Evaluation of the Performance of GaN HEMT in High Power Multilevel Converters

氮化镓（GaN）功率半导体器件是提高电力电子系统效率和功率密度的有前途的解决方案。GaN Systems Inc是一家生产GaN高电子迁移率晶体管（HEMT）器件的世界领先公司。GaN HEMT已经在许多低电压和低功率应用中得到应用。对于大功率系统，GaN HEMT的性能还没有得到充分的评估。在这个Engage项目中，阿尔伯塔大学的研究人员将与GaN Systems的工程师合作，开发一个50 kW的GaN HEMT多电平转换器原型，并使用该原型对GaN器件的性能进行实验研究。该项目包括原型的电路参数设计，考虑到高开关频率噪声所带来的关键挑战的传感和控制方案开发，以及实验研究和结果分析。

Gallium Nitride (GaN) power semiconductor devices are promising solutions for increasing the efficiency andpower density of power electronics systems. GaN Systems Inc is a world leading company that produce GaNhigh-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) devices. GaN HEMTs have been applied in many low voltage andlow power applications. For high power systems, the performances of GaN HEMTs have not been fullyevaluated. In this Engage project, researchers in University of Alberta will collaborate with GaN Systemsengineers to developing a 50kW GaN HEMT based multilevel converter prototype and study the performancesof the GaN devices experimentally using the prototype. The project includes circuit parameter design of theprototype, sensing and control scheme development considering the key challenges caused by high switchingfrequency noises, and experimental study and analysis of the results.