obstacles in ultra-efficient and lightweight converter design, this work presents an example of interleaved FCML inverter operation. The successful, balanced interleaved operation was demonstrated in the laboratory with a dual-interleaved, 9-level converter prototype at 1 kV input bus voltage and 9.7 kW output power. At 98.6% peak efficiency, this converter achieves a gravimetric power density of 17.3 kW/kg and a volumetric power density of 35.3 kW/L including the contributions of the heat sink. Interestingly, observations from loss modeling and hardware efficiency measurements revealed the large impact of second-order loss mechanisms, such as dynamic on-state resistance and junction temperature. Insights gained from this new understanding can be incorporated into future modeling for more thorough optimization of the converter design.
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Cites
Distributed interleaving of paralleled power converters
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
A Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies in Electric Vehicles: Current Status and Future Trends
Poorfakhraei, A., Narimani, M., & Emadi, A. (2021) · IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics · doi:10.1109/ojpel.2021.3063550 · Cited by 424
“In ellectric aircraft application, a high efficiency 9-level interleaved flying capacitor (FC) multilevel inverter utilizing GaN switches is proposed in [58].”
MethodWater immersion cooling of high power density electronics
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Self-citationCurrent Status and Future Trends of GaN HEMTs in Electrified Transportation
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Dorn-Gomba, L., Ramoul, J., Reimers, J., & Emadi, A. (2020) · IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification · doi:10.1109/tte.2020.3006045 · Cited by 203
A Review of Modulation and Control Techniques for Multilevel Inverters in Traction Applications
Poorfakhraei, A., Narimani, M., & Emadi, A. (2021) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2021.3056612 · Cited by 179
Metadata
- Authors
- Pallo, N., Foulkes, T., Modeer, T., Coday, S., & Pilawa-Podgurski, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Venue
- 2018 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2018-03
- Pages
- 1656-1661
- ISSN
- 1048-2334 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2798865274
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 7
- FWCI
- 15.95
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Conference proceedings/Conference proceedings - IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Multilevel Inverters and Converters
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced DC-DC Converters
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Silicon Carbide Semiconductor Technologies
- Keywords
- multilevel inverter, flying capacitor inverter, interleaved inverter, GaN power devices, electric aircraft propulsion, power density, inverter efficiency, junction temperature, loss modeling
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- Pallo, N., Foulkes, T., Modeer, T., Coday, S., & Pilawa-Podgurski, R. (2018). Power-dense multilevel inverter module using interleaved GaN-based phases for electric aircraft propulsion. 2018 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC). https://doi.org/10.1109/apec.2018.8341239
